Using linux to recover inoperable Dell laptop?

Asked by Becky L

My roommate has a Dell Latitude laptop. Last week it crashed on her, giving her the 'Unmountable_boot_drive' message.

Is it possible to use Ubuntu to recover any files she may have on the system and/or turn the system into a usable system again?

Thanks!

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A. Denton (aquina) said :
#1

Hello Becky L,

it depends on wether the HDD is physically damaged or not. I assume it is because the shock most likely exceeded 70G's and thus internal, mechanical components (seeker/head) broke. Indeed I cannot tell you for sure. Obviously the damage is so hard that the systems BIOS does detedt that drive no more. GNU/Linux will definitely not help you with that since you require a BIOS (either the onboard one or the one from a controller card) to detect the hardware. I recommend you to keep the device off and bring/send that drive to a data rescue company nearby. In case it's only the controller and/or there must only a few small files be restored you'll most likely profit from a "special offer". These are about $129-179 (USD). If the controller or heads are not the only problem but your HDD's surface is severely damaged you may require a time consumptive rescue. This can be somewhere between $250 and 1500. I also hope you have no RAID. This sometimes costs up to 3.000-10.000 for a mid-range server and business data.

Good Luck!

PS: Now you know why REGULAR backups are so IMPORTANT!

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Tom (tom6) said :
#2

There could be some other problem of a more recoverable nature.

Perhaps first try Wolvix as a LiveCd - this means try booting up from Cd drive without installing anything, it's the default action when booting a Wolvix Cd. Wolvix is quick to boot and gives a good normal desktop to use to try to read the hard-drive. I recommend making a Wolvix Hunter Cd although the Cub is lighter (but lacks good retro-arcade games)
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=wolvix

If it is due to some physical impact to the laptop then it might be just that the hard-drive has jumped out of it's proper housing and just needs to be pushed back in. There are usually only 2 screws on the underside of the laptop per device (dvd drive, batttery, hard-drive) and taking the hard drive out and then gently but firmly pushing it back in might be enough to allow Wolvix to get the data off either via wireless or ethernet cable to a network.

There are other good distros worth trying such as SystemRescue and TrinityRescue
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=systemrescue
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=trinity
but these are probably quite techie tools and unlikely to be helpful if Wolvix hasn't worked. Time to take it to a shop and get some professional help i suspect. Try to get a quote of how much they expect to charge, try a few places and don't necessarily go with the cheapest quote.

It might be possible to pull the hard-drive out and connect it to another machine using an adapter, i managed to get one for £5 but it was an extremely lucky find. Or it might be possible to pu the drive into another laptop without killing the new laptop too. But really i'd leave it to a shop to try these sorts of options unless you happen to know some nearby likely to have such tools already.

Good luck with this
Regards from
Tom :)

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Tom (tom6) said :
#3

The prices quoted above i think (and hope) only apply to a worst case scenario. It makes me acutely aware of the lack of reward and indeed stress i have been subjected to in solving these sorts of problems within companies. Quite depressing to hear about :(

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Becky L (geminigirl6879) said :
#4

I guess I should have been more clear with the question, and that's my fault... She was running the program associated with her printer (a Lexmark X2690 Multifunction printer) and the program froze. Ctrl-Alt-Del brought up the Task Manager, but it would not let her quit the application. She then held down the Power button and when she restarted the system, that's when she received the 'UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_DRIVE' message.

The system sat on a table for the majority of the time... Now I do admit, the table shifted now and then, but nothing that would cause serious damage.

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Tom (tom6) said :
#5

Great. So try a Wolvix or Ubutu disk in the dvd/cd tray and see if you can boot up with the Cd as per these guidelines
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootFromCD

It now sounds like just a typical M$ error, hopefully fairly easy to work-around :)
Thanks and regards from
To :)

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Becky L (geminigirl6879) said :
#6

Thanks Tom, that solved my question.

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Tom (tom6) said :
#7

You've been able to bootup and read the hard-drive? If the Windows isn't Vista it might be worth installing Ubuntu (or Wolvix if you can't spare 15Gb) onto the end of the drive and setting the Windows as the default to boot into

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootFromCD

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot

Hope this fixes everything and gets it all working sweetly, with all of the data intact, usable and also backed up in case you do drop the machine ;) hehehehe
Thanks and regards from
Tom :)

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Tom (tom6) said :
#8

Often just installing a linux in the dual-boot way as the guide describes is enough to fix a "completely dead" machine as it's often just the Windows boot-loader that's failed. The Windows boot-loader is quite arrogant as it's usually the only OS on a system but linux has to work well with other OS's and in a huge variety of tricky conditions. So it has to be a lot stronger & more flexible than Windows in order to just survive.

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Becky L (geminigirl6879) said :
#9

**You've been able to bootup and read the hard-drive?**

Well, Sort of... it will load as far as the WinXP screen (with the moving blue bar) and then RIGHT after that is when the BSOD and the message about 'UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_DRIVE' pops up.

I will look into Ubuntu and/or Wolvix.

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Best Tom (tom6) said :
#10

Wolvix is faster to download and use. Ubuntu is better if you have enough space and want to install it for a linux newbie, after fixing the problem ;)

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Becky L (geminigirl6879) said :
#11

Thanks Tom, that solved my question.