Anybody recover files from a hard drive?

[kjmdrumz3]

Lost ALL of my files. I'm really only worried about the pictures. My wife and I probably have a few gigs of my son from birth until now (4 mos) and I can't start the computer. Keep getting the <windows root>\system32\hal.dll is either missing or corrupted right after turning the machine on. Won't boot in safe mode or anything. I already replaced the computer but I was trying to salvage my pictures. Can anyone get them off for me? I'll mail the hard drives to you and throw you a few bucks. Thanks.

Toshiba G25
2x60gb HD

[K1W1]

Do you have access to another PC?

If so take the drive out of your PC connect it to the other one as a slave and you will probably find that all the data can be read just fine. You then just remove all the data, reformat the drive, reinstall windows and the programs and put the data back.

If the data is corrupted (unlikely) there are plenty of free data recovery programs around that you will be able to use.

EDIT:
BTW have you Googled hal.dll? I did it doesn't look like anything that is particularly hard to fix if you have the original Windows CD for your PC.

Try this link.

[XaiLo]

How did you have the drives configured and where were the image located? or the Path:

[kjmdrumz3]

Everything was working fine. When I rebooted BAM. Is a hard drive a hard drive or are they manufacturer specific? Would a laptop hard drive work on a desktop?

[kjmdrumz3]

Most of them were in folders on the desktop

[kjmdrumz3]

BTW have you Googled hal.dll? I did it doesn't look like anything that is particularly hard to fix if you have the original Windows CD for your PC.

Don't have it. Bought it used a year ago. Have the Toshiba CD which just wipes out everything, but no recovery CD

[K1W1]

Don't have it. Bought it used a year ago. Have the Toshiba CD which just wipes out everything, but no recovery CD

Can you borrow a CD?

[K1W1]

Would a laptop hard drive work on a desktop?

If it's an IDE drive as long as you have the appropriate interface plug or cable the answer is yes.
If it's SATA then the answer is just yes.

[kjmdrumz3]

As long as you have the appropriate interface plug or cable the answer is yes.

How would I find what I would need?

[K1W1]

If the notebook hard drive is IDE you need a little adapter that coverts the larger 3.5" IDE connection (from a desk top) to the smaller 2.5" hard drive connector plus it allows a connection for the power input.
It's the sort of thing that you would be likely to find in a store that sells electronic components somewhere like Tandy where Geeks hang out.

The other option which is probably easier is to get an external USB hard drive case or docking station designed for a 2.5" notebook drive then just put the drive into it and connect it to any other PC viz USB.

Docking stations look like this most of the new ones are SATA but there are some IDE ones around.