Are free and free to try (trialware) software to look at said drive.
Be sure to get what files you can off that drive and then see if the drive's maker has a test program to test that drive (usually called SMART testing.)
Bob
Hey all, I've got a question that I need help with. I have a Compaq Presario, an older one, 1.5 GHz Desktop. It's got 1 GB memory, 1 40 GB hard drive, 1 320 GB hard drive, a CD Rom drive and a DVD Rom drive.
Recently I left the PC on to run a scan for spyware, viruses, etc. I came back later and the PC seemed to run very slow. I shut it down and started it up and it took what seemed like forever to boot up. When I got to Windows, XP by the way, I clicked on My Computer. It would not display the drives. It seemed like it was taking a long time to do anything. I shut it down again.
The next start up again took forever to boot up. I finally decided to check the BIOS. It opens and I can see the 40 GB HD, the CD and DVD Rom. The BIOS does seem to recognize that the 320 GB is there but it does not show what type of drive it is. The 40 GB is the master and the 320 GB is the slave by the way.
If I remove the 320 GB HD from the system all together and just boot with the 40 GB it runs fine. As soon as I add the 320 GB back it seems to take forever to try and locate it. It will say Locating IDE drives and just sit there. Eventually it will start up but the 320 GB drive is not accessable or the PC runs so slow that I can't get it to do anything.
So my question is, is this hard drive corrupt and can I recover any data or is it a physical hard drive problem? What can I do to save this hard drive or save the data?
Rich

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