win7 unbootable, hd took a poo?

[SpeedEng66]

need some help...
Wifes pc (WIN7 pro 64BIT) wont boot (it gets stuck on the windows splash screen).
Wont repair (it gets stuck on a blue background screen.. mouse still moves around but nuttin happening).
not even safe mode works..

hd (wdc raptor) keeps making ticking and buzzing noise (which makes me think the hdd took a poo)

so normally if its my pc I wipe the sucker out (format and reinstall os)
of course that would be too easy.. she has work files on her desktop.. and 9+ years of photos/vids in her docs I am assigned to go rescue...

any tips on how to do this..? can I just take the hdd out and hook it on my htpc (win7hp 32bit) and get the files/docs.. ?

[KompuKare]

You can do that although you might be better off trying that in Linux.

Thing is, if the drive is going, you don't want to be powering it up doing anything except get those files off there (and trying to install Windows / Windows repair etc. already counts as risky). So the thing is to install or burn your Linux before you power up that Raptor so that once you do power it up you don't waste any time.

Decide on a priority of which files you want and write a paper list. Then once you get access to the drive, copy those files first.

Point being: a drive on its way out might only give you a few minutes so you don't want to be messing around with it. If the drive already had bad data / deleted stuff I'd advise making an image and working from that but the one reason not to do that is that the drive might fail while making the image and there's no guarantee that the imaged bit done up to then will be anything you want. Hence the written list of what to copy.

[frozentundra123456]

Originally Posted by SpeedEng66

need some help...
Wifes pc (WIN7 pro 64BIT) wont boot (it gets stuck on the windows splash screen).
Wont repair (it gets stuck on a blue background screen.. mouse still moves around but nuttin happening).
not even safe mode works..

hd (wdc raptor) keeps making ticking and buzzing noise (which makes me think the hdd took a poo)

so normally if its my pc I wipe the sucker out (format and reinstall os)
of course that would be too easy.. she has work files on her desktop.. and 9+ years of photos/vids in her docs I am assigned to go rescue...

any tips on how to do this..? can I just take the hdd out and hook it on my htpc (win7hp 32bit) and get the files/docs.. ?

You can try to boot with a linux CD and you may be able to find the files. You also can remove the HDD from the laptop and put it in the appropriate external USB enclosure, attach it to another computer and try to copy the files. I have had this happen a couple of times, and usually only a small portion of the hard drive was damaged and most of my non-system files were intact. Hopefully that will be the case for you, but of course you cant be sure.

And I honestly feel bad for you and hate to say this, but especially if you have work files and irreplacable personal pictures, etc. a backup is imperative.