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So you go to your computer move the mouse and nothing not even a light on the monitor. You hear your system running but nothing is happening. You reboot your computer and you are greeted by a message: Master Hard Disk failure. or Drive 0 Not found or Unbootable media Please insert boot disk. Then it hits you all your information is gone. Here are a couple of steps I have used with success to retrieve your data.

1. Insert WindowsXP cd then reboot computer making sure the CD drive is selected in boot order in the bios. Most computers if you hit del durring startup or F1 key will take you there. Once it boots off the cd you should be greated with a setup winxp screen blue with white letters. Type R for recovery console. Then choose the installation that you want to access. Type the administrators password. If you dont know this or bought a machine with windows XP pre installed it is most likely blank. Type without quotes “fixboot” hit enter type “fixmbr” then type “exit” then reboot. If your lucky windows started up and you should start backing up your data.

2. If number 1 didnt work then its probably worse then just the boot sector. You can try a linux live distro like knoppix linux and follow this guide.

3. You could try and install the drive in another PC. After booting up look for your drive in My computer. If its there you may be able to access your data.

4. USB enclosures make a great tool for getting data back. I have on occasion used this method along with the linux live CD to get data that was really bad.

5. Verify your backups at this point. You should have backups right

6. The last method seems to be controversal but I have had success with it. Put the Hard drive in a plastic zip lock bag or other air tight container. Then place it in the freezer for 5 - 6 hours. Yes freezing the hard drive seems to super cool the mechanical parts long enough to get 0 to 40 minutes out of it. You may need to repeat this procedure but from experience the more you can get the first couple of times you do it the better, after 2 times with one drive the computer could no longer recognize the drive. Others I experienced shortened times after 2 - 3 freezing sessions.

If one of these works for you and you are able to recover your data. That is great but be aware that the drive has failed and I wouldn’t want to risk putting anything else on that drive. If you have any questions or comments on this article please comment