Faulty hard drive on my sister-in-laws Toshiba latop?

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jasummers93

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Jan 15, 2024
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I'm trying to fix my sister-in-laws old laptop (get it up and running again) AND extract the files from the original hard drive.

  • The laptop in question is: Toshiba Satellite C550-A-14W
  • The hardrive in question is: Toshiba MQ01ABD100 1TB
  • The OS it ran was Windows 8
When booting the laptop it sticks on either a blank or error screen with the error code: 0xc0000185

I've tried:

  • changing the boot order (HD is first)
  • using a USB to HD adaptor to try and format/extract files from the HD (crashes my windows explorer when trying)
  • booting via a Windows 8 recovery disk (blank screen straight after selecting to boot via disk drive)
All the evidence points towards the hard drive being faulty. So I need advice on two points:

  • how best might I be able to extract the files off the faulty hard drive?
  • what's the best solution for getting the laptop up and running again (getting a new hardrive and running the windows 8 recovery disk on it?)
Advice could include what experts might be best to take the hard drive to, if it indeed would require expertise beyond mine. Many thanks!
 
jasummers93 said:
* how best might I be able to extract the files off the faulty hard drive?
Click to expand...

Possibility use a live version of Linux and extract the personal files off the system yet there is no guarantee that this will work depending on the extent of the damage since the USB to another system did not.

Linux is more forgiving than windows yet the more you access the drive the more damage is happening.

jasummers93 said:
* what's the best solution for getting the laptop up and running again (getting a new hardrive and running the windows 8 recovery disk on it?)
Click to expand...

If the drive is faulty and needs to be replaced, then yes.
 
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What sort of USB to HD adapter was it?
Perhaps it could be the issue, if so, try an external hard drive enclosure, or plug that laptop drive into a desktop PC and see if it is readable/

If no luck, you are up for a professional data recovery mob to retrieve the data.
But be warned, they are not cheap and the data needs to merit the expense.
 
Thanks both, my conclusion is indeed that the HDD in question is not functioning and to extract the data it would need professional data recovery. I'll get a few quotes and see if it is indeed worth it or not. I've also ordered a new HDD so that the laptop can function again, albeit without it's original/personal files.
 
If not already too late, replacing the original drive with a SSD would be better.
And let me guess, you had not backups of the data on the old drive? :)
 
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