So my computer blew up ,,Need some help

Author	Post
jakejd4949 Senior Member 2938 Posts 8/06	Posted - Dec 29 2012 : 6:27PM Reasonably proficient , my old gateway bit the dust . Lost most of my downloads , have and old hard drive back up , been meaning to get a new , will do that now . So I am using a new laptop with windows 8 (uggghhh) , and one big question - how can I save downloads , pictures ect with windows finding them on search ? I sthere a way or program that can make a file folder invisible to searching , or need a password at least to open and view ? [Link]
Goldstein All-Star Member "You have sacrificed nothing and no one." 3689 Posts 8/10	Posted - Dec 29 2012 : 6:40PM Unless it was the hard drive itself that "blew up," the information on the hard drive is all still there. Was your Gateway a desktop or laptop? What OS was it running? I can help you with getting the information from your Gateway if you answer some questions I ask (starting with the first two above). God help you with Windows 8. [Link]
jakejd4949 Senior Member 2938 Posts 8/06	Posted - Jan 1 2013 : 8:40AM yes , 8 is a pain . the problem with my old is the software , it loads until the last bit before the green bars , then freezes . I tried a recovery disc from neosoft , it loaded it and ran fine , just couldn't fix vista I know it's the registry , I had a problem with the cd player and deleted the upper and lower filters , done this before with no problem . [Link]
Goldstein All-Star Member "You have sacrificed nothing and no one." 3689 Posts 8/10	Posted - Jan 1 2013 : 9:49AM Can you boot-up in Safe Mode? If you can, you can simply copy your files off to an external hard drive or flash drive. (It sounds like your optical drive is non-functioning.) ------------------------------------------------------ If you care about fixing the machine itself, I would try launching chkdsk while in Safe Mode, and see what it can tell us. Launch "Command Prompt" and type in "chkdsk/f" (without the quotes). Hit enter/return. Type "Y" in response to the prompt that appears. Re-boot. (The computer will try to boot in normal mode to run chkdsk/f) Chkdsk Windows Vista Command Prompt: frequently asked questions Again, if you care about fixing the machine itself -- and you can boot in Safe Mode -- I would also run through my utility programs to check for infections, etc. Some helpful thoughts regarding this can be found in my posts in this thread. If chkdsk/f will not run when it attempts to re-boot your machine in normal mode (even though you launched it from within Safe Mode), we have a sort of work-a-round. Boot your computer in Safe Mode (repeatedly tapping F8 before Windows boots to get there), and choose "Safe Mode With Networking." If you don't already have it, download and install Defraggler (the free version from Piriform.com). Defraggler can check your file structure, using the same resources chkdsk uses, without re-booting (which allows you to perform the check while remaining in Safe Mode). Launch Defraggler > select "Local Disk (C)" > "Action" menu > "Advanced" > "Check Drive For Errors" Defraggler can't repair disk errors (as it's purpose is to verify your drive before defragging it), but it will alert you if your drive has major issues. In fact, if it discovers problems, it will even ask you if you want to run chkdsk to fix them :) Finally, you can run chkdsk without re-booting (so that you can remain in Safe Mode) by typing "chkdsk" instead of "chkdsk/f" into the Command Prompt. Unfortunately, this will only check the drive, NOT repair it. Still, it will be useful to see what chkdsk can tell us. ------------------------------------------------------ BTW, if you can boot into Safe Mode With Networking, you should be able to download and execute Windows Update and also update other programs while in Safe Mode. This may help you fix your hard drive so that you can boot in normal mode again and still use the machine (if you want to). [Link]
ninja1 Senior Member 2939 Posts 1/08	Posted - Jan 1 2013 : 12:43PM 1. Is the Gateway a desktop or laptop? 2. What is your main goal: a: repair the Gateway to make Vista usable again? b: save the data/downloads from the Gateway? If all you care about is the data, AND you are not afraid to disassemble things, AND you are willing to spend $25 or so, you could buy an HDD enclosure. Remove the HDD from the Gateway, install that HDD into the enclosure, thereby creating an external HDD. Then use a USB cable to connect the external HDD to your Win8 laptop. You'd then have access to your downloads, and you can save them to wherever you want. You'll have to navigate to find the files you want, or use search on your Win8 laptop, pointing it to look at the external HDD. Another approach for data recovery (without repairing Vista), is to use a bootdisk. It does not involve disassembling anything, but it does involve using your Win8 computer to download an ISO file, burn that file to CD (or DVD), and booting your Gateway with the newly-created CD(or DVD). Using the bootdisk then involves using command-line or otherwise strange-looking software, which may be offputting for some folks. With the bootdisk, you'd still need some way to save/transfer the files to a safe place. Maybe buy a large flash drive 32GB or 64GB and save a batch at a time to the flash drive then from the flash drive to your Win8 laptop. Only you can decide which approach is best for your situation. Repairing Vista vs. data recovery (using HDD enclosure) vs. data recovery (using bootdisk). Edited by - ninja1 on 1/1/2013 2:43:59 PM [Link]

jakejd4949 Senior Member 2938 Posts 8/06	Posted - Jan 2 2013 : 3:26PM I have tried every version of safe mode , command promt ect , all end up freezing at the same spot , crcys.disk I thin it was , it's the last piece before the green bars. Thank you for you help , it's really appreciated . Can you boot-up in Safe Mode? If you can, you can simply copy your files off to an external hard drive or flash drive. (It sounds like your optical drive is non-functioning.) ------------------------------------------------------ If you care about fixing the machine itself, I would try launching chkdsk while in Safe Mode, and see what it can tell us. Launch "Command Prompt" and type in "chkdsk/f" (without the quotes). Hit enter/return. Type "Y" in response to the prompt that appears. Re-boot. (The computer will try to boot in normal mode to run chkdsk/f) Chkdsk Windows Vista Command Prompt: frequently asked questions Again, if you care about fixing the machine itself -- and you can boot in Safe Mode -- I would also run through my utility programs to check for infections, etc. Some helpful thoughts regarding this can be found in my posts in this thread. If chkdsk/f will not run when it attempts to re-boot your machine in normal mode (even though you launched it from within Safe Mode), we have a sort of work-a-round. Boot your computer in Safe Mode (repeatedly tapping F8 before Windows boots to get there), and choose "Safe Mode With Networking." If you don't already have it, download and install Defraggler (the free version from Piriform.com). Defraggler can check your file structure, using the same resources chkdsk uses, without re-booting (which allows you to perform the check while remaining in Safe Mode). Launch Defraggler > select "Local Disk (C)" > "Action" menu > "Advanced" > "Check Drive For Errors" Defraggler can't repair disk errors (as it's purpose is to verify your drive before defragging it), but it will alert you if your drive has major issues. In fact, if it discovers problems, it will even ask you if you want to run chkdsk to fix them :) Finally, you can run chkdsk without re-booting (so that you can remain in Safe Mode) by typing "chkdsk" instead of "chkdsk/f" into the Command Prompt. Unfortunately, this will only check the drive, NOT repair it. Still, it will be useful to see what chkdsk can tell us. ------------------------------------------------------ BTW, if you can boot into Safe Mode With Networking, you should be able to download and execute Windows Update and also update other programs while in Safe Mode. This may help you fix your hard drive so that you can boot in normal mode again and still use the machine (if you want to). [/quote] [Link]
jakejd4949 Senior Member 2938 Posts 8/06	Posted - Jan 2 2013 : 3:30PM It's a desktop , the gateway one , all in one tower .I would like to recover the info on the hard drive , there were a lot of pictures , letters and of course porn that I downloaded from sites . I had tried a software recovery from neosoft , it boots up in Linux so it's not the hardware that's bad . Don't need to repair the computer , could try the bootdisk , won't that erase the data on the drive , like re-loading windows? Could buy a version of windows but that would wipe off all the data previously installed , no ? ninja1 wrote: 1. Is the Gateway a desktop or laptop? 2. What is your main goal: a: repair the Gateway to make Vista usable again? b: save the data/downloads from the Gateway? If all you care about is the data, AND you are not afraid to disassemble things, AND you are willing to spend $25 or so, you could buy an HDD enclosure. Remove the HDD from the Gateway, install that HDD into the enclosure, thereby creating an external HDD. Then use a USB cable to connect the external HDD to your Win8 laptop. You'd then have access to your downloads, and you can save them to wherever you want. You'll have to navigate to find the files you want, or use search on your Win8 laptop, pointing it to look at the external HDD. Another approach for data recovery (without repairing Vista), is to use a bootdisk. It does not involve disassembling anything, but it does involve using your Win8 computer to download an ISO file, burn that file to CD (or DVD), and booting your Gateway with the newly-created CD(or DVD). Using the bootdisk then involves using command-line or otherwise strange-looking software, which may be offputting for some folks. With the bootdisk, you'd still need some way to save/transfer the files to a safe place. Maybe buy a large flash drive 32GB or 64GB and save a batch at a time to the flash drive then from the flash drive to your Win8 laptop. Only you can decide which approach is best for your situation. Repairing Vista vs. data recovery (using HDD enclosure) vs. data recovery (using bootdisk). Edited by - ninja1 on 1/1/2013 2:43:59 PM [/quote] [Link]
Goldstein All-Star Member "You have sacrificed nothing and no one." 3689 Posts 8/10	Posted - Jan 2 2013 : 6:52PM Remove the drive. Buy an external enclosure and install the drive into it. Plug it into your new working computer and copy off the files you want -- they're all still on the drive. Be sure you know if your hard drive is IDE or SATA (you will need to buy the correct type of external enclosure). Either way, the external enclosure itself will simply connect via USB. Edited by - Goldstein on 1/2/2013 6:55:10 PM [Link]
jakejd4949 Senior Member 2938 Posts 8/06	Posted - Jan 4 2013 : 7:21AM Thanks for the help , I will look into this , this would work even though windows vista is corrupted? Goldstein wrote: Remove the drive. Buy an external enclosure and install the drive into it. Plug it into your new working computer and copy off the files you want -- they're all still on the drive. Be sure you know if your hard drive is IDE or SATA (you will need to buy the correct type of external enclosure). Either way, the external enclosure itself will simply connect via USB. Edited by - Goldstein on 1/2/2013 6:55:10 PM [/quote] [Link]
Goldstein All-Star Member "You have sacrificed nothing and no one." 3689 Posts 8/10	Posted - Jan 4 2013 : 12:07PM jakejd4949 wrote: Thanks for the help , I will look into this , this would work even though windows vista is corrupted? Click to expand Yes, of course. When you mount the drive from an external enclosure, your computer is not using it to boot from. The computer you are using will boot from its own "C" drive. It will not look to the external drive to boot from, and doesn't care that another OS is on it. Don't get too fancy/greedy with what you recover (copy). Just copy files (and/or folders containing files) that you want. Do not attempt to copy any OS files, settings, or programs to your Windows 8 computer, as they will be absolutely useless and could cause unforeseen problems. BTW, I'm not convinced that malware didn't have a hand in creating your Gateway machine problems (YES, it can corrupt the OS files). I would scan the old Vista hard drive -- once it is connected to your other computer via the external enclosure -- before copying any files. [Link]
Goldstein All-Star Member "You have sacrificed nothing and no one." 3689 Posts 8/10	Posted - Jan 23 2013 : 8:27PM Currently on sale for $55.99 ($79.99 - $24.00). (Actually, I also got an additional 20% off with a established customer coupon offer, good today only.) This handles both IDE and SATA -- and has a USB 3.0 interface (backward compatible with USB 2.0), which will really allow some fast transfers when connected to computers that provide USB 3.0 ports (most computers sold for at least the past year offer at least one USB 3.0 port). More money than you might want to spend for a one-time use, but this provides all the necessary options for working with drives for quite some time. If you're going to do repairs, service and maintenance, this is a must have! Take the time to read the information and look at the pictures at the following link: StarTech UNIDOCK3U Plastic 2.5" & 3.5" Black USB 3.0 2.5in or 3.5in SATA and IDE HDD Docking Station [Link]
BYOB_Kenobi Senior Member “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” - Kierkegaard 2684 Posts 8/09	Posted - Jan 24 2013 : 7:18PM jakejd4949 wrote: Reasonably proficient , my old gateway bit the dust . Lost most of my downloads , have and old hard drive back up , been meaning to get a new , will do that now . So I am using a new laptop with windows 8 (uggghhh) , and one big question - how can I save downloads , pictures ect with windows finding them on search ? I sthere a way or program that can make a file folder invisible to searching , or need a password at least to open and view ? Click to expand I use these (below) most of the time to scan disks or transfer, when I"m on the go or don't have my other one (looks like the Star SATA Dock Goldstein posted). The stand up external docs (Goldstein's type) can be much faster if USB 3.0 or eSATA, which helps transfers or scanning. Once you get a SATA adapter or dock, use Runtime GetDataBack (FAT32 or NTFS depending on file system) as I've recover lots (1TB of critical work data once and other times many other personal files) use Runtime's GDB program. Just takes a lot of time. [Link]
jakejd4949 Senior Member 2938 Posts 8/06	Posted - Jan 31 2013 : 6:03PM Thanks , I will try this this week-how can I tell if it's ide or sata , given it's age I assume ide but you know what they say when,,, Goldstein wrote: Currently on sale for $55.99 ($79.99 - $24.00). (Actually, I also got an additional 20% off with a established customer coupon offer, good today only.) This handles both IDE and SATA -- and has a USB 3.0 interface (backward compatible with USB 2.0), which will really allow some fast transfers when connected to computers that provide USB 3.0 ports (most computers sold for at least the past year offer at least one USB 3.0 port). More money than you might want to spend for a one-time use, but this provides all the necessary options for working with drives for quite some time. If you're going to do repairs, service and maintenance, this is a must have! Take the time to read the information and look at the pictures at the following link: StarTech UNIDOCK3U Plastic 2.5" & 3.5" Black USB 3.0 2.5in or 3.5in SATA and IDE HDD Docking Station [/quote] [Link]
Harri Patel Senior Member #SDNY he's all yours. -- Michael Steele 5110 Posts 3/03	Posted - Jan 31 2013 : 8:27PM jakejd4949 wrote: Thanks , I will try this this week-how can I tell if it's ide or sata , Click to expand There is a picture just a few posts above that shows the difference. The IDE drives use the wide, ribbon cables. [Link]
RandomPrecision Senior Member Enjoy! 8175 Posts 3/06	Posted - Feb 2 2013 : 9:51AM BTW, I can't believe SATA was their chance to redesign the standard hard drive cable and this is what they did with it. I mean, it's better than IDE but I've had two of the connectors crack just from being plugged/unplugged a few times. The first time I thought it was just because I was careless and wasn't expecting it but then it happened again. Cheap, brittle plastic from China, I guess. [Link]

BYOB_Kenobi Senior Member “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” - Kierkegaard 2684 Posts 8/09	Posted - Feb 4 2013 : 10:34PM ^ Actually I have the opposite feelings and experiences. The IDE pins is a horrible form factor and the pins would commonly bend when I unplugged a IDE ribbon and HD drive a lot. SATA connectors make life so much easier, faster, and much less prone to connector problems. Never had a SATA connector break (knock on wood). I just make sure I line up the SATA cable and connector on the HD/optical drive before plugging them in together (they look like an L). [Link]
RandomPrecision Senior Member Enjoy! 8175 Posts 3/06	Posted - Feb 12 2013 : 6:51AM BYOB_Kenobi wrote: ^ Actually I have the opposite feelings and experiences. The IDE pins is a horrible form factor and the pins would commonly bend when I unplugged a IDE ribbon and HD drive a lot. Click to expand I don't think I ever had that problem. I was always kind of surprised how durable those connectors were. They sometimes took a lot of force to plug or unplug. I was always worried I'd break something but it never happened. SATA connectors make life so much easier, faster, and much less prone to connector problems. Never had a SATA connector break (knock on wood). I just make sure I line up the SATA cable and connector on the HD/optical drive before plugging them in together (they look like an L). Click to expand Well, I mean I just think they could have done better. It just seems awkward and poorly thought out considering the importance of the thing and how much money and brainpower they had available. They're OK. When they work right, they are better than IDE just for the sake of simplicity. What I meant about them breaking was that I had two of them on a Thermaltake power supply break. They just cracked. I didn't put them in wrong or anything like that. They cracked under normal usage. I'm pretty careful when I screw around inside a computer case. Edited by - randomprecision on 2/12/2013 2:37:58 PM [Link]
jakejd4949 Senior Member 2938 Posts 8/06	Posted - Apr 5 2013 : 5:13PM Ok , took me a while to get to it , bought an enclosure , start up fine- I get all my old doc's and pics , but all my porn is in program files , and it is read only . Used to be on the computer I could hit a tab up top , and it would be unblocked . I keep trying to change the rad on box , the apply button slowly fades out , but the folder stays read only .I tried using the attrib in run command , but I am not sure how to exactly word it as local disk d drive ? This is quite a pain , thanks for all your help so far . jakejd4949 wrote: Thanks for the help , I will look into this , this would work even though windows vista is corrupted? Goldstein wrote: Remove the drive. Buy an external enclosure and install the drive into it. Plug it into your new working computer and copy off the files you want -- they're all still on the drive. Be sure you know if your hard drive is IDE or SATA (you will need to buy the correct type of external enclosure). Either way, the external enclosure itself will simply connect via USB. Edited by - Goldstein on 1/2/2013 6:55:10 PM [/quote] [/quote] [Link]
jayo All-Star Member 2117 Posts 7/04	Posted - Apr 5 2013 : 6:09PM I've had various hard-drive failures, but I've never had failures due to the connectors. It's always been something else. [Link]
RandomPrecision Senior Member Enjoy! 8175 Posts 3/06	Posted - Apr 5 2013 : 9:18PM I've never had a hard drive actually die. I've lost data by being an idiot and screwing up Windows (on top of failure to back it up) or accidentally formatting or something. Even though they do sometimes fail (and any HD will probably eventually die if you use it long enough), mechanical hard drives are amazingly reliable. Most of the drives I had in the past I ended up retiring them when I bought new drives that were much quieter, cooler running and massively larger capacity. I still have the first 40 gig drive I had in my 1999 HP and it still works (although it sounds like it's getting ready for takeoff). It's hard to believe things with moving parts and such tight specs can be so resilient. [Link]
jakejd4949 Senior Member 2938 Posts 8/06	Posted - Apr 6 2013 : 9:14AM The drive actually started up fine and works , just can't change the folder from read only. Can't seem to copy it either , as the copies come up empty . [Link]
BYOB_Kenobi Senior Member “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” - Kierkegaard 2684 Posts 8/09	Posted - Apr 6 2013 : 1:44PM ^ just copy folders/files to another drive and it should either be writable or you can unlock the read-only. [Link]
jakejd4949 Senior Member 2938 Posts 8/06	Posted - Apr 6 2013 : 5:07PM My problem is I copy the folder , the copy I get is empty . BYOB_Kenobi wrote: ^ just copy folders/files to another drive and it should either be writable or you can unlock the read-only. [/quote] [Link]
ninja1 Senior Member 2939 Posts 1/08	Posted - Apr 7 2013 : 1:30PM ^Are you sure it's really actually empty? Possibly the folder/files are categorized as 'system' files and/or are hidden from plain view. You can tinker with folder properties to decide whether to hide vs. display the hidden/system files. Edited by - ninja1 on 4/7/2013 2:55:10 PM [Link]
jayo All-Star Member 2117 Posts 7/04	Posted - Apr 7 2013 : 3:08PM The directory might be corrupted. Does anyone have a good drive directory repair utility, or just run CHKDSK /F? Edited by - jayo on 4/7/2013 3:09:47 PM [Link]

RandomPrecision Senior Member Enjoy! 8175 Posts 3/06	Posted - Apr 7 2013 : 4:35PM What happens if you try to copy the files inside the folder instead of the whole folder? [Link]
jakejd4949 Senior Member 2938 Posts 8/06	Posted - Apr 10 2013 : 9:53AM When I open the folder , it just looks like an empty folder . I check the properties , the first time I loaded it , it did show more that 2gb and counting-now it just shows empty . Seriously , thanks for all the help here guys . [Link]
jayo All-Star Member 2117 Posts 7/04	Posted - Apr 10 2013 : 7:46PM Look for a directory repair utility. [Link]