First,
I do my usual routine of clearing the CMOS so that my BIOS doesn't complain and my computer can actually start up.Then,I get Vista talking to me via console saying that boot files are missing or corrupt. Looking at what files it's talking about I realize that it listed the registration file first. Thinking back I remember that I had used a fake registration program on my Vista and that last time I was on my PC there was an update. So I assumed that Vista had simply updated and caught onto my trickery.So, 16898I said to hell with it and broke out a Ubuntu install disk I had been keeping around the place. Set the partitions to be side by side (idk why I didn't just clear vista completely, I guess I thought it would still be recoverable). Installed it and messed with it a bit.But then,Ubuntu tells me that my hard drive has many errors and bad sectors. ;_;And,pretty much from there I try messing with it a bit only to end up unable to launch Ubuntu again.Sooooo,yeah, only laptop for now. No steam games.Edit,oh yeah, the point of this blog; does anyone know if any form of formatting my HDD would fix this?
My general rule is, the moment your drive starts playing up, assume it's toast and get a new one. The first failure of a drive generally foreshadows many more. In this case, though, it may be worth doing a proper reformat, both your vista and ubuntu disk should be able to do it during install.
Don't break out the Ubuntu, break out that Win7, son!
Actually I'm having a friend bring a win7 install disk this friday (his aunt works at MS so it's only like $30) so I just felt like screwing around with it since I was going to throw out vista and maybe format anyways.
What PY said. Try using the Ubuntu live cd to back up any files you need (but don't expect too much) and then buy a new drive to install Windows. If you have enough stuff missing and it's important data you might consider a recovery service, but again don't expect too much and be prepared to write a fat check.
Sorry to hear about the failure, I myself am scared shitless of my drive going out on me and you never know until it's too late :(I'm not going to pay for any recovery or anything like that, it's specifically a gaming desktop, the only thing I'm losing is some steam games and save files.
Always back stuff up. A habit I need to get into.
Also, no LoL? =(Nah my laptop can run LoL, just at the very minimum.
External HD and flash drives ftw.
CHKDSK is a Windows Command you can use in the Command Prompt to analyze and fix problems with a bad hard drive, but don't expect miracles. The hard drive, most likely, is on its last legs at best. Recover what you can, as Aeron said, using a Live CD. If you have an external enclosure available, you could attempt to connect your HDD to your laptop and pull over any files that you needed, but again, don't expect miracles.
If you absolutely, positively need something from your drive that you can't get, this is usually the company I recommend: http://www.ontrackdatarecovery.com/Good luck, and best wishes, Ferret [=)]Bad sectors = dead disk. You could do a badblocks to it and then reformat using the flag to avoid those sectors, but if there are many bad sectors chances are that there's no way around it. I'd suggest to get a new HDD asap. And I'm the guy that deals with these kind of dead disks daily.