Need Help! I think my hard drive is dead!

[oregonbean]

My power went out last night, then cycled on and off four or five times before coming back on.  My PC is connected to a surge protector, and at first, it restarted and everything seemed fine.  Then it froze and I had to do a hard reboot.  Windows loaded, but my start menu and the task bar looked a little strange.  All of my files(pictures, music, documents) are accessible, but I cannot connect to the internet or some of my programs.  When I restart in safe mode and run the Dell diagnostics, my IDE fails--get 0F00: 021A, 041A, and 131A codes. 

I did not have an external drive for backup  (almost bought one earlier in the week and now wish I had).  I have about 30GB of files with no way to salvage them that I know of.  I now have an external drive, but I cannot install it on the PC.  Since I am fairly certain the hard drive is a lost cause, I was hoping someone could tell me how I might save my files?  I am not a computer expert, but I am pretty good at following detailed instructions!

Thank you for the assistance!

[Allan]

OS?

[oregonbean]

Sorry--I have Windows XP.

[Computer_Commando]

...When I restart in safe mode and run the Dell diagnostics, my IDE fails--get 0F00: 021A, 041A, and 131A codes.  ...

I think you can also run the diagnostics by pressing F12 during the POST (Poswer On Self Test).  I don't know what those error codes mean, bu you should be able to look it up at www.support.dell.com

[Allan]

Boot to the XP Recovery Console and run chkdsk /r

[2x3i5x]

Check out this link 

[oregonbean]

I cannot find my recovery disk, which just adds to my frustration. 

[Allan]

You can download the recovery console .iso, burn it to cd, and boot to it: http://forums.pcpitstop.com/index.php?showtopic=150212

[oregonbean]

I found my disk, ran chkdsk, but I'm not sure what to do next from the C:\ prompt.  There were no error messages, but it did say that one or more errors were found and fixed on the volume. 

Thanks again for the help!

[oregonbean]

Ugh! I am still having the same issue--I cannot install my external drive to the computer in order to perform backup--all my files are still there, but I'm just not sure how I can get them someplace safe!

[patio]

What exactly do you mean you can't "install" yhe external drive ? ?
They basically are plug and play...
Is it a brand new drive ? ?
If so power down and re-connect it.
Then re-boot...right clik My Computer and select Manage...then Disk Management...
Does it show up there ?
If so right clik it and select Properties....tell us what it says.

[oregonbean]

Patio--"Install" was a poor choice of words.  When I try to utilize disk management, I get a message saying RPC server is unavailable.

If I plug in the external drive, which is a new WD My Passport Essential, I can see it from "my computer" but can't save anything to it, because it tries to do a set up before it backs up the files, and the set up fails to complete on my dying computer.

Basically my files are all on the computer, I can open them, but I have no way of dragging them to any other drive, copying and pasting them, or saving them to some other location at this point. 

[patio]

If RPC is disabled or unavailable it's most likely you are infected...perhaps seriously.
Visit our Virus and spyware section and follow the Guide at the top of the page for info on running the scans and posting the logs...

Best of Luck.

PS. It's not the machine nor the HDD...

[oregonbean]

I only made it through CCleaner.  I'm having to save to a flashdrive from my laptop and then copy to my desktop on the other computer.  When I tried to run SUPERAntispyware, I got an error message: "The Windows Installer Service could not be accessed." I am not running in safe mode.  I am not able to access the internet from my currently nonfunctional computer.  Any suggestions out there? 

Dell technical service told me that based on error messages during their diagnostic program(all the IDE tests failed) that my hard drive was bad, and then they tried to sell me a new one.

[GX1_Man]

I sure wouldn't buy a drive from them. Newegg.com will be much more reasonable. I would start by slaving this drive in a friend's computer to see if the files can be seen and if so copy them to that external. I would do this before running chkdsk or anything else which may damage what's on there.