Calling all computer geeks!!! My dinosaur is dead...

[ermindy1133]

So, before I begin, let me just clarify that I am 1/2 step above computer illiterate. I am an absolute whiz with my EMR, and I can hold my own with Microsoft Office. Otherwise, I’m useless. We bought this Dell all in one several years ago because our previous dinosaur was dragging 3 of its 4 feet and was about to expire. Now this one is dead. I mean, dead. I don’t really care about fixing it, but would love to retrieve the photos that we have on it. My DH, DD have a zillion songs that they want, but the photos are the most important. I cannot find a recover disk (and I keep everything), so I have no clue how to proceed. Here is the message I’m getting...



My question, is there anything I can do to retrieve my photos? Thanks so much for any help/advice!

[brp]

This one is serious. It is possible that a few retries might allow it to boot if this is intermittent...enough to get the photos off.

In the future, I suggest a backup software program and an external disk...for just such occasions as this.

There may be more in depth things to try, and I hope others can offer more of those, but this is definitely not good. Now, if you do happen to have the Windows disks that came with the computer, that may be worth trying.

Good luck!

Cheers.

[Loro]

The photos should still be intact on the hard drive. As for the computer itself, not sure how to fix. Those all-in-ones can be interesting to work on.

It says a device is inaccessible though, so maybe something disconnected inside somehow?

[ermindy1133]

Originally Posted by brp

This one is serious. It is possible that a few retries might allow it to boot if this is intermittent...enough to get the photos off.

In the future, I suggest a backup software program and an external disk...for just such occasions as this.

There may be more in depth things to try, and I hope others can offer more of those, but this is definitely not good. Now, if you do happen to have the Windows disks that came with the computer, that may be worth trying.

Good luck!

Cheers.

Yeah. I have turned the house upside down looking for that disk. I even found the floppy disks that came with my word processor back in the stone ages, but no windows disk. I tried the windows disk for my laptop, because what could it hurt at this point? No dice. I’m really questioning if we ever even had a disk. I’m serious. I keep everything!

[ermindy1133]

Originally Posted by Loro

The photos should still be intact on the hard drive. As for the computer itself, not sure how to fix. Those all-in-ones can be interesting to work on.

It says a device is inaccessible though, so maybe something disconnected inside somehow?

No clue. This thing would already be at the appropriate recycling center if not for the possibility of retrieving my photos.

[brp]

Originally Posted by Loro

The photos should still be intact on the hard drive.

That's a other thought. When getting a new computer, it may well be possible t mount this drive...assuming that the drive is not the thing that went bad.

Cheers.

[ermindy1133]

So, really dumb question... could I try an external hard drive to “go around” the existing drive? Or is that way off base? I’m really reaching, if you can’t tell. I guess if the photos are on the original drive, that would be defeating the purpose, though...

[brp]

Originally Posted by ermindy1133

So, really dumb question... could I try an external hard drive to “go around” the existing drive? Or is that way off base? I’m really reaching, if you can’t tell. I guess if the photos are on the original drive, that would be defeating the purpose, though...

If you had an external hard drive with an operating system image I believe that you could boot off that. But, during the boot process you'd need to get into the BIOS (low level firmware that directs pre-boot operations, among other things) and change the boot sequence. Then you may be able to access the photos on the internal disk.

But I'll be damned if I can remember how to do that, or even if the procedure is still the same after all these years since I last did anything like that.

Depending upon the value of the pictures to you it may be worth calling a local GeekSquad or equivalent service from advice from people who really know how to do these things

Cheers.

[Joeli]

Call Best Buy, if there is one near you, then Take the machine in. They most probably can take out the drive from the machine, hook it up externally to another machine, and transfer what you need off the drive. This way you can have what you need. Then you can determine if you want a new machine or have them “fix” the boot partition of this damaged hard drive.

[ermindy1133]

Originally Posted by brp

If you had an external hard drive with an operating system image I believe that you could boot off that. But, during the boot process you'd need to get into the BIOS (low level firmware that directs pre-boot operations, among other things) and change the boot sequence. Then you may be able to access the photos on the internal disk.

But I'll be damned if I can remember how to do that, or even if the procedure is still the same after all these years since I last did anything like that.

Depending upon the value of the pictures to you it may be worth calling a local GeekSquad or equivalent service from advice from people who really know how to do these things

Cheers.

Originally Posted by Joeli

Call Best Buy, if there is one near you, then Take the machine in. They most probably can take out the drive from the machine, hook it up externally to another machine, and transfer what you need off the drive. This way you can have what you need. Then you can determine if you want a new machine or have them “fix” the boot partition of this damaged hard drive.

Unfortunately, I haven’t had the best luck at Worst Buy. I’ve got one more thing I can try before I call them. That really will be my last resort, though. Thanks for all of your help!