Hardware & Technical Getting ED data from a dying hard drive

[Leif_Erikson]

I have an old PC I played ED on for ages and am trying to upload the journal data to EDDiscovery.However the hard drive is just about dead on it and only stays on for around 20 minutes before blue screening and crashing on me.So not enough time to upload EDDiscovery and get the data on the system.

But I have heard the folder for the saved journals is in %userprofile%\saved games\frontier development\elite dangerous and should have enough time to save the Elite Dangerous folder to a flash drive before the hard drive goes kaput (in theory.......)

But is it just a case of dragging the saved 'Elite Dangerous' file on the flash drive to the same folder on another PC and putting it in? I am hopeless (and terrified [where is it]) with software and have wrecked PC's before by messing around with files- so an idiot's guide would be most helpful...........

 

[Nick Sticks]

Yes, that's all you need to do.
I play on three PC's and copy those files to the main one with EDDiscovery on to get all the data in.

Regarding your dying hard drive, one trick that might give you some more time to copy the files is to cool the hard drive down.
Remove it from your old PC and put it in a sealed plastic sandwich bag or container and then put it in the freezer for an hour or two.
Then quickly put it back in to the PC or even a drive caddy.

I've used that a few times to buy me enough time to get files off.
This does depend on the actual problem with the hard drive but it's worth a go.

 

[Leif_Erikson]

Thanks for that Nick.Turns out there is far less systems than expected so must have had an software failure and done a system image restore on it.
However the jounals found have data from one of my WD/ELW hunts (including my Ammonia World orbiting a main WD [smile] ) so EDSM will have a vast increase in White Dwarf systems soon!

As for the hard drive-I could freeze it but now it has served it purpose will roast it on a bonfire to get the data off it - a fitting funeral

 

[Dural]

For future reference. You're getting into slightly dangerous territory taking the temp down below the condensation point. You might be trying a last ditch attempt to rescue something which you only need to work for an hour but if enough condensation forms and it shorts out, the drive isn't doing to be happy. Condensation forming is the reason why you need to cover the area on a board round a CPU with dielectric grease if you're using a peltier. I've heard anecdotally that chilling the drive down can help but there are limits. 2 hours will freeze any moisture in the air in the drive onto the components, maybe putting the drive into a sealed bag with silica gel for a few hours first might be sensible?

 

[Jaiotu]

Yes, that's all you need to do.
I play on three PC's and copy those files to the main one with EDDiscovery on to get all the data in.

Regarding your dying hard drive, one trick that might give you some more time to copy the files is to cool the hard drive down.
Remove it from your old PC and put it in a sealed plastic sandwich bag or container and then put it in the freezer for an hour or two.
Then quickly put it back in to the PC or even a drive caddy.

I've used that a few times to buy me enough time to get files off.
This does depend on the actual problem with the hard drive but it's worth a go.

For future reference. You're getting into slightly dangerous territory taking the temp down below the condensation point. You might be trying a last ditch attempt to rescue something which you only need to work for an hour but if enough condensation forms and it shorts out, the drive isn't doing to be happy. Condensation forming is the reason why you need to cover the area on a board round a CPU with dielectric grease if you're using a peltier. I've heard anecdotally that chilling the drive down can help but there are limits. 2 hours will freeze any moisture in the air in the drive onto the components, maybe putting the drive into a sealed bag with silica gel for a few hours first might be sensible?

I've done this numerous times as well and it works pretty good. The silica gel packets inside the sandwich bag with the drive Are a pro tip.

 

[Shadowdancer]

Whatever approach you take to making a drive accessible, always treat that attempt as your last shot and prepare and work as if you knew full well that it would never work again after you shut it down. Have some emergency tools like ddrescue and all your target storage available the moment you turn it on.

 

[Leif_Erikson]

For future reference. You're getting into slightly dangerous territory taking the temp down below the condensation point. You might be trying a last ditch attempt to rescue something which you only need to work for an hour but if enough condensation forms and it shorts out, the drive isn't doing to be happy. Condensation forming is the reason why you need to cover the area on a board round a CPU with dielectric grease if you're using a peltier. I've heard anecdotally that chilling the drive down can help but there are limits. 2 hours will freeze any moisture in the air in the drive onto the components, maybe putting the drive into a sealed bag with silica gel for a few hours first might be sensible?

Good job I didn't read this post before I stuck my hard drive into a Hovis bread bag and put in the freezer for a couple of hours as this may have put me off .........

But it did work! An hard drive that always blue screened within 20 minutes (if it actually managed to run Windows when turned on) when nicely chilled lasted for four hours and gave me enough time to install EDDiscovery,read my journals and send details to EDSM.

Success [smile]

 

[Dural]

Glad it worked out