hobbes49

Hello I was in windows xp home running word doc and pc just rebooted on its own. I cant get back into windows cuz pc reboots everytime right before the windows xp logo comes on.

I took hard drive and installed as primary bootup on another PC and same thing happens.

I then installed as secondary drive and windows loaded fine on the other pc, but when i went to access the secondary HD (which windows recognized and became visible in 'my computer') the following message came up:

D:\ is not accessible. The file or directory is corrupt and unreadable

I have Western Digital Caviar Enhanced IDE HD
Model: WD800JB-00ETA0
I believe it was manufactured in 2003 and I have been using it since 2003 as well.

Any ideas?

Thanks to anyone that can help

Deleted090308

Welcome to TSF.

Try this first:
Put the HDD back in the original PC, then:
Start the computer with the Windows CD.
At the Welcome to Setup screen, press R to select the repair option.
You will have to enter the Administrator password - if none, just press <Enter>.
In the recovery console - type chkdsk /r (note the space after chkdsk) > press <Enter>.
When the disk check is done:
Type Exit > press <Enter>.
Take the Windows disc out and reboot.

hobbes49

Thanks for quick response. I was doing research online and found that not knowing exactly whether the HD failure was due to LOGICAL or HARDWARE failure and running recovery software on the failed HD would be bad.

I am still not sure exactly what issue is. I have been hearing ticking noises from HD in the past so it might be a HD failure.
However at the same time Windows was able to recognize it as WD800 when I installed it on my friend's PC and therefore it could be a LOGICAL failure, even though I could not access the drive when I tried.

I do want to try your idea as well as "PC Inspector File recovery" which I read was good but I am still unsure whether these utilities will make HD worse when running their scans.

I dont really care about recovering the drive, I just want to be able to access the HD long enough to transfer all my important data to a new HD.

Deleted090308

If your HDD is ticking/clicking you should check the connections (data and power) first.

Please post the system specifications.

hobbes49

Yeah I checked connection, connection was fine in old PC and was fine in my friend's PC.

MY PC where the HD failed:

POWER SUPPLY: Coolmax, Model: AP-450X(V-400), sorry dont know "number of amps on +12V rail(s)."

MOTHERBOARD: ASUS A7V8X-X, sorry dont know what "socket type" means

CPU: AMD Athlon Barton XP 2500+

RAM: DDR 1gig

VIDEO CARD: ATI Radeion 9550 AGP 8x/4x 256 MB

HARD DRIVE: Western Digital Caviar Enhanced IDE HD, Model: WD800JB-00ETA0

OS: Win xp home

Deleted090308

Run Western Digital's Data Lifeguard Diagnostic Tools (extended test).

Check the voltages with SensorsView.
What does it say about the +12V?

hobbes49

Transfering data from my dying HD was a success. Here is what happened:



-Hooked IDE HD to an exterior enclosure case and hooked that up to a PC via USB (PC was newere and hence did not have hookups for IDE HD)



-After about 1+ minute and lots of noise making (which continued throughout data transfer process) I have access to the HD



-I did not run WD's diagnostics tool nor did I run the check disc from Vista since it recognized and gave me access to the drive



To sum up, my IDE HD was/is dying but I guess maybe it had enough juice to do the transfer (about 2hrs worth of data transfer). Only think is when i tried the HD on my freind's PC (direct hookup to motherboard, the drive was recognized but I did not have access to it). Maybe the enclosure had something to do with it since it always sounded like the HD was rebooting inside the closure as data would transfer.


Thanks for the help! take care

Deleted090308

I'm glad you managed to save your files.