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Main => General => Topic started by: lenko on August 26, 2009 06:52 PM

Title: Comp's bricked
Post by: lenko on August 26, 2009 06:52 PM
after doing pretty much nothing that could change my comp one night i shut it down as normal. the day after i tried booting it up and got this fuckin blue screen of death that mentions an "UNMOUNTABLE BOOT VOLUME". after looking at some tech sites i found that the best way to recover whilst keeping my files was to use the XP install disc. Which i didnt have, so I downloaded the ISO for service pack 3 (home) and burnt one myself.

the first few times i used it, it actually worked like the steps were telling me and i thought i was on the right track but then it fuckin died whilst doing that and now its barely even picking up my CD drive at all

unless theres any ways around this i'll probably have to reformat and lose a ton of shit but i'd rather see if theres any other ways first. anyone got any ideas?
Title: Comp's bricked
Post by: rtil on August 26, 2009 07:50 PM
if the OS is unrecoverable, what you may want to do is turn your current HD into storage, and use a new HD for the OS. that way you don't lose any of your files. you will, however, have to reinstall all your software.
Title: Comp's bricked
Post by: shura on August 26, 2009 08:19 PM
yeah what rtil said. you can buy these special plastic encasings for your old HD when you take it out of your computer, which will enable you to use it as an external harddrive. idk how much they cost
Title: Comp's bricked
Post by: Fuzz on August 26, 2009 08:26 PM
Quote from: rtilif the OS is unrecoverable, what you may want to do is turn your current HD into storage, and use a new HD for the OS. that way you don't lose any of your files. you will, however, have to reinstall all your software.
That's exactly what I did. Works like a charm.
Title: Comp's bricked
Post by: LordZeebmork on August 26, 2009 08:33 PM
if there's something else you can boot with besides CD, boot from some sort of linux that can handle ntfs and copy the files to an external hd or something
Title: Comp's bricked
Post by: rtil on August 26, 2009 08:40 PM
you could do an external case too, but i prefer to leave it in the machine based on all the bad experiences my friends have had with short lifespans of externals. if you've got extra room in your case, i'd leave the drive in there.
Title: Comp's bricked
Post by: ZekeySpaceyLizard on August 26, 2009 11:43 PM
you forgot to oil its fanbelt YOU DUMMY
Title: Comp's bricked
Post by: lenko on August 26, 2009 11:57 PM
thanks guys. im gonna make a few new CDs with different versions of XP tonight and if they don't work i'll do the new HD thing
Title: Comp's bricked
Post by: LordZeebmork on August 27, 2009 01:46 AM
Quote from: rtilyou could do an external case too, but i prefer to leave it in the machine based on all the bad experiences my friends have had with short lifespans of externals. if you've got extra room in your case, i'd leave the drive in there.
huh? I've never had a problem with my external
Title: Comp's bricked
Post by: psi43 on August 27, 2009 02:04 AM
Quote from: LordZeebmork
Quote from: rtilyou could do an external case too, but i prefer to leave it in the machine based on all the bad experiences my friends have had with short lifespans of externals. if you've got extra room in your case, i'd leave the drive in there.
huh? I've never had a problem with my external

same here, but i heard of people having problems with them.

that's why i save important files, like the tba time trial .fla for example, on both my external and my normal hd.
Title: Comp's bricked
Post by: lenko on August 27, 2009 02:15 AM
Quote from: psi43
Quote from: LordZeebmork
Quote from: rtilyou could do an external case too, but i prefer to leave it in the machine based on all the bad experiences my friends have had with short lifespans of externals. if you've got extra room in your case, i'd leave the drive in there.
huh? I've never had a problem with my external

same here, but i heard of people having problems with them.

that's why i save important files, like the tba time trial .fla for example, on both my external and my normal hd.

no fan. externals get hot quickly. do the math

im gonna go with this plan: remove my HD from the comp, turn it into an external via the case method, back it all up either onto my laptop or onto my main external, and then shove it back into the main comp and reformat completely. seems foolproof enough but do i have to be specific with the hard drive casing?
Title: Comp's bricked
Post by: rtil on August 27, 2009 02:16 AM
not just that but externals are more prone to getting dropped/knocked over, they're more susceptible to damage. and hard drives really shouldn't be moved around a lot
Title: Comp's bricked
Post by: lenko on August 27, 2009 02:55 AM
Quote from: rtilnot just that but externals are more prone to getting dropped/knocked over, they're more susceptible to damage. and hard drives really shouldn't be moved around a lot

my sis treats my external like its a fuckin tank, shes dropped it twice and didnt give a shit. i cant wait to move back out in a month and get it away from her chaos inducing hands
Title: Comp's bricked
Post by: rtil on August 27, 2009 02:58 AM
she is lucky
Title: Comp's bricked
Post by: psi43 on August 27, 2009 03:28 AM
well my hd is running almost 24/7 for about one and a half year now, so i doubt that the heat stuff is a problem (though i do think mine has a fan).

and it's always lying on the floor, somewhere where I couldn't even step onto it. so they do last for a while if you don't treat them like shit.