Nice title, heh.

 

 

 

Well this is the deal, my dads computer (hd more specifically) packed in yesterday. The day before, it worked without a problem. I can boot up (takes a while), choose an account to log into... But when i do this (logging in):

 

svchost[Caution: Executable File] - Application Error

 

"The instruction at "0xffbadd11" referenced memory at "0xffbadd11". The memory could not be "read".

 

Click on OK to terminate the program."

 

 

 

Well, i checked around the net and decided to download a harddrive fitness test from Hitachi (hd is a 160gb, 8mb cache Hitachi btw - don't remember number).

 

Well, after i ran the test the result was "Technical result code - 7000afc2. Failure code - 0x70.".

 

The harddrive have some bad sectors, not the entire drive but a few bad sectors. I should point out that the computer was bought in autumn 2004, so it's almost 5 years old.

 

 

 

I'm wondering: Is there any way i could copy files from the hd to my hd? Since i can't log in to any account on that hd, i guess i'm fudged. I think the old hd is IDE.

 

 

 

Thanks for any help.

 

 

 

Edit: Now i can log into it lol. It is extremely slow, but hopefully i'll be able to copy some stuff onto the usb sticks.

 

Don't lock this mod-x.

Get hold of a Live Linux CD (Ubuntu is nice and simple), connect both harddrives and set boot from CD so that its above both HDD (in the bios), insert the CD and select run from CD.

 

 

 

Now you should be able to simply copy them over although it might take a while if its a damaged or iffy disk.

 

 

 

If it dies so starts to stutter put the disk into a freezer bag and put it in the ice tray. Leave it a few hours then take it out and reconnect it. It should give you some more time.

Aye great, i'll keep that in mind.

 

I managed to log in on the computer and copy docs, pics etc onto usb sticks (dad had already copied his docs a couple of weeks ago). Atm i'm runnign DBAN, hopefully i'm able to install Ubuntu on it. Otherwise i'll throw in XP on it. If it dies or not doesn't really matter, might buy a used hd (not a too old one obviously) and throw it in, since all other components are working great still.

From that error, looks like it's physically damaged, there's virtually no chance of fixing it and it wouldn't surprise me if the odd file you get out of it is corrupted. As said before, booting from a CD might give you access to the files, but nothing is really guaranteed with these things when they die. I'm guessing by the fact that your dad backed up his documents means he considered which files he really wanted to protect so probably most of the really important stuff is already saved on USB drives.

 

 

 

Everything has an end, but hopefully most of your files haven't met theirs yet.