hdd failed... need precious help

an accident smashing of my lovely c2 with more than 12000 hours in it resulted in a bad hard drive...

so many hours so many work into this never formatted hdd so I need your precious help please and I am not even in USA now so I am screwed

it seems HDD is not completely dead as it is recognized by the bios and I can go to recovery but when tey to boot windows getting an "unexpected i/o error has occurred 0xc00000e9 windows 7"

and in panasonic diagnosis I get a failed HDD not sure what to do and any suggestions would be greatly appreciated Thank you so much

 

boot from usb flash drive, backup all your important info, remove old hdd, install new hdd, reinstall OS
or what advice do you want to hear?

 

Here is a slightly different method.
Pull hard drive.
Replace with new drive.
Install Windows on new drive.
Install old drive in external usb case.
Transfer files from old drive to new drive.

 

which of these options here will not delete my files? anyone?

 

I understand your concern.

If the computer itself was physically damaged, removing the drive will do nothing to the drive. Just pull the battery and power loose first before starting work. If the edge of the drive is damaged the connector could be physically damaged. The platter itself might be fine. Maybe just a new caddy is needed. If the external plug on the caddy is damaged the connector inside the computer may also be damaged. Go slow and check it all with a bright light.

Verify that all systems are go by doing a factory install to a new hard drive. Once you are very certain that the computer is working then is the time to transfer the files that you need onto the new system.

USB drive cases are very cheap.....they will keep your information secure until you need it.

Both of the gentleman above have a lot more experience than I do....it is just two ways to handle the situation. Neither way will damage existing files as long as you are careful and do the work yourself. In other words, don't let Windows do it. (via software)

If you can't read your data at all yourself there are companies that do it for a living.

 

I'm sure it's safer for you to ask your nearest PC service to perform all those operations (backup, new drive, install).

 

a linux installation machine (or even a live cd) will allow you to pull your data from the drive .
this will require you to hook the drive up to a machine and then you can actually "see" what is on that drive by navigating through the various folders .
i strongly recommend using a dedicated 'nix machine to do the snooping ... it is easier .
copy the required folders to the desktop or a folder labeled "old data" (or something like that) .

there are tutorials on youtube for using a linux based OS for retrieval of data .
(i use linux mint 13 and 18.1 on my forensics machines)

if you are not very good at this stuff ... check with a friend that is competent in such matters or go to an outfit that does data retrieval .

 

@ cwb32 thank you man great great great idea I really do appreciated

I gave hdd an expert today and just waiting an update from him but I will tell him to do what you just said

I am very scared I cannot lose 3 years of data...

 

it's a question of regular backups
p.s. you don't have to tell an expert how to copy your hdd contents

 

not telling an *expert* ...
for the most part , this is true ... anyone who is really hip will know what to do and above all , will make a "bit copy" (a very old term for *cloning*) before doing anything else .
the data retrieval is done from the copy where possible .
the original drive should never be touched unless absolutely necessary .
however , in all fairness and keeping an eye on the learning curve ... it is ok to mention a *possible solution* ...
no one can know everything there is to know ...
the wise man accepts and acknowledges his limitations so that he may *grow* .