Total computer death

[la_belle_laide]

So a power outtage fried my hard drive and I'm typing this from my Mom's computer. The tech support guy tried to reassure me that, No, no, the hard drive is just fine, the computer is fine, you just have to reformat the hard drive. Of course, that will erase everything on it, which includes: the book I'm working on (backed up periodically, but not since the last three chapters,) years of family videos, my friend's wedding (both the latest ones, in fact,) years of digital pictures, years of (what I am pleased to call) "art" that I did and true art that was given to me as gifts over the years--specifically from Min and Ida--all the FMVs I spent hours ripping from various games as well as the sortware I used to rip it, about ten years of saved emails (I took everything over from my last few computers and saved them,) family pictures that don't exist on paper, music videos I downloaded over the years, gigibytes upon gigabytes of songs from all over the world that I don't even remember what they're called or where I got them, all the Hula videos of our group from over the years as well as the Kung Fu videos I've been taking for the last few years, countless pictures and videos (including the ones I took at the 30 Seconds to Mars concert last week,) fanart I've saved over the years, thousands pictures that I've scanned over the years, and, did I mention, THAT NOVEL I WAS WORKING ON?!

And the last picture I ever took of Pendragon, which was a digital picture.

So I decided not to reformat my hard drive, thinking that maybe someday, someone can figure out how to get at least some of those files back, regardless of what the tech support guy said. (He told me that there was no way to get that stuff back, but I'm not ready to give up.)

Anyway, that's the scoop. I can probably check in from my laptop now and then, but I won't be able to access my normal email address because, well, optonline was on that computer, too. Anyone needs to get me, you can use kapunua at yahoo dot com.

Anyone has any suggestions, you can comment here.

Other than that, I will just be in the corner screaming every obscenity I can think of.

Comments

[minrho.livejournal.com]

shit. I know exactly how you feel. Irrecoverable stuff, and digital writing/art, gone in a snap. At least you backed up some of the novel. That's about all I can say. I got nada in the form of constructive advice except maybe you should go to a different computer guy.

[triforcekt.livejournal.com]

NO data is irrecoverable. The government can get anything off of a hard drive--deleted, fried, reformatted, or whatever. Look into some data recovery services in your area. There has to be a way.

[spotts1701.livejournal.com]

Try these guys - they'll give you a free estimate and they seem to be very reputable:

http://drivesavers.com/

[shi-ryuu.livejournal.com]

Make sure you (and I know this sounds very odd) keep the fried HD in the freezer (in something water/air tight) until you can take it wherever you choose to try and get the stuff back. As strange as it sounds, it helps preserve whatever data you might not have lost.

[shi-ryuu.livejournal.com]

Additionally, here's "200 ways to revive a hard drive" http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-6255-5029761-2.html you might find something there that may help. :(

[heywood.livejournal.com]

Do you have access to open up the computer you're working on? Either that, or about thirty bucks to spare, to buy the alternative. I have a suggestion that may allow you access to your stuff, if the file system isn't totally corrupt.

I have two other systems in a similar state right now, and said trick has worked to get data off both of them.

[torkell]

What state is the disk in now? Does it spin up, or make nasty clunking sounds. Does the BIOS recognise the disk? Does it even boot (or at least try to boot)?