best way to recover data from a faulty external hdd?

[charlie g]

No lectures, I know I fucked up.

I shot for a week and transferred the files to a hdd with the idea to backup after finished for the week. It appears the disk died before I could back it up.

So I plug the drive into the usb and sometimes the drive shows up. when I click to open it just hangs and I eventually have to close the explorer window. Sometime the drive isnt even listed. The light is on the drive and I can hear it turning. I have bought easus recovery software, but if the drive is plugged in the software never stops scanning.

Any suggestions(besides backup after every scene)?

[2MuchMark]

Hi Charlie g,

It depends what's wrong. If you are comfortable opening it up, here's some possible solutions.

- If your drive spins up and your computer sees it but you can't recover your files, look around for some software that can fix the issue for you. Your partition or other info may just be damaged and if so, it can almost always be fixed with the right software.

- If you are on a Mac, Go to Applications / Utilities / and run the Disk Utility program. It works really well and has saved a couple of external hard drive data from total loss for me in the past.

- Listen to your drive. Is it turning? If not, it could be the power supply. Alot of external drives use the shittest power supplies. Check the ratings and see if you can find a replacement. If you are handing with a voltmeter, see if you can test that the power supply is working properly.

- It could be something simple like a loose connection. External HDD's are just a standard hard disk with a controller / interface. It may connect via ribbon cable that may have come loose or is just not on properly. Also, check the power cable to the hard drive.

- Try replacing your USB cable.

Good luck!

[charlie g]

thanks mark!!!! I will start with replacing the cable. cheers

[sarettah]

never mind

.

[SBJ]

I recommend you use big magnets. They will suck the data right off the drive

[gnawledge]

I've used Stellar Phoenix on a bunch of faulty drives. I hope it helps.

[charlie g]

checking stellar phoenix now.

[gnawledge]

I've had the same issues. Drive not showing up, data issues from crashing or whatever. Even dropped a laptop and HD was done. Stellar helped me. If it works, the data will come as random numbers and whatever extension it was there.

Good luck.

[AmeliaG]

Originally Posted by gnawledge

I've had the same issues. Drive not showing up, data issues from crashing or whatever. Even dropped a laptop and HD was done. Stellar helped me. If it works, the data will come as random numbers and whatever extension it was there.

Good luck.

Thanks! I'm going to check that out too. I have a bunch of hard drives which don't mount/read right and I just try them all out every time I buy a new computer and sometimes I recover something additional, but that is not the best method.

The one time I used a recovery service, once they recovered my data, they decided it was valuable and jacked the price up. I should have just paid the extortion, but I didn't and I'll def never be able to spin up a drive that wasn't returned to me.

[gnawledge]

Not to make something out of nothing with this thread but, my friend and I came from the era of 1992 with computers. We ran bulletin boards, downloaded virii (viruses) and ran them. We did it out of exploration and we did it so we could cause a little mischief and I always had to figure out a way to save data. That's when I bought a tape drive. It was okay but a pain in the ass.. So data retention was either that or 1.44 mb floppy.

But, I quit computers when I got a car and my friend proceeded and became pretty good. We wanted to open a data recovery shop for hard drives and phones. You can recover some stuff when we exploring it.

But leaving your data in the mercy of some asshole is the last resort. Some of these mouth breathing fools are shady as hell.. That's why if it is last resort emergency then do it.

[charlie g]

hooray, thanks gnawledge. I bought stellar and I have access now. Saved me lots of money and anxiety. Back up your files people!!!

[money biz]

you can freeze the drive over night sometimes it works.

[just a punk]

When one of my external disks has stuck (the motor has jammed), I've brought it to the service which specializes on the data recovery. They told me it will cost about $1000 for a try to recover the data (this includes transplantation of the magnetic surfaces to another disk in the hermetic chamber etc) but they still can't guaranty the result. Course I've rejected their proposal.

So what I did? I have plugged the cable and smashed the disk two times by a floor (ok, the floor was covered with a carpeting) and... it started spinning again. I was able to transfer all the necessary data which I've said "goodbye" already. And that's NOT a joke

[Barry-xlovecam]

Redundant backups onto separate drives and computers (servers) is the best solution I have found. Backups can fail Having a backup.backup in an "air-gapped" location can save the day.

You can buy a USB3 to SATA cable and hook up a SATA 6 drive. You can buy an OEM 1TB SATA6 for $50 - $60 today. Buy 2 and you will have redundant backups. I format as FAT32 or LINUX ext4 -- never trust NTFS

Data is worth money so is time and aggravation -- operating systems can always be reinstalled or replaced.

[charlie g]

Originally Posted by Barry-xlovecam

Redundant backups onto separate drives and computers (servers) is the best solution I have found. Backups can fail Having a backup.backup in and "air-gapped" location can save the day.

You can buy a USB3 to SATA cable and hook up a SATA 6 drive. You can buy an OEM 1TB SATA6 for $50 - $60 today. Buy 2 and you will have redundant backups. I format as FAT32 or LINUX ext4 -- never trust NTFS

Data is worth money so is time and aggravation -- operating systems can always be reinstalled or replaced.

great advice Barry. This is my next project.