Don't be like John: It's been said a 1,000 times before and probably a 1,000 times again. Back up your drives! Don't be like JOHN N and 'forget' to do this for a couple of years. I buy...

John N Loc: HP14 3QF Stokenchurch, UK

It's been said a 1,000 times before and probably a 1,000 times again. Back up your drives!

Don't be like JOHN N and 'forget' to do this for a couple of years. I buy refurbished PC's and the refurb people sold me an HP EliteDesk with an SSD. What they didn't tell me was they replaced the original drive with a drive that has an unenviable reputation for failure and almost certainly not what HP would have used.

Nothing can be retrieved from the SSD. I may have some photo's on an old drive when I upgraded to this PC, but that is about all. You've been warned, I was warned but sat on my arse for too long.

The thing with an SSD is it just dies instantly. PC was running fine, put it to sleep whilst I had a coffee and a sandwich - kapow - it never woke up. Good job I didn't win the For your Consideration comp. this week, even if it was my best score.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

John N wrote:

It's been said a 1,000 times before and probably a... (show quote)

Very sorry to hear that - painful lesson learned and thanks for sharing.

The “golden” rule of data storage: 3 copies of your data - active (working) copy, local backup and an off-site disaster recovery copy.

jdtonkinson Loc: Red Wing, MN

Sorry to hear about your Data loss Ioss.

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

TriX wrote:

Very sorry to hear that - painful lesson learned and thanks for sharing.

The “golden” rule of data storage: 3 copies of your data - active (working) copy, local backup and an off-site disaster recovery copy.

I will not say I told you so! That is cruel and inhumane.

For all my photos, I number and date the memory cards. I know the price of memory cards are rising but I refuse to download the photos to a drive only to format the card.

flferg Loc: Driftwood, TX

John N wrote:

It's been said a 1,000 times before and probably a... (show quote)

Did the computer just not boot and you got a message like "no boot drive attached" or something else? I have an adapter that I use to retrieve data off of drives that have had the windows boot section corrupted and won't work as the primary drive and you can't do anything with that drive in that computer until it is fixed. If only the boot section is corrupted you can use the drive as a secondary drive or can use an adapter to make it a USB drive and retrieve all your data. However, if the drive is dead then you are out of luck. Let us know if you got an error message when you tried to reboot from sleep and how you have tried to retrieve your data and we might be able to offer suggestions to help. If it would not be worth your time and effort that is also a good answer.

John N Loc: HP14 3QF Stokenchurch, UK

flferg wrote:

Did the computer just not boot and you got a message like "no boot drive attached" or something else?

It did say something like that. The local PC man has said he can't retrieve ANYTHING from the drive. My neighbour has a bit of nous and usually helps me out but has jusy gone to Spain for two weeks. I'm not hopeful but I'm sure he'll run it through a few things for me.

I wouldn't say I'm scared of computers, but I don't understand them. Experts say I'm digitally dyslexic. I'm a learn by rote type of person, blackboard and repetition (lots of it), this issue will take me weeks to sort out. One of the reasons the PC is not backed up is because it's just a pain for me to do this sort of stuff.

ricosha Loc: Phoenix, Arizona

TriX wrote:

Very sorry to hear that - painful lesson learned and thanks for sharing.

The “golden” rule of data storage: 3 copies of your data - active (working) copy, local backup and an off-site disaster recovery copy.

You may be able to recover the data with a BlacX box. You will need to remove the original drive from the computer and insert the drive into the BlacX box, connect the BlacX to another computer by usb.

flferg Loc: Driftwood, TX

The link to a device similar to the one I have used for years is shown below. Like someone else said you remove the drive, connect it to a working computer USB port using this adapter and then you can retrieve the data if the drive is not dead and just has a screwed up boot section. You can also just make this drive a secondary drive if you have the ability to add it to another working computer.

https://www.amazon.com/Adapter-YINNCEEN-Universal-5-25-Inch-DVD-ROM/dp/B09D7QK3YD/ref=sr_1_22_sspa?crid=2M140W2HU29GW&keywords=ssd+to+sata+adapter&qid=1695742908&sprefix=ssd+to+%2Caps%2C118&sr=8-22-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9idGY&psc=1

Canisdirus

Good images...one drive

Family images...two drives

Keepers...three drives.

2buckskin Loc: Wyoming

John N wrote:

It did say something like that. The local PC man ... (show quote)

I can relate with you John, I can get by if every thing works like it should. But when it doesn't I'm lost, I do my backups but probably not often enough or to enough backup sources. It will bite me in the butt one of these days I suppose.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

2buckskin wrote:

I can relate with you John, I can get by if every thing works like it should. But when it doesn't I'm lost, I do my backups but probably not often enough or to enough backup sources. It will bite me in the butt one of these days I suppose.

Now would be a great time to put that right

Harry02 Loc: Gardena, CA

John N wrote:

It did say something like that. The local PC man ... (show quote)

WD Externals are pretty handy for this.
Back it up and put the box on a shelf!
HOWeve, backing up 6-10tbs of data will take a looong while!

coolhanduke Loc: Redondo Beach, CA

Although sometimes costly, there are recovery services.

Leinik Loc: Rochester NY

Hmmm this sounds as if you have the wrong approach.

SSDs have no moving parts, the opposite of regular/old disk drives. As a result they are more durable and less likely to fail and are smaller. Their only drawback is that they are more expensive than regular old drives. They also necessitate hardware and software that are compatible with them (thence not to old).

John N Loc: HP14 3QF Stokenchurch, UK

Thanks everyone for thier time and replies. It's not a mistake I'll be making in the future. I can only repeat what my PC man said and that basically was the drive was knackered.

I'll ask my neighbour to take a look when he gets back from hols. but other than it I'm considering it lost. If my neighbour turns up anything I'll let you know - but using one of those thingies listed above that (if I understand it correctly) will overwrite any access code and get in 'behind' looks interesting.