Retrieve data from dying laptop harddisk

[tiebushan]

My laptop is Fujitsu LH531V and the harddisk is dying. so, everytime I boot the disk, I got the windows loading screen (windows XP) and then there's a flicker of a screen (couldn't see clearly because it's so fast, but I think it's the BSOD screen) and then it returned to the initial booting screen (Fujitsu screen). It's always like that no matter how many times I retry. Is there a way for me to retrieve the data in that harddrive (perhaps by accessing it via dos command from another functional laptop, using some cable)? both are SATA drive.
thanks

 

[Szyrs]

In this picture from your user manual, the panel on the right is your HDD access panel. Remove the power connector and battery and then remove the access panel. You should then be able to remove the HDD from your laptop. Then you should be able to use any SATA external HDD caddy (if you don't have one they are as cheap as chips on ebay) to access your HDD from another computer. You should be able to access your entire disk this way, just be sure not to format the drive if you are requested to do so as you connect via USB.

Alternatively you could try using any Live OS on your laptop to boot your laptop and access the drive. There are many available and can be run from CD or USB drives.

Another thing to consider is that you may have faulty RAM. The smallest access panel in the picture above is the RAM access panel. If you have two stick of RAM in your laptop, try removing one or the other and booting with one then the other. You could also try using Memtest to test your RAM, again from USB or CD. Many Live OS distributions come with Memtest included and can be run prior to boot. It takes a couple of hours to run but you should get no errors. If you get errors early on, you don't really have to bother completing the test...

If by any of these means you find you do have faulty RAM, you must remove the faulty stick and replace it (unless you have more than one stick and are not effected by having less RAM in your laptop).

Hard disk drives tend to go out quite noisily, since you haven't mentioned any noise, it's possible that it's something else in your hardware that is faulty, or something has gone horribly wrong with your OS..

 

[tiebushan]

well, now that you mentioned it, I did hear some faint clicking noise, but only for a little whiel and then it's gone

 

[Szyrs]

Faint clicking shouldn't be a huge problem but it may be an early warning. I have had drives that sound like army tanks rolling by and some that have sounded like there was a bird in it trying to peck its way out.. Either way, the solution remains the same - remove the drive, connect it to another computer in some way (not as the OS drive), back up your data - then start worrying about what is actually wrong. You can easily run chckdisk once you've backed it up and any noises should be more noticeable once you get it out of your laptop. Hard drives do contain moving parts though, so don't expect it to be totally silent..

If you want to play it safe though don't try to turn the drive on until you can back it up. If it is physically damaged then you don't want to risk killing it completely. Like I said, you can still run memtest off a live USB or CD, so you can take the HDD out to do that...

 

[tiebushan]

army tanks rolling by huh? wow..
I'll try you suggestion. If there's anymore problem, I'll post it here.
thanks