Laptop disaster

[madbean]

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!

[Scruffie]

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.

[k.rock!]

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

[madbean]

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.

[marmaliser]

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.

[Scruffie]

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!

[Haberdasher]

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.

[Micpoc]

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.

[jcuempire]

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.

[tenwatt]

Buy a Mac and it should solve all of your virus problems. 

[Ang3lus]

then he'd have an ipad with a mouse amd keyb

[lloyd17]

This is where live Linux boot CD's really shine.

[slimtriggers]

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

[jcuempire]

Just 2 of the many Linux rescue distributions.  They usually work very well
http://partedmagic.com/doku.php
http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page

[dwstanford]

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.