Camera Labs

alright so about three or so months ago my computer just stopped working. i went to turn it on and that like 'blue screen of death'came up and i was like uh oh so i stopped messing with it. three months later, its getting close to christmas (and im about to get a new camera) and i still dont really have a computer.

my question is- ive got thousands of photos on my computer (and of course, none of them backed up, just my luck. but ive learned my lesson trust me) and i really really REALLY dont want to lose them. has this ever happened to anyone? and if it did, what did you do? did you get them back? im just trying to figure out a way to get my pictures back without spending three hundred dollars but if i spent three hundred dollars to have everyghing saved it might be worth it... i dont have three hundred dollars though.

so any ideas??

Can you boot up the computer at all? If you can, investing in an external USB hard drive might be a good idea, then you can just copy the photos across. If you can't boot it up, then if you have another computer you could try taking the hard drive out and putting it in the other computer and using the other computer to copy the files. The easy option, though would be to take it down to a computer shop and let them do it.

I recommend always storing your files on a separate hard drive or at least a separate partition from the operating system so that if you need to reinstall Windows (or whatever you're using), you don't lose any of your files.

There's plenty of tutorials on the internet to help you with any of these things.

_________________
Olympus E-510 | ED 14-42mm 1:3.5-5.6 | ED 40-150mm 1:4.0-5.6 | 35mm 1:3.5 Macro | Giottos MTL8361B & MH-5001 3-way head | Lowepro Orion Trekker II bag

http://www.calummacnab.com

Hi Katie,

Bad luck about the computer. If you have a friend or colleague who is truly knowledgeable about computers (rather than some whiz-kid who may leap in and make things worse) then having them see if your old machine can be resurrected to allow your photos to be copied elsewhere (such as an external USB drive or via a network to another computer) might be the best move.

Failing that, the photos are almost certainly still intact on the hard drive and that can be plugged in to another machine (data cable and power connector) to effect a rescue. This will be complicated if your computer is a notebook and you will probably need help. Even if the computer is a normal desktop variety if my guess is good that the hard disk uses the older IDE data cable then you need to take care connecting it to the second connector of the IDE cable in another machine. The reason is that IDE drives can be configured as Masters or Slaves and the chances are good that your drive is currently a Master and must be reconfigured as a Slave. You can usually find out how to do this by checking the hard disk drive manufacturer's website for a data sheet. If your disk drive uses one of the newer SATA data connectors then provided you have a cable and a spare SATA port on the second computer nothing else needs to be done (but remember you need a power connector as well either way). Once the computer is booted up you should see your drive as a new drive using Windows Explorer though there may still be issues getting to the data if the disk is formatted as NTFS rather than the older FAT32.

Regardless of the above, the golden rule should be not to rush. As I said, your photos are almost certainly safe at the moment and they are at most risk from precipitate action.

Good luck.

Bob.

_________________
OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

thanks alot. although alot of that didnt make sense to me (im no computer genius) it has reassured me a bit. my computer is a hp pavillion zv something something and its a laptop. its under warranty too. my mom wants me to take it to circuit city but im afraid those doofuses there will mess it up. do you think it would be a good idea to call hp and see waht they have to say?

Hi Katie,

It certainly can't do any harm to try and contact HP directly but they are such a big outfit that it may take some time to get an answer. My guess is that they will turn the problem over to Circuit City.

In the end I think you will have to abide by the terms of your warranty. If that means taking it back to Circuit City then so be it, but I suggest that if you don't feel the doofuses will listen to you and make sure that the service engineer takes every possible step to safeguard your data then take along some muscle.

Late Breaking Thought. Have you tried booting the machine up in "Safe" mode? This is done by pressing the F8 key (several times if necessary) just as Windows is about to start up. Windows then offers a menu which includes (from memory) the options to start in Safe Mode, Safe Mode with Networking as well as to start Windows normally. If you can get the machine up and running in Safe Mode (preferably with Networking) then you should be able to access your data and copy it elsewhere before returning it under warranty.

Using this Google search I came up with numerous articles about starting and using Safe Mode which may be of use to you.

Bob.

_________________
OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Hi Katie, further to what Bob and Calmac have said, if all else fails, you'll be able to fish the hard disk out of the laptop and connect it to another computer to retrieve the data. So unless there's been some really nasty corruption to your drive, I think your data will still be intact. It's probably (hopefully) just the operating system that's become sick.

When you have someone look at it, make sure they know it has data on it which you want to keep, or they may just wipe the disk and resintall Windows on it.

Gordon

Sorry to repeat myself, but once you get your photos off (and I'm pretty sure you will) you should definitely get an external hard drive to store them on, it's certainly saved me a lot of hassle in the past and you don't have to worry about reinstalling windows. It also makes it easier to transfer onto a new computer. I recently bought my second USB hard drive (160 GB) for £40 off ebay including P&P, and it works great!

_________________
Olympus E-510 | ED 14-42mm 1:3.5-5.6 | ED 40-150mm 1:4.0-5.6 | 35mm 1:3.5 Macro | Giottos MTL8361B & MH-5001 3-way head | Lowepro Orion Trekker II bag

http://www.calummacnab.com

i have been looking at an external hard drive. im looking at one its by seagate and its 250GB which should be more than enough.
what you were saying about taking a hard drive out and putting it in a new computer... could i take one from my hp laptop and put it in an hp desk top? my grandfather just got a new computer and doesnt need his old desk top anymore. he doesnt have anything on it except the operating system. i have a few computer whiz friends im sure could help me. do you think it would be possible?

by the way, thanks everyone for your help and reassurement. its been a huge pain in the butt and i finally decided to get it over with now so im hoping for the best!

i have been looking at an external hard drive. im looking at one its by seagate and its 250GB which should be more than enough.
what you were saying about taking a hard drive out and putting it in a new computer... could i take one from my hp laptop and put it in an hp desk top? my grandfather just got a new computer and doesnt need his old desk top anymore. he doesnt have anything on it except the operating system. i have a few computer whiz friends im sure could help me. do you think it would be possible?

by the way, thanks everyone for your help and reassurement. its been a huge pain in the butt and i finally decided to get it over with now so im hoping for the best!

Hi Katie,

Hope your friends get it sorted and please let us know how you get on as we are now all on tenterhooks hoping it goes well!

Bob.

_________________
OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Hi Katie, yes you can connect a laptop hard disk to a desktop PC, BUT you will need a special adapter because the power and data plugs on a laptop disk are smaller than those on a desktop disk.

You're looking for a 2.5in laptop to 3.5in desktop hard disk adaper, and I bet CompUSA or some other stores would sell them for less than 30 bucks.

.
Might be some other bargains at CompUSA as well as this Washington Post story indicates they are shutting up shop.

Bob.

_________________
OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

what would the adapter be called? i'd buy one along with an external hard drive. this probably wont happen until after christmas becuase the holidays have me very short on money but ill be sure to keep you guys updated on how it goes

Hi Katie,

I used to have a Sony Vaio laptop and it was great for years, but then suddenly one day....nothing...and hadn't backed up my pics either! Do you know if your laptop's hard drive is partitioned? i.e. (C, D, E, F drives rather than everything all in the C Drive)

Fortunately mine was and I'd saved all my pics in a different drive to the C Drive so when Windows was reinstalled, everything on the D,E,F drives was saved and I just lost everything in the C drive.

It seems nowadays that it's actually harder to get rid of information on your cumputer than you'd think and people who know what they're doing can recover things you've even deliberatley deleted so fingers crossed for you.

Good luck

_________________
Mark
Nikon D300 / Sigma 10-20mm / Nikkor 17-55 f2.8 / Nikkor 18-200mm VR / Nikkor 50mm f1.8 / SB600 Speedlight
Mark Amy Photography
My Squidoo lens - Images of China

hey thanks for your response.
unfortunatley, i am about 90% sure my hard drive isnt partitioned.
did you send your computer to have the data recovered or did you do it yourself? i was thinking about sending it to a data recovery place at first but its so much money and im not sure where to take it/send it