Saving files from a compaq 511

My friend has a compaq 511 and wants me to do a reformat so i tried getting out his files first.

but it's taking so long! so i did a hard drive check on BIOS mode, and while on the process of checking the disk it gave me an error, telling me that i need to have the hdd changed.

I thought maybe that error would mean nothing once i reformat my friends laptop, but he really needs the files in it so i can't proceed doing a reformat.


any ideas what the cause might be?

 

Well, couldn't you just leave it on overnight or something?

What is the specific error you can see in the BIOS? Have you checked SMART info on the HDD to see what is going on?

How are you copying files from the laptop? USB? maybe the computer has USB 1.0/1.1 and that could be leading to the slow transfer rates....

 

i did what you suggested!

1 day of transferring files. ( a lot of times i need to skip some files because of an error that i can't transfer that particular file)

and 1 day of CHKDSK repairing bad clusters of my friends hard drive. the laptop is now clean installed, but still a little slow considering it's freshly installed.

i've also read on other sites that an HDD having a bad cluster means that it's almost at it's end?

 

Usually those bad clusters are result of physical damage on disc surface, the head reading data on disc has touched on the surface and made a scratch on it.

Every time the head now travels over the scratch, it touches it again and spreads the damaged area. That's the reason why it's adviced not to do anything for a drive if it has important data and let professionals to handle it.

User should be ready to buy a new drive soon, it's not worth storing anything valuable on that drive anymore.

 

what caused it to make a scratch? :\

 

Bump/drop/tilt the computer while it's turned on.

 

but laptops are designed for portability! :| wouldn't it only happen if the bump/drop/tilt is so severe?

i used to leave my laptop on its side when it's overheating.