Hard Drive problems

[honey lamb]

A little OT but it does have a travel component. Recently my hard drive died [:(] Passed peacefully away [:(] Went to that great CPU in the sky [:(] Oh, I did try to revive it but the techies said it had shuffled off this mortal coil. OK, I was a bit miffed, well a great deal miffed to be honest, but we had bought this laptop which I am using in Hong Kong, so at least I can keep up with the important things like V-Flyer.

I haven't yet got round to replacing my hard drive but I will. To be honest it hasn't been a hardship without the PC except that I have to try and remember all my passwords - or else change them when that facility is there to do so, and this model of laptop doesn't have pound or Euro signs [:0] However I can still live without that but tonight a further horror struck me and it is for this I am seeking advice. Some time ago I booked a series of flights over a period of time. The main one was a VS flight and the others supporting flights to get me to and from VS. The routing was ORK-LGW (Ryanair), VS LGW-MCO, MCO-JFK (JetBlue), VS JFK-LHR, LHR-ORK (Aer Lingus). It has been my wont to print out confirmation pages when they appear but not confirmation emails which go into a Travel folder in my Inbox till nearer the time especially for those carriers who only accept the email confirmation. I do this mainly because of the number of different flights and I am afraid some might get lost/scribbled on/thrown out/whatever. Tonight I went to check prompted by some query on V-Flyer. Of the above routing I find I have printed off the confirmation page for Ryanair and jetBlue but not VS or Aer Lingus and those are now languishing in Outlook Express in the moribund hard drive [:#] I feel I can probably get redress from VS since I am a FC member and can give them enough information to convince them who I am but is there anyway I can retrieve the email from Aer Lingus? Or from Outlook Express? Or are my emails lost and gone forever?

[mitchja]

I dont think it will be a problem if you have the bookings refs, especially with VS as I lost my e-ticket somewhere on the way to SYD and didn't need to show it at all coming back. VS will re-send you your e-ticket if you ask them as I'm sure so will Aer Lingus. Most airlines are now happy checking you in on just a passport and booking ref.

As to getting this or any other type of data off your dead HDD, it really does dempend on how the HDD died. There is software out there that allows you to retrieve data of a damaged HDD, but if the HDD is beyond repair that wont work. Places like PC World shops might also be able to do it for you (at a cost) but again it might not work either.

Regards

[honey lamb]

Originally posted by mitchja
I dont think it will be a problem if you have the bookings refs, especially with VS as I lost my e-ticket somewhere on the way to SYD and didn't need to show it at all coming back. VS will re-send you your e-ticket if you ask them as I'm sure so will Aer Lingus. Most airlines are now happy checking you in on just a passport and booking ref.

As to getting this or any other type of data off your dead HDD, it really does dempend on how the HDD died. There is software out there that allows you to retrieve data of a damaged HDD, but if the HDD is beyond repair that wont work. Places like PC World shops might also be able to do it for you (at a cost) but again it might not work either.

Regards

Thanks James

Straying slightly off topic, I found that on our recent trip to HKG and SYD all we had to do was produce our passports. It seems to be the security person at LHR/LGW that needs to see the printout. I'll also call Aer Lingus in the morning. All I need is the booking reference as we always use the self-check-in kiosks.

As to the hard drive, it can't get beyond my switching on the computer and a series of diagnostics run by Dell sounded the death knell. I need to take the hard drive to someone who does data recovery

Originally posted by honey lamb
I need to take the hard drive to someone who does data recovery

Indeed - for %DEITY'S% sake, don't entrust it to the goons at PC World! These people are good - though a tad expensive IIRC.

Cheers

Michael

[Decker]

Try purchasing SPINRITE - does wonders

Indeed, I hear Tony Blair swears by it

[honey lamb]

Well I've sorted out the flight problems. The EI website advised to contact by phone for a resend of the confirmation email. I did so and two minutes later it was back in my Inbox. [^] I then got on to the Premier Team and got a delightful lady whose name I remembered and she too remembered me. The email is winging its way to me as I type - oh, here it is! In addition she changed my FC number to the new one so that I could see it on the Manage My Booking page. Terrific service from both airlines. [^]

I haven't done anything yet about my hard drive - haven't had time but will do so within the next few days.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'd better go and print off these confirmation emails in case this hard drive goes belly up [:0]

[:?]If the main purpose of a hard drive is to "persistantly store" data, then has it technically died? After all, it's still storing the data, it's just you can't see it.

A bit like the "if a tree falls over in a forest, but there is no one there to hear it, does it make any noise?"


Sorry. Slow day [:I]

[honey lamb]

Originally posted by PVGSLF
[:?]If the main purpose of a hard drive is to "persistantly store" data, then has it technically died? After all, it's still storing the data, it's just you can't see it.

A bit like the "if a tree falls over in a forest, but there is no one there to hear it, does it make any noise?"


Sorry. Slow day [:I]

I prefer "If a man is walking in a forest and no woman is there to hear him is he still wrong?"

Originally posted by honey lamb

Originally posted by PVGSLF
[:?]If the main purpose of a hard drive is to "persistantly store" data, then has it technically died? After all, it's still storing the data, it's just you can't see it.

A bit like the "if a tree falls over in a forest, but there is no one there to hear it, does it make any noise?"


Sorry. Slow day [:I]

I prefer "If a man is walking in a forest and no woman is there to hear him is he still wrong?"

[:?]

Honey Lamb

Have PM'd you about your drive

Regards

Mark