TriColor06

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I just recently purchased a new computer on a super sweet deal from best buy , Windows Vista, 250 GB, 3800 AMD Athlon Dual Core Processor. Reason for this was because my old computer, and i mean old, just gave out according to the Geek Squad, they said it was " unaccessible ". I think i purchased it in 2001. They didnt even give me a sure answer as to why the computer malfunction they just said it could have been caused by dust, power surge , or simply age. Any of you have any experience with this? The screen would go to some kind of setup screen giving me 2 options :

F1 for setup

or

ESC to ski . . . .

It didnt complete the sentence, but either way , when i pressed one of the options, the computer would not respond. And even the Geek Squad didnt have a answer for this. So i asked them to charge me for a data transfer, and they said it would be ready the next day. Guess wat : they coulnt give me the transfer giving me the excuse i wrote above.

But atleast i got a new computer without the thousands of songs and important family photo albums. I asked them how i can prevent this from happening again, and they recommended a backup hardrive from Western Digital with backup software. Any one have any good reviews from this brand or any backup softwares?

So the important question, anyone know how i can transfer my data from the old hardrive to my new computer? Remember they said it was " unaccessible ". Any help would greatly be appreciated.

Thanks,

TRICOLOR06 and Lulu

drktitan56

You can always a program recover my files. I posted the program in the forum. If your old hard drive doesnt power up or wont respond to recovery programs then you might be at a loss.

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I have always been a street hacker if you want to put it in those terms. I prefer to call it guerrilla research of todays machines and the never ending thirst for finding out just what the hell is out there. You fear us only until you want something for free.

Wabash9000

geek squad doesn't know anything. I bet I would be easy to get. They do stuff based of what they feel like doing and what they can charge for. why would they take $50 to transfer data when they could just guilt you into paying 150 for an external hd?

try removing the hard drive and installing it in the new case and see if it runs. if that doesn't work there are places online that offer data recovery services. they tend to be pricey but depending on how much you lost it can be worth it.

just outa curriousity how much was your new computer?

mainstay

Hi TriColor06, sounds like a HDD (Hard Drive) crash. What you talk'in about, they made some damn gooood computers in 2001 IF it's a Dell...lol..lol! Make sure you don't have a floppy disk in the drive cause you'll get the same message & won't boot to the Hard Drive until you remove it. The GEEK Squad are'nt computer experts, but are trained for the simplest of things for people who are almost totally computer illiterate!!!

TriColor06

they had a open package special on PC at best buy because they are relocating , so i got the computer for cheap , like 500 bucks. Ohh and geek squad gave me some options when i asked them wat i could do to prevent losing my hardrive like this, and the external drive was wat i think the best option, they had some other plan where they back up ur drive through the internet but there was a montly fee of 20 , that would be pricey, ohh and MAInsTAY it wasnt a dell LoL and damn those GEEK SQUAD people sure pull out the "computer expert" look with ties and custum car

skept

Meh just back it up on CD"s / DVD's / External hard drives etc.

Everything thats digital can be lost - the important thing to do is ensure you have enough copies on enough independant sources that the chance of losing it all is slim

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Remember, remember the 5th of November...

siopawman

if you can hear a "clash" like metals in your hard disk, then it might be damaged... i haven't personally tried professional data extraction, but i think it works (not all, but they can recover some data).

your motherboard could also be at fault here. dust build up lead to static electricity, damaging internal parts of your system. go to a third party technician to have it checked, but tell them to use a "working" hard disk to check if your own disk is at fault, and this wont shorten the life span of the data in hard disk, coz if its already damage, the more it spins, the more it becomes unreadable by any recovery softwares

Bulletproof

Like other posts, your previous crashes could be caused by many things...
- BIOS crash.
- Motherboard component died.
- Bad IDE cable.
- Dying power supply.
- HD crash.
- Badly seated memory.

What happened when you hit F1? did it go to the BIOS screens?

If you're afraid it's the HD, find someone that knows computers and let him try to figure it out with a different HD.

TriColor06

To bulletproof, my computer woulndt respond to F1 , it would just stay frozen, i guess the Geek Squad had the same problem and they coulndt figure it out either

mainstay

Well, like I stated before, most computers that were built in 2001 were really solid. I still think it's your Hard Drive. I doubt it's your motherboard & your IDE cables are'nt going to good bad just setting there unless you've plugged & unplugged many times. All computers have somewhat a personality (meaning the samething that happens to you happens to large groups of people with the same brand, model!). Tell'ya what, tell me the brand & model & I'll check what are the most likely things to go wrong with THAT model. You seem to be unsure of just what year your computer was made???? If it's a Compaq your BIOS is on your Hard Drive & your BIOS chip isn't "flashable", which means even if you replace the Hard Drive your going to have to have a Restore Disc which Compaq will send you at no charge!!!! Maxtor use to make Hard Drives with EZ-Bios that would solve that problem with Compaq's.

davemo2us

If you already have the new computer, want an external HD and want to see if you can get the information of your old hard drive. Then I would buy an external HD enclosure with a new 80-what ever Gig HD is in your budget. Then Jumper your old hd in accordance with the enclosures instructions, install it and then see if your new pc will read it and then of course transfer what you want. When you finish just replace the old one with what ever new one you bought. If that works, then your old HD is fine and if it doesn't it is likely bad and to recover that data can get very expensive, so make sure you use your new drive for backing up too. I got to throw in too that the geek squad are for the most part a bunch of retards...actually that gives retards a bad name.

TriColor06

sounds like a good plan davemo2us. I might not know alot about computers, but hey if the geek squad can pull it off than so can i ! And mainstay, i am unsure of what year my computer was made, is there a sure way of knowing for sure? i didnt get a warranty when i purchased it so i dont think they would have it on record. itz a HP pavilion 7955 , pentium 4 if that helps, and ohh too give u an idea of how old, it has a 3" floppy disc drive. pretty old , XP of course.

sumone answer me this , what is a computers "Life Span"

Thanks to everyone that has contributed to this post, im sure theres alot of people out there with similar problems.