Member Avatar for Naveed_786

Hi Good Evening All,
Hope all are fine during this current situation.

Currently i am facinf some issue after sudden power shut the HP Z840 Workstation is not loading the operating system i tried following:

 1. Tried to repair the OS but in the repair screen no OS to select.
    2. Varified the hard disc is there in the Bios setup.
    3. Rmeoved the hard disc and put it into the same model workstation i can see hte partition are there it shows system partition and rest 2 parttions as well and i copied the
        data already but vendor is asking to reinstall the application which will cost a lot of expenese. 
        I am trying my luck if some how i can recover the OS.

    Any help will be highly appriciated.
    Kind Regards,
    Naveed.
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  • Latest Post Latest Post by rproffitt
Member Avatar for rproffitt

Compare costs of the OS and app reinstall.

For some it's cheaper to pay Microsoft for their support than pay the app vendor.

This is also a lesson about backups. Here a 2TB USB drive which for most of us can hold the OS, apps and data for many systems is under 99USD. Recovery tends to cost ten times that. You can make bet that folk can't be taught to backup. They seem to learn this lesson first hand.

PS. I forgot to write the following.

NEVER try to repair the OS on the HDD/SSD in such a situation. You clone the original then operate on the clone. This way you get as many attempts as you want without risk to the original. This is yet another lesson in data safety and recovery that I find others learn by doing rather than in the classroom.

Edited by rproffitt because: Add PS.
Member Avatar for Naveed_786

Hi there,

Yes you are absolutly right i do agree with you i have valid backups of the dabase and application but definelty that requires reinstallation to resotre them that's what i am trying if i can recover the OS, Please help on this.

Kind Regards,
Naveed.

Member Avatar for Dani

Unfortunately this is out of my wheelhouse, but I came across this thread, and just wanted to wish you the best of luck.

Where I live, all computer repair shops are currently closed, and it's my worst nightmare right now that my computer should be unbootable.

I wonder if there's any third-party software out there that will help you to recover a system partition?

Good luck again!

Member Avatar for Naveed_786

If possible please advise some tools or guidlines so that i can give it a try.

commented: For Windows Server, we clone the drive and try ideas from the Web. Fail? Call, pay Microsoft. +15
Member Avatar for rproffitt

More for Naveed.

Remember that repair of an OS is never the same procedure. It varies on the damage and about half the time we find the host PC had other issues which meant the OS on the HDD/SSD was actually fine. But then the owner attempted to repair their last copy of the installed OS on that last HDD/SSD and mucked it all up so we don't get a chance to CLONE it and try recovery of the OS on the CLONE.

Yes there are some that for reasons such as money will not do the CLONE JOB but they also tend to implode as in the PC never comes back or ends up in a trash bin. We've seen it all but that doesn't mean the OS is always recoverable for this reason: What is it this time?

This is why when we approach such work:

  1. A blank HDD/SSD is slipped in, a quick install of the OS is done and we test if the host PC is fine.
  2. The broken OS drive is cloned, then we try the usual boot the OS install media and see if automatic repairs work. If not we are then more aware of the state of the OS, the PC and may have other ideas which I purposely am not listing here since they are driven by what you see by doing the work (i.e. clone drive, automatic repair, testing with another drive, etc.

PS. Edited for spelling error.

Edited by rproffitt because: Spelling correction.
Member Avatar for Naveed_786

Thanks rproffitt,

For quick response i will try my best using clone tools if it works.

Thanks for your time and help.

I will post back if there is any development on this.

Kind Regards,
Naveed.

Member Avatar for Naveed_786

So i did the colning but didn't work, now what i did is i made parttion image using Ghost utlity before i proceed furthure want to ask one question if i will install fresh os and then restore the image taken earlier by Ghost utlity to restore the old OS will it work or no?

Kind Regards,
Naveed.

Member Avatar for rproffitt

Why didn't it clone? That may be a fine clue what is going on.

The old Symantec Ghost isn't known for it's acumen. And as to a partition backup that is what it is so we never expect that partition to boot again if say one were to restore that to a drive that was wiped, the OS reinstalled and this partition restored. Long discussions why on the web so I won't write why here.

But let's break this into two things.

  1. Let's say you want to try the partition thing yourself. I hope you proved me wrong as to working.
    You would get a new blank drive to install the OS onto then test that out. If that works then you clone the partitions you need and try the boot.
    Remember the rule about NEVER EVER touching the source drive as it's our last copy since well, it is according to the discussion so far.
  2. There are many fine disk cloning apps out there. Linux has a few and "dd" is a common thing. Nod to https://www.google.com/search?&q=clone+a+drive+with+dd I use Linux a lot in rescue efforts. I share this a lot too. Here's an old piece of advice: http://tips.oncomputers.info/archives2004/0401/2004-Jan-11.htm but what I want to impress on you is that we don't learn Linux. We use it.
    Some tell me and I have used AOMEI's clone tool for free as well. Again, I don't duplicate the web on how to use as you can find that on your own.
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