Laptop not loading Windows?

[Darth Menace]

Hey, I have a HP laptop and today I went to turn it on and it said it could not load the OS, and to insert the OS disc. This obviously isn't a good thing, but what I am mainly concerned about is the contents of my hard drive. It has been a while since I backed up my info and there is stuff on there that I want.

I was wondering is there a way I can load the contents of my Hard drive onto an external hard drive without even being able to load the operating system?

If i re-install Windows 7, would it completely whipe the contents of my hard drive?

I dont know what made this happen, but is there any possibility of being able to reload to the last good setting?

I did the HP tests there and it came up as "short DST failed" and "hard disk test failed"

 

[claptonman]

So the hard drive is definitely bad and needs to be replaced.

You can either get the data off by plugging the old drive into another computer and getting the files.

Or make an Ubuntu liveCD and boot to it. This will allow you to access your hard drive from a different operating system.

But since the drive is failing, there's a chance you won't be able to even access the hard drive.

 

[DMGrier]

Yes if you reinstalled Windows 7 it would wipe your HDD.

Try downloading Precise Puppy Linux and burn to disc, then boot into puppy Linux but do not install. It will bring you to a familiar desktop and you should be able to access the content of your HDD from there and be able to transfer them to a external HDD.

http://puppylinux.com/download/index.html

I also believe Puppy Linux comes prebuilt with Clam AV so you could scan you HDD for infection and I also believe it has a tool to check the health of your HDD as well to make sure it is not completely crapped out on you.

From there you can do a reinstall of Windows 7, saying your HDD health is good to go.

Edit: I would use Puppy Linux over Ubuntu in this event since Puppy Linux uses less resources and the process will all be taking place in your Memory, just my two cents.

 

[Darth Menace]

So the hard drive is definitely bad and needs to be replaced.

You can either get the data off by plugging the old drive into another computer and getting the files.

Or make an Ubuntu liveCD and boot to it. This will allow you to access your hard drive from a different operating system.

But since the drive is failing, there's a chance you won't be able to even access the hard drive.

I switched my HD to another laptop as you mentioned, and I was able to get all my information. Thanks a tonne.

I then switched the hard drive back to my computer, in preparation for loading windows 8 onto it and starting fresh. Oddly it loaded back up as per normal, and works fine. Im not sure if the hard drive is going, or windows is going, or it was just a fluke. Either way I think I will load windows 8 (downloaded torrent) and start fresh as planned.

Thanks for the help though guys. I'm glad to be able to retrieve the data I thought might be lost.