Blue screen pc

[Rustyiron]

Is it hopeless? Any of you guy's know if any thing, mostly pics & music is retrievable from a pc with the blue screen of death? I have most of it on an external "hard drive" thingy, but not all of it. I'm switchin' teams, to a Mac. Any tips?

 

[grsthegreat]

ive always been able to recover everything from a dead drive....AS long as the drive is still able to turn. Any computer geek (geek squad, whatever) can plop the old drive along side a new computer and drive and just access it like an additional drive

 

[deerseeker001]

do you have a disk in the E drive?

 

[haveissues]

If you are getting far enough to blue screen you have a good chance of easy data recovery without too much expense. I would recommend you stop messing with it and get your data off though. If the drive is dying every spin up could be its last.

 

[Soundguy]

as has been said. if the drive operates.. plenty of ways to mount it..

 

[jaotguy]

even those "dead "drives can usually be "revived" temporarily by placing the computer on its side or upside down and firing it up again... ( loads the hard drive bearings in a different plane )

invest in an external USB hard drive adaptor and borrow another computer with a DVD burner ... hook up the almost dead HD to the adaptor and plug into the borrowed computer's USB port , copy the data to a DVD / USB stick, etc

 

[Gator6x4]

I have always backed up my computer and data to a external drive. I have experience several "Blue" or "Blank" screens over the years. One of the best backup programs I have ever used was the DOS program "Fast Back". Windows 7 Ultimate and Professional both have what I consider an excellent backup program. I have used "Back Up Restore" in both Ultimate and professional to repair or replace a damaged hard drive.

Have you tried booting from the DVD and doing a repair? That might solve your problem if the blue screen is being caused because someone had a thought, what happens if I push this.

Can you boot into "Safe Mode" and do a repair?

Are you getting just a blue screen, or are you getting a blue screen with numbers and other data displayed along with a error code string of numbers?

 

[Rustyiron]

I'll take some where. You guy's makes it sound like there is hope, but most of you're words are jibberish to me:confused3: thanks! This and a few other forums are about the extent of my computer needs or use.

 

[jaotguy]

if switching to Mac ... just bring the beast in and have them transfer the files over to the Mac for you .... a lot of mac stores will do it free of charge.

 

[JamesHW]

I've recovered files for people (never charged, just as a favor) by hooking the drive to another PC using an adaptor and just copying the folders over. If someone has a PC with an extra slot, it is dead easy to hook the drive up (assuming the correct type connectors are present) and see if the drive spins up and is assigned a drive letter (sometimes you need to change the settings on the drive to slave). In one case a drive containing crucial files would not spin up, so I purchased another of the exact same drive off eBay for $5, switched the circuit board onto the dead drive and it woke right up. I still have an inexpensive stethoscope I used for listening to the drive for signs of life.

I still use PCs but considering a MacBook Pro to replace the current Lenovo laptop.

 

[timster2]

Here is one trick that may get your drive to start one last time. Pick up the cpu and rotate it fast back and forth in the same plane as the disks in the drive, hopefully this will get the drive off the dead spot and it will spin up. Caution this may work one or two times but the drive needs to be replaced. If you are not afraid to open the case you can remove the drive and do the same rotating, its easier when its out of the case. Good luck!

 

[/pine]

If the problematic drive spins up...the easiest way to recover data is to simply boot the system to a "bootable CD" AKA a "live CD"

Almost all Linux distributions have live cd options...just download and burn the ISO to a CD or DVD...

on the problematic machine...make sure the CD/DVD drive is set as the first boot device in the bios...then just put the live cd in the drive and boot it up....once you have a desktop mount the drive and copy data to a thumb drive or external hard drive etc...

 

[geminimoon66]

"I'm switchin' teams, to a Mac."

I chuckled at that! Doing so means you'll pay twice as much for less of a machine that will have the same problems in the long run!

BSOD is usually a software issue and not a hard drive issue. But if it is your hard drive all your data can easily be recovered, short of your platters exploding! I have literally dropped HDs on the carpet from a foot or so to jar things enough to get it working again. Another great way is to remove the drive and stick it in the freezer for 30 - 60 minutes then re-install it. Using an ATA or SATA external drive is good but they can fail too!

I'd suggest you save your money, buy a new solid state hard drive (no moving parts to fail), put it in your old computer and have someone recover your old data. Then look into installing Peppermint 4, Linux Mint or even Ubuntu operating system. These Linux based OSs are all FREE and can run 99% of all Windoze software, are more secure and efficient that either Windoze or Apple. It might take a day to get used to a new OS but you'd be happier in the long run and you'd save big money.

I currently use an eMachine that is 10 years old, run Peppermint 4 OS and keep all my info and data on a SSD external hard drive.

Just an opinion from a guy who has built and repaired computers since 1997.


Good luck!!!

~GM66