Home Forums Data Error - Cyclic Redundancy Check

OK - seems a hard drive is going south. He can't boot into Windows. What data recovery tools do you guys recommend?

I would take out the hard drive and attach it to another computer and try to recover the data directly.

Or use a live CD and an external drive to get the data. There are some recovery tools out there, most don't work very well. I would only consider them if the steps above don't work. If it's something critical, I would see the assistance of a data recovery specialist. They are not cheap and don't be fooled by anyone offering recovery for a few hundred dollars. The legitimate ones have access to clean rooms as well some very advanced software.

I was afraid you'd say that. I have the drive attached to a docking station, and so far, I'm having no luck in getting to the contents. I'm going to try a cheap freebie program to try and access it, but if it doesn't work, it doesn't work.

This laptop was on a WHS 2011 network, so we may have a backup on the server. Problem is, it appears the only way I can restore is to bring the old laptop back online with a new HD. Not the ideal situation, as we want to toss the old laptop.

While neither is optimal, here are a couple of options for you; one is more work, the other costs some money.

I'm basing this on the assumption (you'll need to validate) that the machine was setup well enough that it is faster to restore and move than it is is just toss it.

<1> Restore the machine on a new drive, then do a drive-transplant into a new machine. You'll need to have already copied the new machine drivers onto a USB drive, then after the OS boots on the new machine, you'll need to swap all the drivers. You may also [probably] need to re-validate the OS lic.

<2> Use a dissimilar restore tool like what Acronis makes, so that you can backup and restore on dissimilar hardware. This will still require the first restore, it just makes moving the install easier.

Keep In Mind:: If the drive just died, such are moving parts. However, if something on the old laptop contributed to that failure (power supply, signaling, cooling, etc) then the new drive is going to have the same inflicted. Thus, YMMV.

Actually, I'm looking to recover just a few key files and folders like .PST, some Desktop stuff, etc.

And the other wrinkle is, I'd like to do it remotely. But again, it appears WHS is an all-or-nothing proposition.

Ok - it looks like I can access and restore files for the laptop from a *different* workstation on the WHS 2011 network. That's convenient.

If that's that case, then my problems are solved.