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The first thing to establish is what exactly is wrong with your hard disk:

Either your computer won’t boot up, or Your computer boots up OK but you can’t see one of your other drives.

Let’s see if we can eliminate the worst scenario. Listen closely to your hard drive - is it making any sort of weird noise, such as scratching, scraping, ticking etc? If so, then your drive is physically damaged and the only hope that you have is to take it to a data recovery service where experts might be able to get your data off for you. These services are expensive and time consuming - so you need to make a judgement call as to the value of data on the disk.

If it’s only your saved game data or downloaded music files you would like back, you’re probably better off kicking yourself for not backing up, and accepting the data loss. If, on the other hand, it’s a book or other type of information product that you’ve been working on for years, then send it to a data recovery service for an evaluation and quote - it usually costs nothing.

If your hard disk sounds OK, then you stand a decent chance of recovering data yourself. First you’ll need to download some software to help you out. Unfortunately, the better software utilities are not free, but the good news is that many allow you to try them out to see they can access the data. There are some freeware versions available but generally speaking these are not easy to use - no user interface / little documentation, or they are not very effective. There’s a list of recommended software on our site ‘Data Recovery Emergency Room’ - compare the different options then download a few of the trial versions.Your next steps will be based on how your hard drive/s were setup:

If you only have a single hard drive that has not been partitioned or split into different “logical” drives, you’ll probably need to attach the hard drive to another computer that has enough space to store all your data. This can be quite technical so if you don’t have the skills please get a computer savvy friend to help out.Another option is to purchase an external USB hard drive case. You can then simply slot the hard drive into the case and plug it into another PC using a USB port.

If you have a multiple drive setup and your computer boots up fine, then it will merely be a case of getting the downloaded software to read the files and then copy them to another drive - provided you have a drive with enough space on it. If not, you’ll need to attach the hard drive to another machine with enough spare capacity.

The scenario where you have a multiple drive setup, where the problem drive is the one that contains your operating system files is more tricky.Look for a data recovery software package that has a boot disk option available. What this means is that when you start your computer with the boot disk in it, it will automatically run the data recovery program without trying to start windows. You should be able to see your files and then copy them across to another drive.

Issue:

How do I fix Illegal Operations?

Additional Information:

An Illegal Operation is an operation requested to be performed by either the Operating System or CPU that is not understood and therefore is Illegal.

Cause:

Illegal Operations can be caused by several different factors. Below is a listing of the more commonly known reasons for getting an Illegal Operations.

TSR's or Third-party programs causing memory conflicts or other types of conflicts with the program or programs attempting to be run.
Data not being read properly from source. Running a program or game with a dirty CD can cause the CD to be read improperly causing Illegal Operations. Floppy diskettes which may contain errors can cause illegal operations.
Installing a program or game on a hard disk drive that has errors or is highly fragmented.
Corrupt files.
Memory managers.
Bad, incorrect or not the latest video drivers.
Computer Virus.
Added hardware
Error in program coding
Corruption or problem within Windows.
Bad Memory, invalid bits or physically bad memory.
Solution:

TSR's or Third-party programs:

TSR's or Third-party programs running in the background are one of the more commonly found reasons for Illegal Operations. If you are receiving an Illegal Operation when attempting to run a game or program it is recommend that you temporarily remove or disable programs running and TSR's running in the background, ensuring that these programs are not causing your issues.

Additional Information on how to remove a TSR can be found on document CHTSR.

If, after removing these programs, you run the program or game and no longer receive the Illegal Operations, it is recommend that you reboot the computer and disable or End Task each program or TSR one at a time to attempt to determine which program is causing the Illegal Operation.

Data not being read properly from source:

When running a program or game from a CD you receive an Illegal Operation, verify that the CD is clean. Additional information on how to clean a CD or CD-ROM drive can be found on our Cleaning Page.

If you are running a game from a floppy diskette or other floppy media such as a zip diskette or LS120, verify that the diskette does not have physical errors with it by running a scandisk or a disk drive utility included with the drive.

Installing a program or game on a hard disk drive that has errors or is highly fragmented:

When installing a program or game onto a hard disk drive it is recommended if you receive errors after installing that program or game that you attempt to uninstall that program or game, run a scandisk, then a defrag, and finally attempt to install the program or game again.

If errors exist on the hard disk drive, they will cause the program or game to run improperly and can cause Illegal Operations.

Additional Information on scandisk can be found on our Scandisk Page.

Additional Information on defrag can be found on our Defrag Page.

Corrupt files:

Corrupt, bad or missing files can cause Illegal Operations. It is recommended that you attempt to uninstall and or reinstall the program causing the Illegal Operation to verify that any corrupt, bad or missing files are replaced or repaired during the reinstallation.

Memory managers:

If you are running a memory manager that is used to obtain more memory or handle the computer memory in replace of Windows, it is recommended you temporarily disable or uninstall this program to verify it is not the memory manager causing the Illegal Operations.

Bad, incorrect or not the latest video drivers:

Bad, incorrect or not the latest video drivers may cause Illegal Operations when performing such tasks as moving the mouse or dragging data from one source to another as high demands are placed onto the video card. Attempt to decrease the video settings to 640 x 480, 256 colors to verify if the program or game being run is having errors because of the current video settings.

Additional information on how to set the video resolution in Windows 95/98/NT can be found on document CH000190.

Additional information on how to set the video resolution in Windows 3.x can be found on document CH000189.

If, after attempting to adjust the video settings, you still encounter the same issue, verify the computer is utilizing the latest video card drivers by visiting our Video drivers section.

Computer Virus:

Because computer viruses are loaded into memory and can change the data of program files when infecting a computer, ensure that a virus protection utility is installed on the computer and that you have the latest Virus Definition.

Additional information about computer Viruses can be found at our Virus page.

Added hardware:

If added hardware has been recently installed onto the computer it is likely that either the hardware is conflicting with other hardware devices on the computer or that the drivers used to install that hardware is causing issues with other hardware or software installed on the computer.

If added hardware has recently been added to the computer, it is recommended that you temporarily remove that added hardware and the software associated with it to ensure it is not causing your issues.

Error in program coding:

If you are receiving Illegal Operations only when running a particular program, verify that the program is compatible with the Version of Windows you are running and ensure no available patches or software are available that may fix errors made during the development stages.

Corruption or problem within Windows:

Because Windows controls the memory operations as well as the file structure and association, it is possible for Windows or files associated with Windows to become corrupted, causing Illegal Operations or other errors. It is recommended you reinstall Windows if you are experiencing Illegal Operations in Windows or more than one program trying to be run on the computer.

Bad Memory, invalid bits or physically bad memory:

It is possible that bad memory can cause Illegal Operations. If you have recently added memory to the computer, it is recommended that it first be removed to verify that you are not experiencing conflicts with the recently installed memory.

If no memory has been recently added to the computer and you have tried all the above recommendations you can find additional information about testing your memory on document CH000708.