My hard drive died!!

[ladydesigner]

Originally Posted by Jim

If people tell you that it can't be repaired, take it and hit it kind of hard on the floor. And then when it start's working again, get it backed up quick.

I know it sounds stupid but, a lot of times it does work. It has worked for me 3 times so far. It most recently worked with my wife's ipod

Oh my God! Are you serious?! I'll try this for sure if it "can't" be repaired. Thanks Jim!

[ladydesigner]

As a matter of fact, this is a Dell computer. I've had other problems in the past with it but nothing like this. Data recovery sounds very expensive. I won't be spending thousands of dollars to recover my e-mail, free sites and html/graphics for my link lists. However, I do mainstream design work for many small businesses in my community. That might be a problem if I can't recover my graphics for their sites. Oh well....

What is the best/fastes way to back up your data on a daily basis?

[ecchi]

Originally Posted by ladydesigner

Oh my God! Are you serious?! I'll try this for sure if it "can't" be repaired. Thanks Jim!

Yes he is serious, it worked for me once too. But it is not guaranteed to work, and it can cause even more damage, so only use it as a last resort. And if you do try this, install the backup drive FIRST because you may only get it to start once, it may not run for long, and it may die if the drive "parks" (which they do if the drive is not accessed in a set time- usually 15 minutes) so you have to make a copy immediately the drive boots up.

Also remember that you have to drop it hard enough to joggle the motor but not so hard as to break the platters (most are glass or ceramic). And obviously do not drop it on a nylon carpet or the static may fry your data.