"reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device and press a key"

[Patrick Asselman]

On 2013-08-22 10:58, Colin Law wrote:
> On 21 August 2013 22:44, pete smout <psmouty at live.com> wrote:
>> On 21/08/13 15:30, Chip wrote:
>>> My recommendations are as follows.
>>>
>>> Use recovery software +i.e. parted magic) to retrieve all important 
>>> data.
>>>
>>> Throughly vacum and dust the interior of said machine.
>>> Purchase a new hdd and perform. A fresh install of os.
>>>
>>> Restore salvaged data from step 1.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>> Seems like sound advice to me
>> Never heard of parted magic before will look that one up!
>> Thanks for the tip
>
> It is worth trying anything, but it the BIOS cannot see the drive 
> then
> I cannot see that there is much hope.
>
> Colin

Could it be that (since this is a server) the disk is connected to some 
fancy RAID hardware, causing the BIOS to not recognise the disk as such?

There are companies specialised in data salvaging, but they are all 
very expensive.

If the problem is electronic, you can try to transplant the electronics 
from an identical disk on to the failing disk, and see if that fixes it.

If the problem is magnetic (which is more likely) you can only salvage 
part of your data with software such as has been metioned earlier in the 
thread.

Best regards,
Patrick