I am so bummed..................

JTHphoto · Jan 24, 2006

now i'm really scared, does this happen a lot? computers crashing and the such? i haven't backed up my computer in probably a year, but i've never had a computer crash. i think i better get in the game... sorry to hear about your situation photo gal, but thanks for the scare!

PlasticSpanner · Jan 24, 2006

JTHphoto said:
now i'm really scared, does this happen a lot? computers crashing and the such? i haven't backed up my computer in probably a year, but i've never had a computer crash. i think i better get in the game... sorry to hear about your situation photo gal, but thanks for the scare!

WOW!

What PC and operating system are you using??? :lol:

PC's with the Microsoft bug tend to crash in varying degrees of devastation on quite a frequent basis!

bace · Jan 24, 2006

Um...actually, that's not true.

I've never had a computer "crash" and I've owned a computer for over 3 years. I've formatted my comp a few times in that period but always had a drive to copy media too before formatting.

I'm really not sure why anyone's comp would crash, but that's just me.

Second hard drives work wonders. If you don't have one, rip one out of a friends comp and copy your pictures over to that.

If you're computer is becoming unstable you should really try a spy ware remover, and a regular defrag. If you don't know what that is, have a computer geek friend show you. It's really very simple and saves a lot of headaches.

Like I said, I've never known a computer to "crash". I don't even know what the true definition of that is. Like....does is just freeze up? Does it not start up? Makes no sense really.

duncanp · Jan 24, 2006

im lucky as BT back up all my photos for me

PlasticSpanner · Jan 24, 2006

XP doesn't crash as such anymore! You just get an error message telling you a problem has occured and the computer needs to shut down! Erm Mr Gates, THATS CRASHED! :lol:

A crash can be anything from a simple program not responding to a complete failure loosing all the hard drive data!

bace · Jan 24, 2006

PlasticSpanner said:
complete failure loosing all the hard drive data!

This actually happens? I could see it happening if you have a virus, but a good virus protection program and regular spy ware scans should prevent this from ever happening. I suppose I've just never heard of it happening amongst anyone I know, because I'm kind-off a computer geek (sssh don't tell anyone that). So I do a really good job of preventing things like that happening. I just figured everyone knew that too.

photo gal · Jan 24, 2006

bace said:
This actually happens? I could see it happening if you have a virus, but a good virus protection program and regular spy ware scans should prevent this from ever happening. I suppose I've just never heard of it happening amongst anyone I know, because I'm kind-off a computer geek (sssh don't tell anyone that). So I do a really good job of preventing things like that happening. I just figured everyone knew that too.

Thanks for making my feel really stupid.........Not your fault...mine......I do regular virus and spyware and I even defrag regularly.....I still don't know what happened.........I run on window 2000 pro on a dell inspiron... no warning...died...reboot...error inaccesible boot device.....got any advice on that?

bace · Jan 24, 2006

Seriously, go buy a new hardrive(Not expensive at all $60 tops for another 60gig). Open up the computer and replace the one you have with it and link up the old one to the extra cable you have inside. Get a computer geek friend to give you a copy of windows XP (Using windows 2000 is probably why you're comp is crashing). When it's all installed you old hard drive should show up and you should be able to salvage all the files.

Hardrives don't just wipe clean unless you have a very distructive virus on your comp. The operating system, in this case windows 2000 (really prone to crashes like that), is just screwed. So once you've installed another hardrive and new Operating system, the old hardrive should show up with all the files on it like a normal second hardrive.

I wish I could take a look at it for you and help you out. And don't feel stupid please. That was not my intention. I too was scared of touching or doing anything with the inner workings of my computer until I realized they're just pieces of metal and wires. Make sure you don't have anything actually hooked up when you're fiddling about inside.

JTHphoto · Jan 24, 2006

PlasticSpanner said:
A crash can be anything from a simple program not responding to a complete failure loosing all the hard drive data!

oh, if that's the case, my computer crashes on a daily basis :lol:

, but in 10 years of PC ownership i have never lost a hard drive, of course i upgrade computers about every 3 years... and i try to do the whole scandisk/defrag/spyware/AV thing too...

photo gal · Jan 24, 2006

bace said:
Seriously, go buy a new hardrive(Not expensive at all $60 tops for another 60gig). Open up the computer and replace the one you have with it and link up the old one to the extra cable you have inside. Get a computer geek friend to give you a copy of windows XP (Using windows 2000 is probably why you're comp is crashing). When it's all installed you old hard drive should show up and you should be able to salvage all the files.

Hardrives don't just wipe clean unless you have a very distructive virus on your comp. The operating system, in this case windows 2000 (really prone to crashes like that), is just screwed. So once you've installed another hardrive and new Operating system, the old hardrive should show up with all the files on it like a normal second hardrive.

I wish I could take a look at it for you and help you out. And don't feel stupid please. That was not my intention. I too was scared of touching or doing anything with the inner workings of my computer until I realized they're just pieces of metal and wires. Make sure you don't have anything actually hooked up when you're fiddling about inside.

Seriously...thank you....I will have someone do that for me...I'm too chicken myself, I think.....

PlasticSpanner · Jan 24, 2006

bace said:
Hardrives don't just wipe clean unless you have a very distructive virus on your comp. The operating system, in this case windows 2000 (really prone to crashes like that), is just screwed. So once you've installed another hardrive and new Operating system, the old hardrive should show up with all the files on it like a normal second hardrive.

Not unless the File Allocation Table has been corrupted which is sometimes what happens when Windows crashes! The FAT contains a map of where all the files are located on the hard drive. 1 file may be spread over several locations in clusters which is what the FAT is for! The FAT is stored at the beginning of the drive (or partition)

It's like having a telephone directory with all the names and numbers swapped around! :lol:

bace · Jan 24, 2006

Yeah, there's no such thing as total disk loss unless you insist on putting a giant magnet on top of your hardrive.

Take the hardrive to a friends house even. Open up their comp. and drop in your hardrive. Copy over everything you need and get them to burn it to dvd for you.

Then take you hardrive home and plug it back in, format, and install Windows XP!!! Windows 2000 is possibly one of the worst operating systems ever made.

bace · Jan 24, 2006

PlasticSpanner said:
Not unless the File Allocation Table has been corrupted which is sometimes what happens when Windows crashes! The FAT contains a map of where all the files are located on the hard drive. 1 file may be spread over several locations in clusters which is what the FAT is for! The FAT is stored at the beginning of the drive (or partition)

It's like having a telephone directory with all the names and numbers swapped around!

Never had that problem, but it makes sense. Tell me, does a regular defrag help that from that happening?

PlasticSpanner · Jan 24, 2006

bace said:
Windows 2000 is possibly one of the worst operating systems ever made.

What about Windows ME! :lol:

Or Windows 3.11? Network capable, if you could get a network setup on the damn thing! :lol:

PlasticSpanner · Jan 24, 2006

bace said:
Never had that problem, but it makes sense. Tell me, does a regular defrag help that from that happening?

Defrag just uses empty clusters at the faster part of the drive to store information in the slower parts. It will also try to "bunch" fragments of the same file together to reduce the drives seek time in finding all the parts to your file!

Scandisk set to do a thorough scan of the disk surface will highlight bad sectors of the disk platter so that files are not written to it. Knocks to the drive can cause the reading "head" to crash into the disk surface, damaging it. If this happens where the FAT is stored you just lost the directory or index to the files!

Some companies specialise in recovering data from corrupted drives even to the extent of removing the drives platters and fitting them to a machine to read them!:thumbup: