Hard drive and CD-Rom drives do not appear on Ubuntu desk top when I go to "Places-Computer."

Asked by Linda Walsh

I have a Dell Inspiron 6000 with Windows XP Professional. It will not boot (the message "Internal hard disk drive not found. Internal HDD Hard error!" appears when I try to boot) nor open in safe mode. (I also tried removing and reinserting the battery and the hard drive, but no luck. I think the battery may be dead, as I hever use it and my laptop is 5 years old.)

I researched computer forums and someone suggested that my hard drive is probably dead but that I could access my data files via an Ubuntu live CD. He said to go to "Places, Computer" and then double click on the hard drive icon to open it. The problem is that neither the hard drive nor the CD-ROM drive appear on the Ubuntu desk top -- only the Floppy Drive and Filesystem icons appear. What am I doing wrong? Thanks.

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Answered
For:
Ubuntu Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said :
#1

Why not restore the data from backup? If the data is important you must have a backup, right?

Can you give the output of:

sudo fdisk -l

Thanks

Revision history for this message
Linda Walsh (lr-walsh) said :
#2

Unfortunately, I do not have a backup. Since I can't boot up or open in Safe Mode, I cannot do a system restore either. Dell does not provide a Windows XP boot disk -- that's why i was hoping I could do something with Ubuntu.

Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said :
#3

Why do you not have a backup? The drive could mechanically fail at any random point. Then you will be forking out THOUSANDS of dollars for professional (and non-guaranteed) data retrieval, or you can spend a couple HUNDRED on a USB drive with guaranteed data recovery. Where is your logic????

You may be able to use foremost but it isn't perfect or guaranteed at all.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DataRecovery

You have learned why backups are so VERY important the hardest way possible and I feel sorry for you.

Revision history for this message
arjun (arjunak01) said :
#4

Can you give the output of:

sudo fdisk -l

Revision history for this message
fred33435 (reup51) said :
#5

On boot up Get 2 beeps
primary drive not found
F1 to continue F2 for setup.
Checked bios everything correct.
Started when adding 2nd hard drive
Does not see 2nd hard drive either.
Did move jumper to slave & main hard drive on end of ribbon wire.
Checked to see if raid is present it's not.
Disconnected 2nd hard drive still same.
Checked sudo fdisk
Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80000000000 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9726 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xd0f4738c

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 9541 76638051 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 9542 9726 1486012+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda4 * 9315 9725 3301357+ 0 Empty
/dev/sda5 9542 9726 1485981 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 8213 MB, 8213305856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 998 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 1
Thanks Fred

Can you help with this problem?

Provide an answer of your own, or ask Linda Walsh for more information if necessary.

To post a message you must log in.