SSD Drive dead

fifeken

A friend overseas has an Asus UX21E Zenbook.

Asus have diagnosed a faulty SSD and want 750 Euros to replace it and recover data from the old one, which the owner is reluctant to pay.

Buying and replacing the drive seems easy enough but how would I get the operating system (Windows 7) onto the new one?

How about recovering data from the faulty drive? Is there a drive caddy to enable it to be mounted as a second (external) drive? I've seen these for 2.5 and 3.5 inch Sata drives, but never looked for something for an SSD.

cinderfella

Have a look at the following & then read the first comment at the bottom of the page.
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-drive-cloning-software.htm

Lots of free cloning software available, I downloaded some recently.

wealdroam

But if the drive is unreadable, then even the best cloning software will struggle.

Time to resort to your backups methinks.

colin79666

If the drive can't be seen in the bios then it is mostly likely a lost cause. SSDs tend to just die, unlike mechanical drives which often give a bit of warning.

A replacement drive will be £50-200 depending on capacity, check if it needs a 7.5mm version as not all drives fit all laptops.

As for installing Windows 7, provided the key sticker is still there. Links to the official ISO files can be found here:
http://www.w7forums.com/threads/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-image-downloads.12325/page-2#post-124821

nick-nick

It might be worth speaking to Asus about recovery discs, some places charge but I know Dell send out recovery DVD's which you can boot from and it will install Windows / Drivers / Asus Software.

Failing that you could try it with one of the ISO's above but if they use a specific version it might not work with your key.

Data recovery will cost a fortune, will much be lost? It might be worth looking at Dropbox or something for when it is working again.

tronator

fifeken wrote: »

Is there a drive caddy to enable it to be mounted as a second (external) drive? I've seen these for 2.5 and 3.5 inch Sata drives, but never looked for something for an SSD.

SSD's are usually 2.5" SATA drives.

fifeken

Thanks to all. I now have some more information.

I believe this is the disk:

http://www.os-store.co.uk/sandisk-128gb-sd5se2-128g-sdsa5jk-128g-ssd-msata-hdd-hard-disk-module-solid-state-drive-laptop-netobook.html

and have heard of a program called Get Data Back to recover files. Does this add anything, or help with suggestions?

fifeken

nick-nick wrote: »

Data recovery will cost a fortune, will much be lost? It might be worth looking at Dropbox or something for when it is working again.

I haven't asked (afraid) but I'm sure lessons will be learnt.

nick-nick

Programs like that will only really get data if it has been deleted from the recycle bin. If the drive has physically failed it won't be as simple as that