Extracting info from a blown up harddrive

[dimbee]

OK, so the hard drive for my laptop died a while back, so I had to get a new one installed and restored from my backup. Unfortunately, I hadn't selected to backup the videos on my harddrive.... and I had some, ummm, pretty good videos on that hard drive. I still have the hard drive... So, my question is what is the likelihood that these videos will be recoverable from the hard drive?

[Scrumtrilescent]

#1 rule of Internet: Pr0n on an external drive!

[dimbee]

#1 rule of Internet: Pr0n on an external drive!

It wasn't internet pr0n, but I did learn my lesson

[Darth Biscuit]

It wasn't internet pr0n, but I did learn my lesson

Not "internet" pr0n huh? Hmmmm...

[Jase]

put your hard drive in the freezer. It should buy you a few minutes to get some stuff off of it.

[natty]

It depends on why it 'died'. I have heard freezing can work depending on what went wrong. If it doesn't work then you can take it somewhere but it'll be expensive and there's no guarantee you'll get anything.

[dimbee]

Not "internet" pr0n huh? Hmmmm...

Yes, now you understand my dilemna! This wasn't just some tube8 video or the like...

So, assuming I freeze the HD, how do I then try to get anything off of it? I'm no computer l33t genius like most around here...

[Darth Biscuit]

Yes, now you understand my dilemna! This wasn't just some tube8 video or the like...

So, assuming I freeze the HD, how do I then try to get anything off of it? I'm no computer l33t genius like most around here...

There are some software tools that you can download/buy for this sort of thing... first thing you have to do is get it hooked up to another PC. Is it a standard HDD or a laptop HDD?

Or you could send it to me... I'll work on it and review any videos I save to make sure they're OK.

Depending on how much you value these videos, it may just not be worth fuging with...

[Jase]

if it's a laptop hdd, get a cheapo enclosure that attaches to your computer via usb.

the computer should then recognize it as an external drive and go get your files. Once the hard drive heats up, it'll die again. repeat as necessary.

might work, might not.

[KillerKat]

Get a IDE (or Sata - depending on the type of hard drive it is) Adapater and connect the hard drive to your USB to see if the pc reads it. If so, you will be able to retrieve any data you want. If it doesn't, sorry that's all she wrote.

[Seamonk]

Get a IDE (or Sata - depending on the type of hard drive it is) Adapater and connect the hard drive to your USB to see if the pc reads it. If so, you will be able to retrieve any data you want. If it doesn't, sorry that's all she wrote.

^----- what he said.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812226001

Theoretically, if it's just an issue with bad sectors and such, you should be able to read the good sectors fine. But what's lost is just lost.

[Kevin Greene]

There is a much cheaper way to attatch your laptop hard drive to a desktop.

If you can get the lappy drive to "live" at all this will alow you to access it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-HD-2-5-to-IDE-3-5-Hard-Drive-HDD-Adapter-For-laptop_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trkparmsZ65Q3a1Q7c66Q3a2Q7c39Q3a1Q7c240Q3a1318Q7c301Q3a0Q7c293Q3a1Q7c294Q3a50QQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em14QQhashZitem3ef527e282QQitemZ270401004162QQptZLHQ5fDefaultDomainQ5f0QQsalenotsupported