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General => Open Discussion => Topic started by: madbean on December 20, 2011, 02:05:48 PM

Title: Laptop disaster
Post by: madbean on December 20, 2011, 02:05:48 PM
I'm pretty bummed cause I just lost a whole lot of work. My laptop got jacked by a trojan....not a big deal. I start wiping it clean with malwarebytes and removed the offending executables. But, then my browser got jacked with re-directs, so I tried using TDSS killer and some rootkit cleaners. Well, somehow the infection or fix screwed up MBR and now all of sudden it won't post. From there things just got worse. Long story short:even though I had the drive partitioned an the work backed up I ended up losing everything....which includes a whole bunch of layouts not saved on my desktop computer. Including the layouts for the Nautilus and a few sub-mini projects.

Maybe it's time for some cloud type storage...hard drives and operating systems are nothing but faulty in the long run!

Looks like I'll be tracing my own layout for the Nautilus so I can actually build the prototype!
Title: Re: Laptop disaster
Post by: Scruffie on December 20, 2011, 02:18:21 PM
Ahh crap... that's very not cool, all that time wasted trying to save it as well! Sure it's all completely gone?

Rather than cloud storage, i've just been using an SD card at the end of every session for back ups.

One question though... what's a Nautilus  ???

Any way, hope you get it back on track soon and it's not too much of a set back... that's gotta be a real dissapointment.
Title: Re: Laptop disaster
Post by: k.rock! on December 20, 2011, 02:19:05 PM
Wow man, I'm sorry to hear that...But I like the way you think! Sometimes disasters happen so that better things can surface...

Let us know how we can help out if needed.

-Kaleb
Title: Re: Laptop disaster
Post by: madbean on December 20, 2011, 02:23:28 PM
Scruffie- the Nautilus is the Mutron III project I was developing. Since the only copy was on the laptop, not only did I lose the schematic and layout, but my prototype board (which should be here today) is going to be a PITA to build---I will have the trace it and re-create the component numbering. I also had some mods, but I remember what they are so that's not so bad.

The SD card is a good idea. I should pick one up! I may already have one.
Title: Re: Laptop disaster
Post by: marmaliser on December 20, 2011, 02:25:03 PM
Man thats bad but I will just echo the "are you sure everything is lost"?  I don't know you level of IT literacy but there is normally something that can be done and I am guessing there will be more than a few Techies on this board (myslef being 1 ) that might be able to help.
Title: Re: Laptop disaster
Post by: Scruffie on December 20, 2011, 02:30:30 PM
Quote from: madbean on December 20, 2011, 02:23:28 PM
Scruffie- the Nautilus is the Mutron III project I was developing. Since the only copy was on the laptop, not only did I lose the schematic and layout, but my prototype board (which should be here today) is going to be a PITA to build---I will have the trace it and re-create the component numbering. I also had some mods, but I remember what they are so that's not so bad.

The SD card is a good idea. I should pick one up! I may already have one.
Eugh... that'll be gruelling work, hate set backs like that, just makes me want to avoid the project.

Yeah the SD Card has been working for me, 4 gig storage, easy to transfer data and carry around and quite hard to accidently wipe especially with a lock on it.

Good luck getting it back together!
Title: Re: Laptop disaster
Post by: Haberdasher on December 20, 2011, 02:33:34 PM
i would remove the hard drive from the laptop and put it in an external enclosure.  hook it up via usb to another computer and attempt to access it like a data drive.  rarely is the data actually lost unless there's a physical/mechanical problem with its hardware.
Title: Re: Laptop disaster
Post by: Micpoc on December 20, 2011, 02:45:03 PM
Quote from: Haberdasher on December 20, 2011, 02:33:34 PM
i would remove the hard drive from the laptop and put it in an external enclosure.  hook it up via usb to another computer and attempt to access it like a data drive.  rarely is the data actually lost unless there's a physical/mechanical problem with its hardware.

+! on this; hope it works out OK.
Title: Re: Laptop disaster
Post by: jcuempire on December 20, 2011, 06:50:36 PM
Quote from: Haberdasher on December 20, 2011, 02:33:34 PM
i would remove the hard drive from the laptop and put it in an external enclosure.  hook it up via usb to another computer and attempt to access it like a data drive.  rarely is the data actually lost unless there's a physical/mechanical problem with its hardware.

I do this sort of thing all the time.  I use this on 99% of the jobs:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2329300&CatId=3770

It allows you to connect laptop and desktop IDE and SATA drives to another machine.
Title: Re: Laptop disaster
Post by: tenwatt on December 20, 2011, 07:05:41 PM
Buy a Mac and it should solve all of your virus problems.  ;D
Title: Re: Laptop disaster
Post by: Ang3lus on December 20, 2011, 07:28:43 PM
then he'd have an ipad with a mouse amd keyb :)
Title: Re: Laptop disaster
Post by: lloyd17 on December 20, 2011, 08:03:14 PM
This is where live Linux boot CD's really shine.
Title: Re: Laptop disaster
Post by: slimtriggers on December 20, 2011, 08:15:54 PM
Quote from: lloyd17 on December 20, 2011, 08:03:14 PM
This is where live Linux boot CD's really shine.

Can you mount an NTFS partitioned drive with a live linux distro?  I haven't tried it in a long time (since I started using a Mac), but they used to have trouble with NTFS.  FAT32 no problem, though.

*Googled it.  I guess it can be done 8)
Title: Re: Laptop disaster
Post by: jcuempire on December 20, 2011, 08:25:37 PM
Just 2 of the many Linux rescue distributions.  They usually work very well
http://partedmagic.com/doku.php
http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page
Title: Re: Laptop disaster
Post by: dwstanford on December 20, 2011, 08:49:18 PM
Quote from: jcuempire on December 20, 2011, 06:50:36 PM
Quote from: Haberdasher on December 20, 2011, 02:33:34 PM
i would remove the hard drive from the laptop and put it in an external enclosure.  hook it up via usb to another computer and attempt to access it like a data drive.  rarely is the data actually lost unless there's a physical/mechanical problem with its hardware.

I do this sort of thing all the time.  I use this on 99% of the jobs:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2329300&CatId=3770

It allows you to connect laptop and desktop IDE and SATA drives to another machine.

Yeah, i bought an adapter on amazon for ten bucks and it has saved my ass several times.
Title: Re: Laptop disaster
Post by: Jamiroking on December 20, 2011, 09:22:21 PM
I'll echo what everyone else has been saying. I've saved quite a few things by setting my drive as an external. I didn't even buy an adapter, just ripped open another external i had laying around. That usually requires access to another computer to hook the external up to though.
A linux live boot disc should work without the extra computer though.

Even if the hard drive is totally wiped, there are a few programs out there that can recover stuff. It's easier for it to work if you don't write anything else to the disc which is usually the exact opposite of what we do as we frantically try everything to fix it. The one I used was called Stellar phoenix recover I think.

From being around computer science people, I always hear "You're not truly safe until you have a backup of your backup" Cloud storage is sounding better and better though since they handle the redundancies for you and I barely remember to backup once let alone twice.

Good luck Brian! I've been in your shoes many times and I know how shit it is.
Title: Re: Laptop disaster
Post by: TNblueshawk on December 21, 2011, 01:34:48 AM
Damn Bean what did you do to piss off The Gods? You are due for some good luck and soon and here's hopong you get it.
Title: Re: Laptop disaster
Post by: madbean on December 21, 2011, 01:46:20 AM
Yeah it's been kind of a shitty few days. I recovered all the lost files but they Eagle files seem to be corrupted. Oh well.
Title: Re: Laptop disaster
Post by: add4 on December 21, 2011, 06:56:51 AM
I don't know how fucked up your hard drive is, but some people actually manage to retrieve data from erased/broken HD.
maybe you could try giving a phone call to a local guy who does that and see if that's actually really lost.
Title: Re: Laptop disaster
Post by: Scruffie on December 21, 2011, 02:39:00 PM
Well what do you know, I just had something simmilar myself!

Bought a Hard Drive Caddy to get all the stuff off my old desktop as the computer had died and I didn't really want it anymore so I just retrieved the hard drive.

Plugged it in... nothing happened... 1 minute later, the power supply they supplied makes a pop and it's gone.

Any of you tech savvy people know if the drive is gunna have been destroyed? Or any idea why it wouldn't detect... either way... bloody ebay return to do now... although after return postage it's probably not gunna gain me much.
Title: Re: Laptop disaster
Post by: jubal81 on April 13, 2012, 08:13:51 AM
Brian, did you ever get a chance to make any sense out of the Nautilus after the meltdown?
Title: Re: Laptop disaster
Post by: JakeFuzz on April 13, 2012, 02:57:47 PM
I have had several computer meltdowns in my life (some due to viruses). I have almost always been able to get the data I need by doing a few things (though my MBR has never been screwed with). Boot up with a linux live CD and offload all of your data to removable storage; sometimes i've done it to separate hard drives in the computer. Many of the linux CDs have a utility to modify or restore the master boot sector. Then I just do a clean format of everything on the main drive (windows will do this for you when you install or some linux os have partition utilities). Reinstall the operating system of your choice.

This has almost always worked for me. If the computer won't post though there is probably something wrong with your motherboard. I would also re-flash with the latest firmware when everything is working properly.