The drive is stuck in a loop, but files are reachable from an adapter. Check the boot settings and hardware connections.
The drive is stuck in a loop, but files are reachable from an adapter. Check the boot settings and hardware connections.
My C drive has a lot of important data on it. I do have backups of the most important stuff already, but there are a lot of other things there I don't want to lose either. It's been getting blue screens for a long time now, as I've described here before , but after I "Update and Shut Down" my PC around 2-3 am last night (didn't notice anything out of the ordinary), I woke up today to a new blue screen code: "IO1_INITIALIZATION_FAILED". This one seems to be permanent. Can't get it to stop appearing, appears at the exact same point in the boot process every time, tried literally every support result on google and built-in method under the sun that didn't involve completely wiping the drive, but no luck. I then try removing the drive out of the PC and plugging it into my laptop, and the same boot problem occurs, which at least means the rest of the PC is probably fine. (BTW, I think that inadvertently implies that the issue in that previous post was the Windows install and not the RAM setup) The drive in question is a Samsung 860 Evo 2TB SATA drive, and it's been in my PC since mid-2020 when I got the thing. Was brand new. Installed Windows 10, didn't upgrade to Windows 11 until around this year which is when the issues started. Every scan I did of drive health in the past returned 0 issues and it all looked as if there were not going to be any problems any time soon, which implies to me the Windows install itself must be corrupted. This brings me to my questions. I have 3. I can access the filesystem of this drive from within my laptop by plugging it in with this SATA to USB converter I was lucky enough to have lying around. Copying files, while slow to open the folders in the first place, currently works. Is there a way for me to save this Windows install from my laptop instead of having to reset the drive altogether? If this doesn't work, my plan would be to just buy a slightly smaller drive to act as my new C drive which will just hold Windows, and remove all the Windows-related files from the old C drive to then repurpose it to just be another storage device plugged into my computer, just like most normal people do with their setups. How do I go about doing this? How do I prevent data loss scares from happening again? What storage solutions would you guys suggest I invest in so I can sleep at night knowing my game dev/music/video/whatever projects aren't going to be lost overnight? I'd appreciate general pointers for different price tiers, I know there are lots of external drive enclosures you can probably buy and set up with some sort of redundant setup. Ease of use is relevant here, though I would consider myself a technical person I really don't want to have to make data backups my whole personality just to get it up and running. Thanks so much for hearing me out guys. Any answers to any of my questions would be awesome, sucks that this has happened but I guess it's a non-destructive wake-up call for me to get my archiving situation sorted out.
Perhaps, though copying files and performing a clean setup tends to be quicker and more likely to succeed, especially if the storage device is intact. First, save any important files, then reinstall Windows and restore your data.
The same applies: backup your files, install a fresh system on the new drive, and reformat the old one before restoring from backup.
You can also set up automatic backups to an external drive, such as once per hour, or schedule a manual backup to another location each week or month, depending on how often your information changes. Consider cloud options like Backblaze if you're okay with data being hosted on someone else's server.
I rely on OneDrive for safekeeping anything I’d rather not lose. With Office 365, my monthly cost is $100 for both office and storage, which I need for work and 1TB of space. Keeping data off-site is essential to protect against local physical issues.
The main problem with the storage plans is that my location in Australia doesn’t match the service quality there—download speeds rarely exceed 7 megabytes per second. Plus, OneDrive has consistently been problematic, staying constantly active on my laptop and preventing complete syncing.
I’d likely perform a daily backup to a spinning disk using the SSD. For added safety, store an external enclosure manually and keep it outside the home, such as on a work desk.
I haven't used external enclosures personally. I don't have brand preferences or specific recommendations. It really depends on the situation.