NO, I don't mean the lady in front of you at the super market!!! I mean - BEHIND 'ER??? You know, like what appears to be "slackin'" BIG TIME!!! LOL!
Well, this week, which has not even begun quite yet, that would BE me!!! LOL!
Just had to drop in to let y'all know that as I type, my personal files from the "failed" hard drive from my NEW computer are now being transferred to the new EHD that I hooked up earlier this afternoon. This process should take approximately another two hours to complete, at which time I can validate that they are ACTUALLY there and then ACTUALLY get my behind out of this computer chair and do one WHOPPIN' HAPPY DANCE!!!
Now, this final process has come rather painstakingly and as follows: I've been feeling rather light-headed the past two days and really did NOT wish to undergo the process of data recovery today, however, lest I become even MORE "behind 'er" than I currently am due to PC issues, I psyched myself up for the BIG event and invited Robert to be of assistance and he generously obliged me and put the "failed" hard drive into the external enclosure while I worked the EHD, connected and formatted it in preparation to receive any files recovered from aforementioned "failed" hard drive! PHEW! That was a LONG sentence!!! LOL!
I shut down the new computer, plugged in the USB cords, double-checked to make sure everything was properly attached and turned on the computer. Uhm .... this is where the "painstakingly" comes in. All I got was the Dell logo. Nada. Did NOT move beyond this point! F2, F12 ... nope, NADA!!! I turned the computer off and unplugged all USB peripherals that I had just connected to see if they were creating a conflict of any kind - still no movement beyond the good 'ol DELL logo!!! YES, I KNOW, if I were looking at an APPLE logo, ALL would be well in Computerland!!! He, he ...
I was ALMOST in tears I was SO frustrated and it takes A LOT to get me to that point, but this was ONLY because I just was NOT feeling well and TOTALLY without energy at this point! I went into the living room to get Robert so he could see what I was up against and, bless his heart, he thought I was referring to the "failed" hard drive in the external enlosure! NO babe, my NEW computer! Look at it, it won't boot up Windows!
Long story short, I am on the phone once again with a Dell tech and after explaining to him the trouble, he guarantees me, NO problem, I can fix this for you! WOO HOO, let's GO!
The Dell tech asks me to disconnect EVERYTHING from the computer and then to push and hold the POWER button in for 30 seconds. CHECK! Now, connect ONLY the basics, power cord, key board, mouse and monitor. Turn on. When you see Dell logo, press F2! CHECK!
He has me go in and disable USB Controller, save change to CMOS, computer reboots itself. OS boots, YAY! But wait! It cannot be SO simple now can it? Of course not! Now the keyboard is not working! Back to square one. OH, DOH! We have disabled the USB Controller and the keyboard is, in fact, USB!!! So, he has me go back in and ENABLE the USB Controller and informs me that to avoid this problem in the future, I shall have to disconnect ALL external drives as the computer is trying to boot up the OS off of the external and it cannot find it!!! Gee, no kidding!
Okay, SO out of all of this I have again learned something new and I am thankful for the "painstaking" portions as there is ALWAYS something to learn!
Now, my question to my LOVELY, DARLING digi-sisters/brothers is this, do any of you know what I would need to change in DOS to get my computer to ALWAYS boot from the internal hard drive? It just does NOT make any sense to me that I shall have to FOREVER disconnect my new EHD from the back of the computer each time I shut down or reboot! HELP! Is this a Vista issue? According to the tech, no, it is the computer!
Next up is the process of data recovery. I connected both the EHD and the external enclosure housing the "failed" drive and both was immediately recognized by the OS, YES! I clicked on the drive and LO and BEHOLD, there were ALL of the files!!! WOO HOO! Well, almost WOO HOO. When I hovered the mouse over the USER folder, which is where all of my personal files would be, it showed "O bytes". I let out a gentle sigh and tried to open the program files folder. It hung up, so I shut it all down and tried again. This time I right-clicked on the drive's icon, then on "properties" and then on "tools". The first item up was "error-checking"! Okay, let's see what is wrong in here! I ticked both "automatically fix file system errors" and "scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors".
It took a little over an hour I believe and when finished, I went back into the drive to see if I could find the FOUND folder it told me they would be in. No, no FOUND folder, but this time while hovering over the USER file folder, it showed the 135 GB's that I had put in there! I clicked on it and I had to click again to get permission to get into my own files, HA, HA, but I got in!!! Without messing around, I right-clicked on my DOCUMENTS file and clicked SEND TO and chose the new EHD! So, here I sit typing to y'all and still have about an hour and a half for the transfer to be completed!
Well, enough of my rambling, but I just HAD to share the results of my BIG techy day today!!! I also hope that the steps I've been through just might be of some help to another if ever faced with a similar situation, God forbid!
I would like to thank y'all once again for ALL of your input, shares and advice on retrieving the data from the "failed" drive. I immediately opted for what I thought to be the "easiest" and most ecnomical route for me and when all is said and done, I shall have recovered my own data for under $30! Not a bad deal, eh? Y'all are MOST definitely THE BESTEST!!! MWAH!
I shall return as soon as the data has finished transferring to share my HAPPY DANCIN' with y'all so that we can make this declaration "bona fide"!!!
BIG HUGS,
Linda :)
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