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I thought I’d post this in case anybody else has had this issue …. and to act as a salutory warning.
My main PC had an 80GB hard disk (C:) as well as a slave 80GB hard disk used for backups and storage (F:). I regularly (about once a month or even less) backed up my C: drive onto my F: drive so that I had a duplicate (and up to date) copy of all my essential files and data, in case I had a C: drive failure etc. (Typically this included “My Documents”; Outlook – .pst files; and all my ‘professional’ information and accounts files and suchlike).
I figured that I was well protected against data loss.
Last week the PC was on the receiving end of an unexplained power surge – possibly a local lightning strike during a thundestorm. When I next re-started the PC, to my horror I got an error message ….. “NTLDR is missing. Please press Ctrl+Alt+Del to continue” (This file is an essential part of ‘boot.ini’ without which the PC can’t boot up into Windows).
This re-booted the PC and it promptly went into the same cycle. Nothing I could do made any difference.
I thought I’d use the recovery CD to re-install Windows – XP Pro – even though this would erase the entire contents of the C: drive. Hey, I had a full recent backup so why not?
Unfortunately, the recovery process refused to load and wipe out rhe C: drive – the partition table was corrupted.
OOOOOOPS !!!!
So I bought aother new hard drive (250 GB) to replace the zapped C: , installed it, and loaded a fresh (clean) copy of Windows no problems.
When I tried to open the F: drive to re-instal my files from the backup … to my horror the F: drive was also corrupted and couldn’t be read no matter what was tried. Again the partition was corrupted (by the power surge).
OK, yet another new hard disk (to replace the zapped F: drive) was installed ….. but still no data at all. Panic stations!
Luckily, a good friend of mine is (amongst other things) capable of recovering data from stuffed hard disks. This he did and I’m now in the process of re-loading everything so that it was as before.
So what’s the lesson to be learnt???
Looking back over it all, I realised that my computer installation was NOT protected against power surges, and what amounted to a relatively common occurrence totally zapped what I thought was a comprehensive and safe system recovery plan.
First thing I did – before re-loading all the data etc – was to instal a simple surge protected mains power socket adaptor ….. available from (in my case) Homebase for £12.99 for a 6 way adaptor….. or from many other hardware stores.
IF your computer is connected directly to the mains electricity supply – whether you are using an ‘multiway adaptor or not – you really should ensure that it is protected against power surges. The consequences hardly bear thinking about, as I can testify.
Some people (PB) think they can economize by protecting only critical in-house circuits (TV, etc.,) with cheap surge protectors.
This is a mistake because a surge can do far more damage to electrical wiring, and things you might not consider (mainly, anything with a circuit board in it).
Some people, with computers, fancy stereo systems and the like, protect the whole house and also protect inside circuits.
Single circuit protectors (in addition to a whole RV protector) gives better added insurance.
For computer and video/music systems, protectors with multiple outlets only cost £15 (but aren’t good enough).
Much better whole house surge protectors inside include as options ‘phone line and co-ax cable protection as well as filters to keep power line noise and RFI (radio frequency interference) from annoying you.
So PB the following are now going to fail in the next year.
Central heating boiler
TV
DVD Player
washing machine
toaster
any radios or anything else that where plug in at the time.
Call in a electrician, have your wiring inspected and get “whole house surge protection” installed before you replace anything else.Hey Charles
I recovered from a hard drive failure in July so know exactly what you are going through. Mine was a mechanical hard drive failure though, and I had most data backed up on an external hard drive.
I have always used a power surge adaptor for my computer, and am surprised you didn’t! Oh well, we learn by our mistakes, eh?
Good to have you back!
Pffft and they fink im fick at least i have a powwer up down fingy on my plug
fick c00nt hahahahah
Technophobes in one form or another, or just plain thick. At least he got all his JC pics and PMs back, bless his cauliflower ears.
@chathostuk wrote:
Hey Charles
I recovered from a hard drive failure in July so know exactly what you are going through. Mine was a mechanical hard drive failure though, and I had most data backed up on an external hard drive.
I have always used a power surge adaptor for my computer, and am surprised you didn’t! Oh well, we learn by our mistakes, eh?
Good to have you back!
Cheers Martin. Well I sure learnt by my mistake eh??? – so did my wallet !!!
I looked into the possibility of using an external hard drive for backup …. but they seemed to cost around £85-£120 depending on the size. A new HDD only cost me £46 (£92 for the pair) and I now have 500 GB of storage (2 x 250 GB) and it didn’t cost me too much.
The part of the exercise that was the most difficult was trying to remember what ‘little extras’ I had installed – you know, all those tweaks that personalise your Windows installation. I think I’ve got most of them ….. er …. umm….. I’ll let you know.
HELPFUL TIP:
For those who often install software from the internet (as opposed to installing it from a CD/DVD) it can be a total nightmare to remember where it all came from if you need to re-install it for some reason. Here’s a useful idea.
Create a new Folder on your desktop and name it “Downloads”. (Right click on the desktop and let the mouse pointer hover over “New”. On the pop out menu, go to the top and click on “Folder”. Windows will place one on the desktop, which you can then name “Downloads”)
Then, every time you download stuff from the internet – instead of clicking on “Run” …. click on “Save” and save the downloaded file in “Downloads”.
When you want to instal it, simply navigate to the saved file, click on it to open it, and away you go. If you need to re-install it at any time, you will always have a copy saved on your computer. Trust me …. it’s really useful lol.
@forumhostpb wrote:
@chathostuk wrote:
Hey Charles
I recovered from a hard drive failure in July so know exactly what you are going through. Mine was a mechanical hard drive failure though, and I had most data backed up on an external hard drive.
I have always used a power surge adaptor for my computer, and am surprised you didn’t! Oh well, we learn by our mistakes, eh?
Good to have you back!
Cheers Martin. Well I sure learnt by my mistake eh??? – so did my wallet !!!
I looked into the possibility of using an external hard drive for backup …. but they seemed to cost around £85-£120 depending on the size. A new HDD only cost me £46 (£92 for the pair) and I now have 500 GB of storage (2 x 250 GB) and it didn’t cost me too much.
The part of the exercise that was the most difficult was trying to remember what ‘little extras’ I had installed – you know, all those tweaks that personalise your Windows installation. I think I’ve got most of them ….. er …. umm….. I’ll let you know.
HELPFUL TIP:
For those who often install software from the internet (as opposed to installing it from a CD/DVD) it can be a total nightmare to remember where it all came from if you need to re-install it for some reason. Here’s a useful idea.
Create a new Folder on your desktop and name it “Downloads”. (Right click on the desktop and let the mouse pointer hover over “New”. On the pop out menu, go to the top and click on “Folder”. Windows will place one on the desktop, which you can then name “Downloads”)
Then, every time you download stuff from the internet – instead of clicking on “Run” …. click on “Save” and save the downloaded file in “Downloads”.
When you want to instal it, simply navigate to the saved file, click on it to open it, and away you go. If you need to re-install it at any time, you will always have a copy saved on your computer. Trust me …. it’s really useful lol.
I wish i had seen this post last week!! my computer decided to die and I got a fatal error (or something technically worded flashed on my screen before it died) and my computer would not boot up. I had no idea where the restore discs are as my computer is 7 years old. So i had to restore to factory settings and ended up with service pack 1(!) on my puter, no games or any of the software that I had downloaded in the last 7 years. I have lost all my word and excel files but some reason I still have photos stored and I am still trying to go through everything and download the programmes etc, I have nothing on cd/dvd. It has taken almost a week to download all the updates via the automatic update thing and to reinstall my norton antivirus. The grief it has caused to someone like me who doesnt know computer jargon to try and get all my settings back just how i like them is unbelievable. On the plus side my computer has loads of free space and is extremely fast now :lol:
:shock: well…………………you lot have totally lost me
Ok just turn left at the next junction tinks, go about 2 mile, take a right then first left and it’s just on your left hand side next to the CO-OP
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