HDD Won't Boot

mmmbaileys

For some reason my old laptop wouldn't boot up when I tried using it one day. It would just display a blank screen, not going to POST/BIOS or anything.

I took it out and hooked it up via USB to my work laptop. I booted in to my work HDD and could see that my old laptop HDD could be recognized and accessed, but strangely all folders and files were hidden. So I made all folders and files visible as appropriate. Some of which I couldn't, because access was denied understandably.

I've run 'chkdsk' and it has completed with no errors.

Any ideas? On another note, I noticed there is only 1 folder within 'Program Files', Adobe Reader or something. I'm sure I had a lot more than this originally installed

TLDR; HDD wont boot off 2 perfectly working laptops, but files can be seen/accessed when connected as an external HDD.

danger_mouse_tm

Prioritize getting your files from your old hard drive. Documents, pictures etc. Boot your work laptop off a linux live CD. Ubuntu or mint. file and folder permissions shouldn't make a bit of difference now when you plug in your old hard drive via usb. Get those files in your USER folder backed up. Now take your linux disc and shove it into your own laptop. Anything? NO? Get the screw drivers out. Take out your memory sticks. Put a memory stick in from your work laptop. Still nothing on the screen? Take out the battery, remove the power supply. Hold down the power button for a full minute. Hook up the power again. Still nothing? YOu've fried it!

platinums

I have seen malware that;
A. Destroys the Master Boot record
B. Hides all your files.

you can run Unhider to recursively go through your drive and unhide everything affected.

You can try and fix your MBR by going into the Recovery Mode from Windox XP CD and using "fdisk /mbr" or "fixmbr" with a windows 7 disk at the command prompt.
The Boot drive *Partition* also needs to be Active which can be check in the Standard Disk Management that comes with windows.

Personally i use Hirens Boot CD which has MBR Guru.
Hirens has proven an invaluable tool o er the years, it even has a Mini Windows that can be booted straight off the CD plus many many other tools. Info Here

Also, Hard Drive die in peculiar ways too. Does the drive "click" at all or make strange noises?

riclad

You cant take drive from pc 1 to pc2 and expect it to boot up.
Unless both laptops are exact same model eg dell 520s .
try repair from cd,fixmbr or do a reinstall,install windows to c;/windows,default directory .
That should give acess to your old files, it may put ,your docs ,my music,my pictures, username ,etc
into c./windows/old/ , folder.
be careful there could be viruses on that drive,do a scan on it .
you can acess all folders if you boot up using a live cd, eg linux x86 mint.This ignore s do not view settings,
you should get , no boot media, if you turn on laptop, at least bootup,screen,dell logo,
1gig ram,sony cd x450 etc
are power lights on laptop coming on, can you put in a cd.
you can copy backup anything from linux cd, any normal windows file,folder.old mint version 650meg,fits on 1 cdr.
hirens or ultimate boot cd probably have a file,folder management
utility program,to enable copying,backup .