Help on disk-read error.

[leet_muffin]

My main box (the one with all my AP English homework on it.) just went out. I left with it running fine, no problems. I just had about a 2-3 second power outage (due to lightning?). After the outage, I went to look at the computer. It said, and I quote "Disk read error. ctrl+alt+del to restart." I restarted, same thing. Well first it has the "Compaq" little intro thing. I really need some help here. Is the hard drive screwed? I need it before Tuesday. Is it a lost hope? I could start typing this English stuff up again...

[Sidoh]

That sounds to me like the disk is fried, but you can try puting it in another computer.  If it shows up, you can probably recover the files.  If it doesn't even detect the disk, then you're probably SOL unless you want to pay lots and lots of money to ship it to a center to have files recovered.  If it's detected but corrupted, there's some pretty cheap software you can buy/pirate to recover files.

[leet_muffin]

That sounds to me like the disk is fried, but you can try puting it in another computer.  If it shows up, you can probably recover the files.  If it doesn't even detect the disk, then you're probably SOL unless you want to pay lots and lots of money to ship it to a center to have files recovered.  If it's detected but corrupted, there's some pretty cheap software you can buy/pirate to recover files.

Well, I need it soon. I don't have anything else to hook it up to. I removed the drive - took off the 41 pin and everything. =( New rule: I hate lightning storms + SDG&E

[Newby]

Say it with me: uninterruptable power supply.

[leet_muffin]

I have.... the battery side doesn't work, so basically, I might as well not have it.

[Chavo]

Say it with me: uninterruptable power supply.

meh, UPS's are either a) expensive or b) wear out in 3 months

[Newby]

Say it with me: uninterruptable power supply.

meh, UPS's are either a) expensive or b) wear out in 3 months

a.) Not when they're on sale!

b.) Warranty.

[Ergot]

http://images10.newegg.com/UploadFilesForNewegg/sweepstakes26/Land26.htm

[Chavo]

Say it with me: uninterruptable power supply.

meh, UPS's are either a) expensive or b) wear out in 3 months

a.) Not when they're on sale!

b.) Warranty.

I haven't ever seen a high quality UPS (I consider high quality the industrial grade ones we have on some of the more important servers at KSU). cheaper than ~$500.

The cheap ones (cheapest I've seen is ~$30 from CompUSA) don't have guarantees on how they last.  When the cell dies, it dies.  They only replace them if they leak battery acid or fail without warning.

[Newby]

I got a really really good one for $200, on sale from $300. Store sale + product sale = $$ saved!

[Chavo]

Thats still a lot of money to spend :/

[Sidoh]

Yeah, I think I'd rather get a 3 more SATA drives for RAID 5.

[Newby]

Yeah, I think I'd rather get a 3 more SATA drives for RAID 5.

And then when the power goes out, lose any unsaved data?!?!

I don't like RAID anyway. I have enough hard-drive space as it is.

[leet_muffin]

Well, I used the drivescrubber (<3 newby) and it worked fine. So I'm hoping I'll regain use of my hard drive, although, I did lose all my stuffs.

[Sidoh]

And then when the power goes out, lose any unsaved data?!?!

Uhh... no.  Every single program I use that handles sensitive data saves in at least one-minute intervals.

I don't like RAID anyway. I have enough hard-drive space as it is.

I'm unaware of any RAID configuration that has the main intention of increasing capacity.  RAID is used for write speed, drive integrity or a combination of the two.

In fact, with RAID 5 (At least 4 drives required), you entirely lose the functionality of one of the drives in the array for bit parity.  The advantage is: if you lose one drive in the array, you lose none of your data.  When it is replaced, the array rebuilds itself.  On top of that, RAID 5 features data striping, so writing data is a lot faster.  There are tons of RAID configurations, but 5 is probably the most practical/reliable for a workstation situation.