My D drive died.

[Drago]

Our old computer was in active use for probably ten years or so. We got this new one midway through last year, and kept the old one in working order for all of the old files, as well as a program that we can't extract from it.

A little while ago, I noticed a terrible clicking sound coming from the old computer whenever it was on. Today, I turned it on, and got the clicking as the thing painfully tried to start up, then it stopped and this message came onscreen...

Secondary master hard disk fail.

...Obviously not what I wanted to see. I rebooted it, and Windows loaded up fine, only entirely absent of the D drive (the larger drive we had installed which I was storing everything on). Yes, the drive seems to have stopped existing entirely.

So what, am I screwed? That computer held all the important things from my teenage years... Is it really all gone? I'm in a state of shock now... Especially when you consider I was turning the computer on in order to finally save all my files onto a CD-RW. Wow. Wow wow wow.

[kainashi]

you could take it to some specialty place and they might be able to extract data from it but i think it costs a pretty penny!

[Heald]

Reinstalling Windows may require the redetection of a second hard drive. When I last installed a new version of Windows, the second hard drive wasn't automatically detected, but all the data was still on there. However, sometimes you'll have to reformat the hard drive in order for it to be visible again, which will mean wiping it. Try having your PC detect it (I've forgotten how, try using the Google), and if it wants to format it, follow kainashi's advice.

[Blademaster]

I dunno anything about computers, so I can't help you out. All I can do is offer you my condolences.

In memory of DragoKnight's D drive. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq_Tw_lspCw&feature=related)

[youdontknowme]

judging by that clicking sound (http://youtube.com/watch?v=Cd8KwJ2q50g), i assume your hard drive is dead.

[.hacker]

Same thing happened to my C drive. The clicking sound means it's dead. Probably the only way to retrieve the data is to send the drive to a data recovery company, and will probably cost $1500.