I'm afraid I haven't much good news for you. Your hard drive has indeed failed, and the only way you can recover data to your external drive is to get the computer to boot, which seems unlikely.
The possibilities are as follows: First, you can replace the drive, reload your operating system and applications manually, and then attach the old drive to one of the other available ports to see if you can still read from it. If you can, you can use Windows explorer or other file transfer program to recover the data from the old drive to the new one, or to your external drive.
Second, there are some programs available that are designed to recover data from failing disks. I've never used one myself, and so am unable to advise as to the best one to use.
Third, you can send your drive to a company that specializes in recovering data from hard drives that have failed. This is usually quite expensive, but you may consider it to be worthwhile given what is on the drive.
EDIT: These are older threads on the subject which may be of help to you:
I called them after talking with Dell tech support. The customer service rep was really nice and didn't put any pressure on me. She said that it would cost around $240, depending of what was salvageable and would include having the data saved to an external hard drive. She said that once they get the hard drive, then they can give me a better estimate. I also went over to Staples and was told that they would do the same thing, only save the info to a memory stick for $69. Then the Staples rep said that if they couldn't recover it there, they would refund the $69.00 and send it out to have another company do it, but that would cost between $1,100 and $1,400. So, I am unsure which way to go. Has anyone dealt with either one?
Also when I called Dell tech support I was told that it was definitely the hard drive and they would be able to order me a new hard drive if I did it right now for $99.00 including shipping and tax. I haven't yet, because I'm still trying to figure out the best way to go with prices for everything. I don't know if I am going to continue with the tower or if I should just do a good laptop. So many decisions right now!!!!
Thanks for the update. At $240, if you had some priceless family pictures not backed up, that sounds reasonable.
As far as a replacement hard drive, they are really quite cheap, maybe $60-100 depending on capacity. And your Inspiron 531 still has some useful life to it, so even if you decide to go the laptop route, you could probably donate that desktop to a local charity, who would put it to good use.
jackshack
6.4K Posts
0
March 29th, 2013 14:00
I'm afraid I haven't much good news for you. Your hard drive has indeed failed, and the only way you can recover data to your external drive is to get the computer to boot, which seems unlikely.
The possibilities are as follows: First, you can replace the drive, reload your operating system and applications manually, and then attach the old drive to one of the other available ports to see if you can still read from it. If you can, you can use Windows explorer or other file transfer program to recover the data from the old drive to the new one, or to your external drive.
Second, there are some programs available that are designed to recover data from failing disks. I've never used one myself, and so am unable to advise as to the best one to use.
Third, you can send your drive to a company that specializes in recovering data from hard drives that have failed. This is usually quite expensive, but you may consider it to be worthwhile given what is on the drive.
EDIT: These are older threads on the subject which may be of help to you:
http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/disk-drives/f/3534/p/19248895/19397685.aspx#19397685
briantg
79 Posts
0
March 30th, 2013 10:00
Data recovery labs are expensive, but Dell has a great discount program with Gillware.
www.dell.com/datarecovery
osprey4
4 Operator
•
34.2K Posts
0
March 30th, 2013 12:00
Hi briantg,
Looks interesting. Have you used this service? Curious as to what it might cost.
ejn63
9 Legend
•
87.5K Posts
0
March 30th, 2013 13:00
Quick search says they're highly regarded - cost seems to run about $700.
Brenda H
8 Posts
0
April 2nd, 2013 13:00
I called them after talking with Dell tech support. The customer service rep was really nice and didn't put any pressure on me. She said that it would cost around $240, depending of what was salvageable and would include having the data saved to an external hard drive. She said that once they get the hard drive, then they can give me a better estimate. I also went over to Staples and was told that they would do the same thing, only save the info to a memory stick for $69. Then the Staples rep said that if they couldn't recover it there, they would refund the $69.00 and send it out to have another company do it, but that would cost between $1,100 and $1,400. So, I am unsure which way to go. Has anyone dealt with either one?
Also when I called Dell tech support I was told that it was definitely the hard drive and they would be able to order me a new hard drive if I did it right now for $99.00 including shipping and tax. I haven't yet, because I'm still trying to figure out the best way to go with prices for everything. I don't know if I am going to continue with the tower or if I should just do a good laptop. So many decisions right now!!!!
osprey4
4 Operator
•
34.2K Posts
0
April 2nd, 2013 16:00
Hi Brenda H,
Thanks for the update. At $240, if you had some priceless family pictures not backed up, that sounds reasonable.
As far as a replacement hard drive, they are really quite cheap, maybe $60-100 depending on capacity. And your Inspiron 531 still has some useful life to it, so even if you decide to go the laptop route, you could probably donate that desktop to a local charity, who would put it to good use.