hard drive - Windows 7 - "A disk read error occured. Press Ctrl + Alt + Del to restart"

Problem:

When I switch on my PC, after BIOS POST, a cursor is blinking for about 5 seconds and then I am getting this error message:

A disk read error occurred.
Press Ctrl + Alt + Del to restart.

I am able to go into BIOS. But Windows loader doesn't even start. This message is shown after my motherboard logo comes and goes.

Symptoms:

• I DID notice my system freezing for minutes at a time for past two days.


• Also, in the past two days, it stopped half way through the Window booting process. I had to do hard reset couple of times to get it working.


• But since today morning, I only get this error message.

Configuration:

Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit only.
Hard disk: 1 Physical Disk - 80GB SATA
Partitions: Two (2) - C: and D:
File System: NTFS
No drive encryption or compression is turned on.

After I searched on the net, I have found people mentioning these possible causes:

• Hard Disk is physically failing


• Corrupt MBR


• Bad Sector

I am planning to buy a new hard disk, install Windows on it and continue. But I need data from the old hard disk. The data I want is in D: drive, outside any Windows user folder, is not encrypted or compressed or protected in anyway. I think if someone/something can get the disk working again and knows NTFS, the data can be hopefully read.

What steps should I follow to recover files from the defective disk?

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Update:

I bought a new disk, installed windows on it and added the defective one as a slave. Then I was able to read the data from the defective hard disk. Though chkdsk found lots of errors, the files I wanted were not affected and I got them back :) I am not using that hard disk anymore though it seems to be working at the moment.

Answer

As you're getting a new disk to reinstall Windows you can simply plug the old disk in a slave (or put it in an enclosure and use it as an external drive). Then depending on what's actually failing you might be able to get the data off.

Taking your three cases:

• Hard disk failing. You might be able to read data off the drive before it fails completely. This is the worst case.


• Corrupt MBR. As you are not booting from the disk any more you should be able to use it as a second drive. But you will want to copy all the data off as it could be indicative of a more serious problem.


• Bad Sector. Again, you should be able to read the data off the drive- apart from in the bad sector, but a repair might fix it and you can carry on using the drive.