How badly have I fried my laptop? [more inside]
posted by Bobby Bittman on Nov 8, 2009 - 8 answers

Yesterday, my portable hard drive got knocked over while it was being read from and began making a vicious gurgle. My husband unplugged it before I could try to disconnect it. When I turned it back on, it's still sounds terrible. [more inside]
posted by droomoord on Sep 11, 2009 - 19 answers

How do I pull data from an old Windows 98 HD using Vista? [more inside]
posted by scrump on Nov 19, 2007 - 13 answers

What is the easiest way to make a bit-perfect copy of a potentially failing laptop hard drive? The copy target would be a new 2.5" drive that I'd then install in the same laptop. [more inside]
posted by killdevil on Aug 11, 2007 - 37 answers

My hard drive recently started sparking, then smoking and burning. I quickly turned off the computer, but now I need to recover my data. I can see the spot on the hard drive that is black, so I know where the problem is. Is it safe for me to spend thirty minutes or so backing data off of this damaged drive? Alternatively, is it possible to repair the drive, at least enough to backup my data? Or have I lost everything? [more inside]
posted by gd779 on May 31, 2006 - 35 answers

DataRecoveryFilter : Computer died. Internal hard drive saved and put in an external usb enclosure (Maxtor). Tried to read user data (Documents and settings\user): Access denied. Windows Xp. Don't have a computer in which I can put the saved harddrive (and boot from). What can I do? [more inside]
posted by aroberge on Jan 4, 2006 - 22 answers