I have a Dell XPS8300. I upgraded the RAM to 32gb and had to upgrade the BIOS to the latest (but still 2014) version to make it work. Did that, all well for a few days. Then one day I shut it down, and the next I turn it back on, and it won't load Windows. All I get is a blue screen and "Automatic Repair couldn't repair your PC." I have tried all of the 'Advanced Option' after Windows couldn't repair start-up on its own, and then can't even get a Dell recovery image for a USB because the recovery tool won't recognize the service tag and the website doesn't offer it as a download. I spent a couple hours following YouTube videos to fix it, along with attempts at command prompt stuff (but keeping running into 'Access Denied.')
So, after admitting defeat, I pulled the hard drive and put it in a hard drive enclosure and plugged it into my laptop. It recognizes it, and even shows 609gb used (which is right), and various folders. However, I can't find my files in any of the them (there are actually very few files in there). What am I missing? It appears the drive is good because it loads as a secondary drive, shows the right amount of data being used, lets me open the folders it does show, Windows says there's no bad sectors and it's not fragmented... so, what am I missing?
Many thanks in advance for any suggestions!
So, after admitting defeat, I pulled the hard drive and put it in a hard drive enclosure and plugged it into my laptop. It recognizes it, and even shows 609gb used (which is right), and various folders. However, I can't find my files in any of the them (there are actually very few files in there). What am I missing? It appears the drive is good because it loads as a secondary drive, shows the right amount of data being used, lets me open the folders it does show, Windows says there's no bad sectors and it's not fragmented... so, what am I missing?
Many thanks in advance for any suggestions!