How to Repair a Hard Drive With Ontrack

1). Visit Ontrack's website (see Resources). Scroll down the webpage, look for the "download" link for "Easy Recovery Professional" and click on it.
2). Save the file on your desktop. Double-click on the Ontrack Easy Recovery icon. The installation process automatically starts. After the installation is complete, look for the diagnostic software utility's icon on your desktop and click on it.
3). Select "File Diagnostic" on the left column of Ontrack's main window. The "Disk Diagnostic" screen appears on your desktop. The tool components listed can be used to troubleshoot your hard drive.
4). Click on the "DriveTest" button to test your hard drive for potential problems. The tool will perform several SMART (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) tests to detect and prevent hardware failure on your computer.
5). Select the SMART test that you want Ontrack Easy Recovery to perform. Click on the radio button for "Run short SMART test," or select "Run extended SMART test" and press the "Next" button. Follow the onscreen instructions. Click the "Done" button when you are finished.
6). Continue troubleshooting your system and select the "Partition Tests" tool. After the tool has finished scanning and analyzing your computer, it generates a report about the data integrity of the FAT (File Allocation Table) and NTFS (New Technology File System) partitions.
7). Create an emergency boot disk. Click on the "Home" hyperlink located at the top of the "Disk Diagnostic" screen. Select "Data Recovery" and click on it. Click on the "Emergency Media" tool. Follow the onscreen instructions for creating a boot disk. Use the disk to recover data when Windows is unable to boot.
8). Visit Ontrack Data Recovery's website if you are unable to fix your hard drive problem. You can use Ontrack's data recovery service to recover data on your hard drive remotely. Additionally, you can arrange for an Ontrack engineer to visit your location and examine your computer in person.