HELP : HDD stopped working, IMP data

[ashnik]

On behalf of a friend..

PC config
AMD sempron 2400+
Asus mobo
BIG nvidia 5200/128MB card
512 Hynix RAM
Samsung 17" display
Intex/i-ball SMPS
MM keyboard and mouse

Samsung 80 GB (2 yr old)
Samsung 160 GB (1 DAY old) (blank)

today when he tried to start the PC it just refused to..after some r&d he came to know that if he connects the power connector to 80 GB the system doesn't boot, nothing on the screen, not even the CPU fan rotates..
BUt if 80 GB hdd is disconnected, everything works fine..

He has some important college projects, family photos and vdos in it. Whole 80 GB was full...
What should he do? The data is really really important..
PLZ help soon

Thank you.

PS : He is in MUMBAI.
and no, the new 160 GB isn't the culprit as the sys ran smoothly for a day with both HDDs.

EDIT
Thaks Lucky and MOD for quick replys...The hdd isn't with me as of now..I'll call the friend 2morrow
the problem occurs even if only power cable is attached, w/o attaching the data cable. the PC doesn't even start

[Lucky_star]

I guess your your XP is installed in the old HD.
Your Master boot record has gone bad. No problem to your hard disk.
Search in the forum about repairing MBRs.
If you want, you can connect you HD to another computer as slave and transfer all necessary data to there.


then delete all the partitions, recreate them, bring back to your system, and do a fresh install of XP
_______________
OOps!, I missed it. you said, your CPU fan doesn't work...then check for some other problems too, but first of all try doing what I said above...

[mod-the-pc]

@ashnik , do you hear the HDD spinning if you hold it near your ears. If not its something wrong with the the drive motor controller card. If you do hear the spinning sound , there's a very high probability to recover data

[ashnik]

problem solved

Samsung Service center replaced the whole PCB and now the HDD is working w/o any data loss


MODS plz delete the thread