Question Motherboard A2 error - caused by SSD with OS on it - any way to recover the data?

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martij7au

martij7au

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Aug 11, 2021
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I came back from a week vacation to boot up my computer, but it would hang on the BIOS splash screen, and I could not input any commands to enter BIOS or anything. The motherboard code was A2. Tried a lot of things which didn't work, but ultimately when I unplugged power and SATA cable from my boot drive SSD, it worked no problem, except of course, no OS, since it was on the failed drive.

I reinstalled Windows on another functioning drive, but since I can't get past the BIOS when the failed drive is connected, I'm not sure how I could possibly get any data off this drive.

Anyone have any methods that might work to recover the data, or get the drive to work, or figure out what happened to the drive?

Thanks.
 
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martij7au said:
Anyone have any methods that might work to recover the data, or get the drive to work, or figure out what happened to the drive?
Click to expand...
Method 1:
Connecting drive with USB SATA adapter/enclosure after system has already loaded into windows.
Method 2:
Enabling hot plug feature in BIOS for specific sata port and connect drive to the port after system has already loaded into windows.
 
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SkyNetRising said:
Method 1:
Connecting drive with USB SATA adapter/enclosure after system has already loaded into windows.
Method 2:
Enabling hot plug feature in BIOS for specific sata port and connect drive to the port after system has already loaded into windows.
Click to expand...
I've heard people talk about Power cycling - is that a thing that might help? I think I'm going to buy a SATA USB adapter, but saw that as an option, and was curious if that was possible/likely to help.
 
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USAFRet said:
And BTW, your desire for the data off this drive is specifically why we preach backups so much.

A dead drive should be no more than "Oh bother, I need a new drive". Your data should never be at risk.
Click to expand...
Yeah - I hear you. I don't keep anything super important on there that I can't live without, but having a backup would have sure been handy.
 
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USAFRet said:
And BTW, your desire for the data off this drive is specifically why we preach backups so much.

A dead drive should be no more than "Oh bother, I need a new drive". Your data should never be at risk.
Click to expand...
When you say backups, what exactly do you (and others) typically mean? Obviously there are ways to backup certain files, but is there a way to backup an entire image of the hard drive? Which is typical? My thought would be that if I only really need to retain certain important files, I could back those up which would take much less space, but a full image would be easier to recover to.

Any thoughts - or perhaps are there resources you can point me to? Thanks in advance for any help.
 
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martij7au said:
When you say backups, what exactly do you (and others) typically mean? Obviously there are ways to backup certain files, but is there a way to backup an entire image of the hard drive? Which is typical? My thought would be that if I only really need to retain certain important files, I could back those up which would take much less space, but a full image would be easier to recover to.

Any thoughts - or perhaps are there resources you can point me to? Thanks in advance for any help.
Click to expand...
I do Full drive images, followed by a series of Incrementals. Macrium Reflect.

Trying to do folder by folder, people invariably forget that one important set of files.
Drive space is cheap.

This, from several years ago.
My procedure is somewhat modified since I wrote it, but the basics:

What is your backup situation at home?

What is your backup situation at home? And if you don't do that, why not? Every single day, I read multiple threads here of "How do I get my stuff back?" or "That drive had 5 years of photos of my kids!!" Be it a dead drive, dropped phone, virus, accidental deletion, formatting the wrong...
forums.tomshardware.com forums.tomshardware.com
 
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USAFRet said:
I do Full drive images, followed by a series of Incrementals. Macrium Reflect.

Trying to do folder by folder, people invariably forget that one important set of files.
Drive space is cheap.

This, from several years ago.
My procedure is somewhat modified since I wrote it, but the basics:

What is your backup situation at home?

What is your backup situation at home? And if you don't do that, why not? Every single day, I read multiple threads here of "How do I get my stuff back?" or "That drive had 5 years of photos of my kids!!" Be it a dead drive, dropped phone, virus, accidental deletion, formatting the wrong...
forums.tomshardware.com forums.tomshardware.com
Click to expand...
thank you! very helpful. When you say USB drive - are you talking like an external hard drive that connects via USB? or like a flash drive? I'm thinking an external USB hard drive would be cheaper and have more storage. I think your setup sounds quite reliable but I would not need this level of backup, just an occasional backup to ensure I dont lose important documents.
 
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martij7au said:
thank you! very helpful. When you say USB drive - are you talking like an external hard drive that connects via USB? or like a flash drive? I'm thinking an external USB hard drive would be cheaper and have more storage. I think your setup sounds quite reliable but I would not need this level of backup, just an occasional backup to ensure I dont lose important documents.
Click to expand...
NOT a flash drive. I use those only as sneakernet devices. Temporary.

A real HDD or SSD for backups is what you want.
 
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