broken netbook: how do i recover HD info?
 

i have a broken HP netbook that had the keyboard/touch pad die on me. i sent it in for warranty repair and after two months HP contacted me today saying they cannot repair it due to parts shortage. they have offered to send the broken netbook back to me because i was unable to retrieve all my stuff from the HD, but the retrieval would be at my own expense. once i am able to do that, i am to send it back for a new replacement netbook from HP.

because the HD boots up and works fine (i just can't type or use the mouse), i asked HP if they could just simply swap my old netbook to the new one before sending it to me, and they told me no. i also asked them if they could send both the old and new computers together so i can swap it myself, and again they said no!?! :(

can someone recommend to me a place locally that can make a copy of my old HD and wipe it clean at a reasonable cost, and then transfer it all over to my new HD when it comes?

Why not just plug in a USB keyboard and mouse, then copy everything off to an external USB hard drive?

I can do it for you, if you want to bring it out to Pitt Meadows... cost ya dinner. We'll sit down at BP with your netbook and do it all right there.

or go to ncix, buy an externail 2.5" hard drive enclosure, put the drive in that and dump away.

soundy: how involved is that? i can dig up a USB mouse and keyboard, but is it an automated process through windows 7?

i just worried that because i've never done this before, i might screw it up and kill the HD or failed to copy everything over before wiping the HD... why the hell won't HP send both computers to me so that i can do a physical swap dammit :flamemad:

I don't know about the HP or Win7... when I set up a Vista-loaded Sony VAIO notebook, it had a utility that created a set of recovery DVDs automatically, but that could have been a Sony thing.

There are a few different ways to do it - if you want the entire system backed up, I'd use something like Paragon or Drive Image to create an image of the drive, then restore that image onto the new machine when it comes. If you just want to back up your data and files, you can just plug in the external drive, and copy the files to it. Some external drives have backup software of their own as well.

Then you have the enclosure sitting around empty after you send the netbook back. And you have to take the drive out of the netbook, which may void the warranty and screw you right there (assuming it's even easy to do - my ASUS needs to be disassembled somewhat to swap the drive).

i was hoping to image the whole drive, but someone else told me windows 7 has something to prevent that because of illegal copying?

if i can use a USB mouse and keyboard like you suggested, then i won't have to take the drive out... i hope?

No idea. Since it's all new hardware, you'd probably have to re-activate it, which might mean a call to M$. The new machine should also have Win7, if it was the original spec for that model. Even if you could just swap the drives, you'd be in the same place.

Correct.

thanks soundy. all i can do is wait right now...

I think Soundy has the best suggestion.. no need to over complicate things, just get a USB mouse and keyboard, and manually copy over the data you want. Do you *really* need to image the drive? or just save some files and pictures?

my main concern is that i have programs that were upgraded from online that i have no CD's for.

i'm also uncertain that HP will stand behind their promise to wipe my old HD...

Your programs will depend on the software vendor.. it might be a bit of a pain, but you should contact the software vendor to see what you can do about obtaining their software again (since you've already purchased it). They should be well prepared to handle this scenario, as, in this day and age, people format their computers all the time.

As for wiping the hdd, it's easy to format it..

Yeah, you might run into the same problem you'd have with Windows: if any vendors use hardware-based authentication, that software would probably have to be reactivated on the new machine as well.

What might be an idea, is to do BOTH an image of the drive, AND just copy off your files... restore the image onto the new machine as a last resort.

And yeah, wiping the drive before sending it back is easy; there are plenty of military-grade wiping utilities out there.

i've been digging around and i do have a backup of my files, albeit it's a few months old, but it's enough for me to use. i do not have anything for software however, such as norton utilities, etc.. what about other things like itunes?

should i still ask for my old computer back, or just accept the new one? is it paranoia on my part? all those news reports about people buying used hard drives that still have personal info that was never deleted that were sold by manufacturers as "refurbished" or even the government :o

what model of laptop?

don't buy a 2.5 inch enclosure as many netbooks don't use 2.5inch drives.

if a usb keyboard/mouse works then i suggest using something like norton ghost to make an image of your hd to dvd's, assuming your netbook has a dvd drive?

(don't buy norton ghost though, there is probably a freeware program of similar features, or just yar it)

then you can just load it up onto your new one when it comes.

it's a netbook. an HP mini 311-1033C. it's too small for an optical drive but i have an external.

sent a pm.

If all you're trying to save is installed applications then doing a ghost of your HD is probably the only option. Most app's can't be just copy/pasted to a new installation of windows.

Unless you have copies of all the install files on your HD, then things could be done easier.

The problem is, the cloned copy of Win7 will probably complain about being on new hardware and will need to be reactivated, which could be troublesome. Same could apply to any software that uses hardware-ID-based activation.

BTW, the problem with Ghost is, unless you have an OLD version that can make a bootable diskette, you have to install it to create an image. Something like Acronis or Paragon can create a bootable CD that you can boot from to create a clean image.

Yeah not sure about the activation issue, I only deal with winxp on VLK's for this type of stuff.

I'm assuming here that a usb keyboard/mouse work in windows, which would allow him to install ghost and burn a copy of the ghost disc. I doubt paragon or acronis discs are going to do any good if he can't use a keyboard/mouse anyways.

None of them will do him much good if he can't use a keyboard and mouse... the point is, a backup utility that will let him boot from a CD is generally less troublesome than something you have to install first - cloning a running system has never worked particularly well for me. When we used Ghost 4 when I worked at ICBC, it was always from a boot floppy, and was always flawless. When we used newer versions at the tech school, that too was booting either from floppy, CD, or PXE, never from a copy installed on the machine to be cloned.

Without VLKs, even XP needs to be reactivated if you move an installation to new hardware. With each successive version (Vista and 7), the reactivation just gets more restrictive and more painful.

PM recieved. Thanks Jeremy :thumbsup:

Am I still going with the assumptiong that I should be able to plug in a USB mouse/keyboard long enough to access the drive? I should have done that way back when but at the time I thought it was going to a simple repair and i would have gotten the computer back in two weeks, not two months :cry:

I've never actually used norton ghost, i just PXE re-deploy for distant sites, or do fresh installs locally. I assumed even the latest version allows you to burn a disc that you can boot from in order to image the HD?

trying to image an HD while running an active OS is pretty lulz.

If the issue is truly a hardware issue, that the keyboard + touchpad are broken, then yes, usb devices should work 100%