Lost all my family photos yesterday when my 2008 Dell bricked mid boot

Tbh I thought I was done for. I was parked at a Love's in Flagstaff, Arizona trying to pull up some old pictures from 2010 on my old Dell Inspiron 1525. It froze, made a clicking noise, and then gave me a black screen with a blinking cursor. I freaked out because that thing has like 8,000 photos from before I even had a smartphone. I let it sit for an hour unplugged, prayed a little, and then held down the F8 key during startup and chose 'last known good configuration'. It actually booted up slow but everything came back. Has anyone else had that old Dell trick work when the hard drive sounds like it's dying? I'm thinking I need to back this up now before it really goes out.

2 comments

2 Comments

alex_coleman3d ago

Last known good configuration" has never worked for me on any of my old Dells, honestly. I'd say you got lucky this time but that hard drive is definitely on borrowed time so back it up yesterday.

ryan_carr593d ago

Oh man, I've actually had that exact trick work on a couple old Dells over the years. I mean yeah backup ASAP for sure, but that last known good config has saved me more than it should've.