Recovering baby pics

[Roddy]

Hey guys, our HP pavillion pc shit the bed and it can't be saved according to the web forums I've read. I'm suppossed to order recovery discs from HP and re-install them.

The problem is all our youngest girls baby pictures are on that computer (effin digtal cameras) and we forgot to back them up.:morons:

I read that you can hook up to the hard drive and save the info. There is no computer store near this little town but I can send it out. Any idea what something like this would cost? I don't care if he throws the computer out after saving the pics, it was a $500 computer new.

thanks

[Quiesco Viduata]

I had that happen in the past - the hard drive died on my laptop. At Staples they were able to pull everything off and put it on an external hard drive. I think it cost $100 CDN to do it. This was four years ago so the price may have gone up by now.

[tt3]

You would be well ahead to do it yourself. It's not all that tough, they even make boxes to turn an internal drive into an external so you can just plug it into your usb.

Then, after you get them transferred over get yourself an external backup drive and use the darn thing!

I've got eight years of kids pics, 60+gig, in four different places because I know beyond any doubt my life would be forfeit if something happened to them!

Here's an example. (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817392032)

More. (http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=92&name=External-Enclosures)

Just find out what kind of harddrive it is and match the external case. bing bang boom. ;)

[Roddy]

Cool, there's a staples an hour away!

I think if I try to save the computer I'd have to buy windows etc again, probably smarter to replace the computer hey?

My brother lost all his wedding pictures 8 yrs ago, you think we would have learned. We unfortunutly treat our pc like all the other appliances in our house.

[Roddy]

Those cases are cool, but I put my buggered hard drive into them right?

[Don-Dad]

If you have another pc, then you can try to hook up the old drive as an external. You can get a case as TT pointed out, though the case he linked to is only 2.5 and for a laptop hard drive.

How old was the pc? You need to know what kind of drive you have, a SATA or IDE. You could try something like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182221 , if it's a sata drive.

Probably cost you $150 or so if you take it into a shop plus they might jack up the price of an external drive depending how many pics you have.

[Don-Dad]

Cool, there's a staples an hour away!

I think if I try to save the computer I'd have to buy windows etc again, probably smarter to replace the computer hey?

My brother lost all his wedding pictures 8 yrs ago, you think we would have learned. We unfortunutly treat our pc like all the other appliances in our house.


Depends what's wrong with the pc? if it's just the hard drive, you should be able to order disks with the operating system (windows) for a small fee from HP. And then you'd buy a new drive and use the disks from HP. If the pc is just a couple of years old or less, that's not a bad option. If it's older than 2 years, it maybe better to get a new one, you can get a decent desktop for under $500.

Even if you get a new pc, keep the hard drive from the old pc. If you get everything off the drive, destroy the old one yourself.

[Roddy]

Here's a link to someone with the same computer and problem.

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-Hardware/Pavilion-Slimline-s3620f-hard-drive-crash/td-p/331104

So it's a SATA I guess.

[Roddy]

Depends what's wrong with the pc? if it's just the hard drive, you should be able to order disks with the operating system (windows) for a small fee from HP. And then you'd buy a new drive and use the disks from HP. If the pc is just a couple of years old or less, that's not a bad option. If it's older than 2 years, it maybe better to get a new one, you can get a decent desktop for under $500.

Even if you get a new pc, keep the hard drive from the old pc. If you get everything off the drive, destroy the old one yourself.

I think it is 5 yrs old, probably not worth it but money's tight so it would be nice to fix it.

[Quiesco Viduata]

Here's a link to someone with the same computer and problem.

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-Hardware/Pavilion-Slimline-s3620f-hard-drive-crash/td-p/331104

So it's a SATA I guess.

Okay, it must be the product that is a dud. We have one of those and the power supply seems to be dead. We haven't really tried fixing it much as most things on the hard drive we already had backed up. I have a student who is tinkering around with it to see if he can get it work - put in our case, its the power source that seems to be the issue.

[tt3]

Yeah, if its just the hdd that cracked you could just replace it and keep the system. Getting data off the drive is going to be just as easy as plugging it into one of those boxes if you're lucky enough that its just the boot sector that is toast, if the drive stopped spinning or is completely trashed you're S.O.L. unless you want to pay someone to take it apart to recover the pics.

(I just threw those links up from newegg, no clue which one you need. newegg is a great site for equipment though, if you know what you need.)

[Roddy]

Yeah, if its just the hdd that cracked you could just replace it and keep the system. Getting data off the drive is going to be just as easy as plugging it into one of those boxes if you're lucky enough that its just the boot sector that is toast, if the drive stopped spinning or is completely trashed you're S.O.L. unless you want to pay someone to take it apart to recover the pics.

(I just threw those links up from newegg, no clue which one you need. newegg is a great site for equipment though, if you know what you need.)

It fires up and you can hear it then it says "hard drive error, insert discs" so maybe it's not too far gone.

I saw a you tube video about their power supply problems, the guy was putting a new one in. Tight fit though, that's why the original ones sucked.

So I order the right box, open the PC and plug the wire connector from the hard drive into the box then take that box over to my laptop and recover the files?

[tt3]

Yeah, open the pc, take out the harddrive, probably screwed in... unplug the data ribbon and power cord from the back of the drive and then put it in the box.
Buy a new harddrive, install it, load from the recovery disks then plug your old drive into the usb and salvage what you can.
(I think. I've only ever done it the hard way installing the broken drive as a slave to the new... nevermind)

[Roddy]

Thanks for the info, I'll probably just take it in to get the pics but I might order those recovery discs before I throw it out.

[Don-Dad]

Pick up the sata enclosure, put old drive in, connect to laptop and hope for the best. Does your laptop have enough space available to accept the new files? You might need 2 drives. Well one enclosure and one external with drive already installed. Or a 16 gb thumb drive. I recommend the external, load as many pics as you can or all on the laptop and also keep them on the new external.

[Roddy]

It says we have 390GB free space of 430GB on the laptop. The HP probably has less stuff on it, for $11 I might as well try eh!

[tt3]

Make sure you get the right enclosure, then fersure give it a go! I cringe to think you'll bring it somewhere and pay to do it.

[Hockeyfan]

$11 I might as well try eh!

No. It's not worth it. :icon_wink:

Good luck. Now go and buy an external hard drive. They are pretty inexpensive. Back-up your pics!@@@

[Cubfan]

This is sort of an aside...

my wife had a friend over this past Saturday, I pulled out an old photo album to show her something. We both agreed how nice it is to flip thru an actual photo album, as opposed to viewing pix on someone's computer.

My goal over the next several months is to start printing out some old pix and putting them in books, and having them sit out where people can pick them up and flip thru. Having millions of pix sitting on a hard-drive awaiting destruction is absolutely pointless!

[Roddy]

If it had a motor or a flame I'd have it fixed by now, I know nothing about computers! If I get this fixed the OL will definetly be impressed.

Looking at photo albums with family is one of my favorite childhood memories cubfan, we printed a bunch out and made albums and my girls will sit side-by-side for hours looking at them.

[Neodaddy]

Another (probably paranoid) aside. Are there are lot of cute naked baby pics? Just have heard a few horror stories about people's stuff being turned over to police by sick-minded people who apparently don't have children and find something "perverse" in the pics. Just something to think about. Avoid any problems by doing it yourself.

[Don-Dad]

I've been doing the opposite of Cubfan. I bought a picture scanner on woot a few weeks ago (I think it was about $30). I've already scanned about 700 pics.

I can then use another gadget I have to display them on the tv, no need to flip through a photo album when I can use a remote control :icon_razz:

I'm ultra paranoid about back ups now, back up to 2 hard drives and an online service.

[mogwai dad]

I try to back up on an external drive along with a cd. I may also just keep them on the memory cards and buy another one when it fills up.

I like the feel of photo albums for certain things, but like the ability to search for things electronically. I can print anything I want and create an album if desired.

One thing I kind of miss, and this is more nostalgic than anything, are slides. My dad was a huge fan of putting vacation pics on slides and then setting up the projector to view them with a bowl of popcorn. Sure, if I were anywhere else I would cringe if someone busted that out. We made a semi-big deal out of it though at our house and it was always fun.

[Roddy]

I try to back up on an external drive along with a cd. I may also just keep them on the memory cards and buy another one when it fills up.

I like the feel of photo albums for certain things, but like the ability to search for things electronically. I can print anything I want and create an album if desired.

One thing I kind of miss, and this is more nostalgic than anything, are slides. My dad was a huge fan of putting vacation pics on slides and then setting up the projector to view them with a bowl of popcorn. Sure, if I were anywhere else I would cringe if someone busted that out. We made a semi-big deal out of it though at our house and it was always fun.

Slide shows were huge for my family too, I always loved the commentary and jokes by the older men after a few thanksgiving drinks!:chugchug:

And Neo my mom always took nudies of us as kids and I hated that so I never took any of my kids when they were little, but good point. Sick bastids out there:assault:

[Don-Dad]

Use windows movie maker for slide shows, it's free and does a good job. Load them onto a cd or dvd and play them using your dvd player, instant slide show :)

I've used windows movie maker for 2 slide shows, both for calling hours at wakes. Loaded them onto laptops, people enjoy them as much as one can in that kind of environment.

[Electriclime]

Hey Roddy. Good advice on transferring data from the old drive to the laptop. Since your PC is 5 years old, make sure you know which connector type you have before you order an enclosure.

The top (gray ribbon) is IDE, the bottom (red cable) is SATA. Easy to tell by the difference in size.
http://www.dadstayshome.com/imagehosting/10124d933252a4b4a.jpg


I upload batches a my better pics to Snapfish every few months for prints; they always have deals to get them for a few cents each. You can also make custom photo albums, mugs, calendars, etc. on there which are great for Christmas gifts. I also picked up a blueray burner for secondary backups for my files and pics since CD/DVDs don't hold enough anymore.

[Roddy]

That's great, thanks for the pics!

I'll open it up again and have a look before I order.

So when I plug it into the laptop's usb input I just click on "my computer" and it should show up as drive E or something like that?

[Don-Dad]

Yes, it should show up under my computer.

[Roddy]

So I finally got around to removing the hard drive, that was easy. I should have done it weeks ago!

The #'s on it are:

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500 Gbytes
S/N: 9QM5PS24
ST3500620AS
P/N: 9BX144-621
Firmware: HP24
etc.

It is SATA, how do I tell which enclosure to order?

thanks.