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PC hotline
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Nao

  • Dadman with a boy
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PC hotline
« on June 11th, 2011, 01:46 AM »
Pm Pete. I can barely post here with my iPod and no pc. Sigh.

Arantor

  • As powerful as possible, as complex as necessary.
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Re: PC hotline
« Reply #1, on June 11th, 2011, 01:49 AM »
FWIW, I bet your problem isn't your drives, check them in another computer and with different cables - I'm willing to bet it's just as likely the controller or the cabling as the drives themselves (the odds of multiple drives failing at once is rather high)

But yeah, requests for demo site link, PM me and I'll try to sort it ASAP while jotting down how I want to build the new package manager I've talked about.
When we unite against a common enemy that attacks our ethos, it nurtures group solidarity. Trolls are sensational, yes, but we keep everyone honest. | Game Memorial

Nao

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Re: PC hotline
« Reply #2, on June 11th, 2011, 01:54 AM »
One of my sata cables was half disconnected but after I plugged it in correctly it started to fail even more.
I've got 4 disks. 2 are system disks. Both failed. Haven't tested the others but I suspect one of them is still okay.
Re: PC hotline
« Reply #3, on June 11th, 2011, 02:19 AM »
Managed to reboot with Windows 7... Even though it's installed on the very first partition that failed for me (and I didn't manage to boot it last time I tried!)

I launched a quick chkdsk on my XP partition (that also holds my Wedge files), and it still fails.
I did an xcopy of the Wedge folder, it stopped again in the cache folder. Then I just created several subfolders and xcopied other, media, Sources and Themes separately. They all worked... Also the root folder. So, normally, all of my recent changes should be retained (phew.)

I'm still gonna have to do something about it... I think I'll go to a computer shop tomorrow, and buy myself a new machine. I'd really rather build it myself, but I found a machine that is 80% of what I was planning to build. (The only issue is that it lacks a SSD, which I can buy separately (I'll also buy an extra 1TB or 1.5TB HD), and has a GeForce 560 which AFAIK is overkill for me and a bit noisy. I like silence. Well, I can always replace it in the future...)

Then I'll install W7 on it and try to recover as much data as possible.

I'm not excited with the idea though... If only it could be a cable problem...! But it really doesn't seem to be linked to that.

Arantor

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Re: PC hotline
« Reply #4, on June 11th, 2011, 02:24 AM »
Cache folders are bad voodoo, mess with them at your peril. Good to hear it was at least partly recoverable :)

Nao

  • Dadman with a boy
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Re: PC hotline
« Reply #5, on June 11th, 2011, 02:32 AM »
Yeah, well, losing my XP is much worse to me than a few days worth of work...
I mean, XP loads, but then when I reach the UI, it says it failed to load my profile, and it builds a new default profile. Yikes. It takes hours to initialize, and then XP fails at doing anything, like launching a program or whatever...
The only difference between that time and the last time it worked, was that I pressed the Reset button because it refused to log off... Then I had crashes at startup -- BSOD + "Hard Error" (never got that one before. It doesn't even show a log!) I suspect it's due to the fact that I'd requested both a partition check (on whatever partition) and a pagefile defrag (through the Contig software) on the next boot. One of the programs must have failed to play with the disk... And then it probably screwed my profile folder as well.

A real mess...

It's 2:27am here. I need to sleep. Badly.
Posted: June 11th, 2011, 02:27 AM

I don't get it... I copied flawlessly my profile from Documents and Settings. Isn't that this folder which is supposed to fail? It's the one with my name on it... Also copied Default User and All Users without a problem. Uh...
Re: PC hotline
« Reply #6, on June 11th, 2011, 10:01 AM »
Quote from Nao/Gilles on June 11th, 2011, 02:32 AM
I don't get it... I copied flawlessly my profile from Documents and Settings. Isn't that this folder which is supposed to fail? It's the one with my name on it... Also copied Default User and All Users without a problem. Uh...
I take it back. I watched my backup folder this morning... It was EMPTY. Absolutely empty. All of the data I copied overnight with xcopy /E /C /H, none of it was actually copied. Dunno why. Thank you Microsoft, for your very useful commandline tools... I also tried to copy the Doc folder with the explorer, it started calculating the size and then it just crashed (yay). I can only retrieve some stuff manually, like my Opera sessions (don't laugh, it's practical.)

I'm going to buy a new machine today. Something in the 1500¤ range. Then I'll plug my disks into it. Even if it's just a controller failure, it *probably* screwed up my disks just by saving data onto them... Otherwise, why would the Wedge folder copy just fine, except for a file in the cache folder? Probably because that file was saved after the disk started to fail... I don't know.
Posted: June 11th, 2011, 09:57 AM

What do you think of this rig?
http://www.ldlc.com/fiche/PB00100625.html
Ok it's in French, but it's just a computer with regular devices...

billy2

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<br /><br />cough, cough.

Nao

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Re: PC hotline
« Reply #8, on June 11th, 2011, 10:35 AM »
I'm not sure about the GeForce though-- it's a greedy one, and I don't play that many games... I could do with a GF 460 or even below, see...? But the rest fits me (I can buy the SSD separately.)

Dragooon

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Re: PC hotline
« Reply #9, on June 11th, 2011, 11:02 AM »
I'd say get it, GTX580 is a very good GPU and can come in handy if you decide to play a game or two.

EDIT : I re-read the specs. I'd say get the PC and ship it to me :P.
The way it's meant to be

Nao

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MultiformeIngegno

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Re: PC hotline
« Reply #11, on June 11th, 2011, 11:40 AM »
Don't you like assembling it by yourself..? It's cheaper! :D

Aaron

  • Posts: 356
Re: PC hotline
« Reply #12, on June 11th, 2011, 11:54 AM »
Nao: have you tried accessing your harddrives from a Linux live cd or pen drive (e.g. Ubuntu)? I know, it might sound crazy, but that's how I usually recover data when a Windows machine fails to boot.

Of course, the success rate will depend on how broken the hardware is...
"The entire British Empire was built on cups of tea … and if you think I'm going to war without one, mate, you're mistaken."

Nao

  • Dadman with a boy
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Re: PC hotline
« Reply #13, on June 11th, 2011, 11:58 AM »
I haven't got the time to do it. I need to reinstall Windows and try to import as much data as possible from my earlier configuration... Believe me, I don't WANT to do it. But I can't exactly do it any other way. My hard drives seem to be dead. :(

Aaron: I don't know... I doubt it'd work any better. The problem happens in both XP and 7, so it's not an OS problem. If you mean Linux has better error recovery, I don't know, but I don't have a live CD anyway right now and I'd like to be finished with this ASAP...

Arantor

  • As powerful as possible, as complex as necessary.
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Re: PC hotline
« Reply #14, on June 11th, 2011, 12:09 PM »
You could always grab the latest issue of Linux Format - it always has a live CD on the front.
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