Thursday, September 6, 2012

How to Recover Your Files from a Dead Hard Disk


When you turned on your computer all you see is black screen with this error message: “Reboot and Select proper boot device or Insert Boot Media and press a key”. You probably tried to turn off and on your computer but the error message is still there. You might have also tried to shake your computer a little bit, but that will not work either.

In situations like this you may try to open the BIOS setting and see if your hard disk is detectable. If it is not then open your computer and check all the cables (e.g. SATA/IDE and power) if properly connected. You may also try to install that hard disk to another computer just to see if it will be detected. If you tried that and the error is not going away. You can now say good bye to your hard disk. If you do not have a backup of your files then that makes the situation even worse. Well, actually there is slim chance of getting your files back. But there is no assurance that it will work or if it does work you will be able to get all your files. First, you have to look for a hard disk which has “the same specification” with that of the defective unit. If you have a used hard disk of the same specification you may try that, what is important is the board of that hard disk is still okay.

Before we proceed I would like to show you the dead hard disk connected to a computer.  You will see on the BIOS setting that there is no hard disk detected on the 3rd drive. I also tried removing the first hard disk and installed only the second hard disk which is the defective one but it did not help either.