Copying a Dying Hard Drive

papercrate · 02-02-2005, 07:23 AM

Okay, here is the situation. My HD is dying, I recently received the "4th master hard disk SMART error, status: BAD" and am not able to get into Windows. I just picked up an external HD (a LaCie 160 gig to be exact) and I need to get files off of the dying 30 gig HD. I was just going to take out the dying HD and slave it to my girlfriends PC (it's fast) and then hook up my new external drive (USB) and transfer the files. My question is this, what is the easiest and safest way to do this? (I don't need all 30 gigs of info on the dying HD, just a little over 15 gigs: my audio projects, artwork, music, installation programs, etc.)

Should I just copy and paste the folders I need from the dying hard drive to the external drive? Or should I install a ghost and hard drive cloning program on my girlfriend's PC and copy the dying HD that way? Please let me know what is the most efficient and safe way to get the files I need. Thanks in advance!

ksteiger · 02-02-2005, 10:38 AM

For that type of backup, I'd suggest just copying the folders with Windows Explorer. That way you won't be reliant upon any type of software to access the backed-up files as they won't be compressed in any fashion. You could then theoretically plug the external drive into anyone's XP machine and access the files in their native format.

johnwill · 02-02-2005, 01:18 PM

Personally, I'd attempt to GHOST it first, and if that fails, copy any files/folders you need. If you forget something and it's no longer accessible, it'll be somewhere in the GHOST copy. It's easy to extract the stuff from the GHOST image at your leisure on a working disk drive once you have the data safely imaged.

02-02-2005, 07:23 AM	#1 (permalink)
papercrate Registered User Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 2 OS: XP	Copying a Dying Hard Drive Okay, here is the situation. My HD is dying, I recently received the "4th master hard disk SMART error, status: BAD" and am not able to get into Windows. I just picked up an external HD (a LaCie 160 gig to be exact) and I need to get files off of the dying 30 gig HD. I was just going to take out the dying HD and slave it to my girlfriends PC (it's fast) and then hook up my new external drive (USB) and transfer the files. My question is this, what is the easiest and safest way to do this? (I don't need all 30 gigs of info on the dying HD, just a little over 15 gigs: my audio projects, artwork, music, installation programs, etc.) Should I just copy and paste the folders I need from the dying hard drive to the external drive? Or should I install a ghost and hard drive cloning program on my girlfriend's PC and copy the dying HD that way? Please let me know what is the most efficient and safe way to get the files I need. Thanks in advance!

02-02-2005, 01:18 PM	#3 (permalink)
johnwill Manager, Networking Forums Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania, US Posts: 39,800 OS: XP-Pro, Vista, Windows 7, Linux Blog Entries: 1	Personally, I'd attempt to GHOST it first, and if that fails, copy any files/folders you need. If you forget something and it's no longer accessible, it'll be somewhere in the GHOST copy. It's easy to extract the stuff from the GHOST image at your leisure on a working disk drive once you have the data safely imaged. __________________ If TSF has helped you, Tell us about it! or Donate to help keep the site up! Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

02-02-2005, 10:38 AM	#2 (permalink)
ksteiger Registered User Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Long Island, NY Posts: 403 OS: XP Pro SP2 My System	For that type of backup, I'd suggest just copying the folders with Windows Explorer. That way you won't be reliant upon any type of software to access the backed-up files as they won't be compressed in any fashion. You could then theoretically plug the external drive into anyone's XP machine and access the files in their native format.