Asked By
Dustin T Do
20 points
N/A
Posted on - 03/21/2015
Hello everyone! My personal computer had Windows Vista in it before but I was thinking of upgrading it to a newer version of OS. So finally I upgraded it to Windows 7 but after I updated it, my hard drive stopped working after that. I don't know what the problem is, but I really want all the data from my hard drive because its important. How can I retrieve the data? Please help!
Upgrading From Vista to Windows 7 caused problems
The first thing to try is to check your hard drive for errors. To do this:
-
Click Start>Computer
-
Right-click on the hard drive that is being checked, and click on Properties
-
Click on the Tools tab
-
Under Error-checking, click Check Now
-
You can automatically fix problems that the scan detects by clicking Automatically Fix File System Errors.
-
You can also perform a detailed disk check, select Scan for and attempts recovery of bad sectors. This scan finds and repairs physical errors on the hard drive and will take much longer that to Automatically Fix Errors option.
You can also use the System Update Readiness Tool for Windows tool. Download this tool from here for your system:
32-bit
64-bit
If none of these solve your problem, you might need to repair Windows. To do that, follow these steps:
-
Close all programs and restart your computer
-
Insert the Windows CD/DVD into your computer
-
Click Install now
-
Click Go Online to obtain the latest updates for your installation type
-
If asked, type the Windows product key
-
When asked which type of installation you want to do, click the Upgrade button
-
Once the installation is complete, reboot your computer and run the Windows Update
Also, make sure that you have your hard drive’s latest device driver installed to work with Windows 7. You can go to your hard drive’s manufacturer’s page to check for driver updates, or go here to go to the Windows 7 Compatibility Centre.
Upgrading From Vista to Windows 7 caused problems
I think what you mean by your hard drive stopped working is that your computer stops booting or Windows is no longer booting your computer. Though Windows Vista can be upgraded to Windows 7 without formatting your hard drive and installing all your applications again, personally I prefer installing the new operating system from scratch to avoid problems like this.
Now, since it seems your computer or operating system is no longer booting, the best way to recover all your files is to connect your hard drive to another computer and from there, you can copy your files to a separate drive like a USB flash drive or external hard drive.
Once you’ve backed up all your important files to a separate drive, install the new operating system from scratch. If your physical hard drive is running on one partition only, split your hard drive into two partitions: one for the Windows 7 operating system and one for your data files. You can do the partitioning on the other computer.
Download EASEUS Partition Master to help you partition the drive. To give you an idea on the size of the partitions: 32-bit Windows 7 requires 16 GB free space and 64-bit Windows 7 requires 20 GB free space. This is only for the Windows 7 operating system alone and it doesn’t include the space for your applications. On my computer, I have a 300 GB hard drive.
I allotted 50 GB for the system drive and the remaining 250 GB is for my data files.
