Neighborhood power failure while we were gone.

[keithbvadu2]

Neighborhood power failure while we were gone.

Computer was on but not when we got home.
Tries to boot up but fails. Windows 7.

Tries to do a self repair but gives up.
Hoping that the hard drive is still ok but maybe corrupted.

Buying another computer is not the problem.

Want to try a docking station that hooks up with usb and retrieve data.

Any suggestions other than sledgehammer?

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=sata+docking+station&crid=7P9FN243BELA&sprefix=sata+docking+sta%2Caps%2C254&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_1_16

What is diff between 3.5 and 2.5 size? Is the smaller one for laptops?

[EarlG]

1. This could send you pretty far down a rabbit hole but...

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/fix-mbr-windows-guide/

Good luck…

[keithbvadu2]

6. Thanks for the help... See my #5.

Thanks for the help... See my #5.

[EarlG]

9. FYI

I have had success fixing a non-booting system with option 2 on that page, after option 1 did not work.

[MerryHolidays]

2. Very likely nothing that destroyed your data happened

Can you start the PC in safe mode?

It's been years since I had a device with Windows 7, but this kinda' stuff happened, and I was always able to recover.

I (and I am sure other DUers who are far better than me) are happy to get you back up to speed.

[keithbvadu2]

7. Thanks for the help... See my #5.

[PoliticAverse]

3. Yes 2.5" drives (and smaller) are for laptops although SSDs are 2.5" in desktop...

and can be used in place of the standard 3.5" drive in desktops with a bracket that holds the 2.5" drive in a 3.5" bay.

As to drive recovery, yes you can put it in a docking station to see if the contents can be read. Also if you have another compute and a spare USB flash drive you can make a bootable USB drive with repair software on it and boot your old computer off the USB drive and use it to read/repair the old hard drive.

[keithbvadu2]

5. Thanks for the help, folks.

Thanks for the help, folks.

I won't be able to try the reboot stuff until next weekend but I am going to order a docking station anyway.
Supposed to get here Wed or so.

https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-External-Lay-Flat-Docking-EC-DFLT/dp/B00LS5NFQ2/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?crid=7P9FN243BELA&dchild=1&keywords=sata%2Bdocking%2Bstation&qid=1623032899&sprefix=sata%2Bdocking%2Bsta%2Caps%2C254&sr=8-2-spons&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyTkhKWTlOWjM5Nk1HJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNzk3NTM1MjlESkFLM1RPSFE4SyZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMDI0MDU3M0hRV0FZNUc3MlM0MSZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU&th=1

[eppur_se_muova]

4. If it's an older unit, you might have an emergency boot CD around, instead of ...

a flash drive. Good time to remember if you saved all the original materials that came with the computer.

[keithbvadu2]

8. Thanks for the help... See my #5.

Alas! Was not mine originally.