Missing Kernel or corrupted

Electronics Computer Programming Q&A
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Janitor Tzap
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Joined: Sat Aug 12, 2006 5:17 pm
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Re: Missing Kernel or corrupted

Post by Janitor Tzap »

Okay cae2100,

I will agree that Spinrite isn't much good when there is actual physical damage to the hard drive.

Though it can be hard to tell the state of a hard drive.

I've not used BartPE, but I've used linux based startup disks like Noppix,
That had some simple tools for Hard Drive testing.
By booting off the Noppix CD I could then run testing on the hard drive to see
how bad it was.

In most cases if the files were intact, I'd back them up to an external Hard Drive.
Then try re-formating the damaged Hard Drive.
If the re-formating went fairly smoothly,
I'd reinstall the Operating System, and reload the files from the backup Hard Drive.
And it would operate without any problems.

This was the best case scenario.
But more often then not, this was only a temporary fix.

On bad Hard Drives that I had run Spinrite several times.
Spinrite keeps a log of the Hard Drives condition with each scan.
Thus, I could see how the bad area's on the hard drive's disk platters were, and if they were only getting worse over time.
Then went to the customer with the bad news.
If they were lucky, the Hard Drive was still under warranty,
and could be replaced at little to no charge.
Otherwise, plunking down a few hundred dollars for a new Hard Drive.
CeaSaR wrote:That's why I asked if "he" dropped the computer - son #1 did just that and he ran SpinRite 6.0
for almost 3 months on the laptop and got to 2% before someone accidentally popped the plug
out of the machine, shutting it off. :x In this case, something happened to the boot sector when
the compy literally crashed. BartPE would have been the better option as the files could be accessed
via "slaving" or "mounting" the drive.

CeaSaR
3 months! Seriously?
I would of given up on the Hard Drive by the 3rd day. :wink:
Spinrite is good....
But mainly for checking and repairing minor hard drive problems.

If I had the drive to work on.
(1st) Back off the contents to a backup Hard Drive.
(2nd) Then I'd of tried to reformat it first, just to see if it would take the reformating, if it could...
(3rd) Reinstall the OS, and do several boot ups.
Just to see if the boot sector was alright.
If it passed this test, then there's a good chance it will be okay.
(4th) Reload the backed up files.


Signed: Janitor Tzap
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CeaSaR
Posts: 1949
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Location: Phoenixville, PA USA
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Re: Missing Kernel or corrupted

Post by CeaSaR »

Yep, 3 months. His choice, not mine. You know kids, they know more than
the old fart that's been doing this for years. :roll:

CeaSaR
Hey, what do I know?
solardude
Posts: 17
Joined: Sun Oct 09, 2011 9:47 pm
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Re: Missing Kernel or corrupted

Post by solardude »

Okay I'm back...Tried everything as suggested which I'll fill you guyz in shortly. To answer CeaSaR's question on if the laptop has been dropped, the answer is no but he did slam his hand down onto the keyboard part a week before it went.
As to trying to connect the HD Externally or Slave, Slave: my computer will start to boot and will sit in Windows 7 when the lighted balls form into the Windows logo, and will not go into the desktop. As for External connection: I would connect it after booting up my computer the plug it in into the USB port. A box shows up with the Reserve drive lets say, E: and when I go to Computers to open up the Drive Window, in the E: drive underneath you have the fill box and there would be a partial Blue fill, but the Local Dive lets say, O: drive would not be there at first. Then a few minutes later the O: drive pops up but no underneath fill box, But on the top edge of the Window box lights up green and seems to be loading something. Thinking it was the O: drive I left it so the data would load up and I may see the the drive with the color Blue underneath, but nothing even when I left it over night to load still nothing. The data is in there I just can't get to it. Another thing is I am not able to run any Data Recovery once that drive is connected, it seems to freeze everything, not really Freeze but lags everything as if it loading and really nothing is loading.
Well, I'm just at the end here with this HD and seems nothing will work for me to restore or save this thing.
Thanks anyways guyz, your help and suggestions are very well appreciated.

Thanks
Solardude
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