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Nightmare - External hard drive crashes to floor
RTSDaddy2:
Not sure where this goes, but didn't know who else to turn to for honest help.
Damned if I didn't do a stupid thing about three weeks ago. I was moving video files, via my laptop, from our old Iomega external HD. Both were sitting on the top of a short bookcase in our bedroom, maybe 3-4 ft tall (yes, another bonehead idea, but anyway). My wife had gone to work, and my kid had just about driven me crazy. Without thinking I went to move the laptop off the bookcase to the bed, and....yep, you guessed it - the HD was still wired up. On a hardwood floor, no less. Sounded like a damn bomb went off when it hit, but it landed flat (like that matters), not on its side.
I have little doubt that the arm is out of sync, with the clicking noise I heard when I powered it back up. I've done research via google, and it's not overly encouraging. I have tried various "freeware" data recovery programs, but have not found anything that finds the drive - or if it does, I don't know what to do next with it.
I am still out of work, so a data recovery service is completely a useless idea for now. Thought about opening it up, moving the arm back, and then trying to copy the data, but that's a bit out of my complete comfort zone.
We are just wondering at this point if I totally toasted it and there's no hope of getting the data back. The only truly valuable things we will have lost are pictures of our little one that my wife had not yet moved from it...everything else is "redoable" as most of it was downloads....it'll just take forever and a day.
Any help - your suggestions for data recovery program, a cheap data recovery service, etc. is greatly appreciated. I've been :censored: at myself for three weeks now - and like I said, while I see info on it online, can't make heads or tails of some of it after getting started. Thanks ahead of time!
protokatie:
Can't be certain if I am not there to look at it, but it may just be ---fouled up beyond all recognition---. One suggestion would be to use a program called SPINRITE to recover data. It has been around since the 80's (even a computer chronicles ep about it) and is updated every few years. It costs like 80 bucks, but is considered a must have by every computer nerd on earth (PC, MAC, Amiga, Linux, etc nerds). It only runs on PC, but can read and recover data on almost any formated drive. One thing you may have to do tho, is to remove the HDD from the case and use an adapter to connect it directly to a full fledged PC.
Outside of that, I cannot stress enough how much you need to BACKUP data, not just move it. Simply buying a stack of 40 DVD-r's for 20 bucks and making 2 copies of all of your most valued stuff (on top of the copy on the HDD) is more important than anything. Not to chide you, but backing your data up is a pro-active thing and is cheap in comparison to recovery (if possible).
Anyways, check out SPINRITE, it is the only program I know of that will do low level reads and can even read over "destroyed" data multiple times to get a heuristic "idea" of what the 1's and 0's are on a damaged track.
Sorries.
ark_ader:
External hard drive eh? They are capable of withstanding falls from 6-8 ft. Heck I had one bounce down some concrete steps in our old apt and it survived.
Well for a start I would open her up. Sounds like power is not getting to the drive (clicking sounds).
Find out what the interface is and try to power it via your laptop/PC.
I know its late saying this, but when you have some pennies or a spare PC kicking around - convert it to a NAS, and BACK EVERYTHING UP.
If it is truly shagged, then find the same drive and manufacturer and buy another one.
You might just be lucky enough and find that its just the main board is damaged.
Swap the main-board and get the data off.
Spinwrite wont help you. But it is at www.grc.com
Good luck!
SavannahLion:
--- Quote from: protokatie on February 19, 2010, 03:43:24 am ---Simply buying a stack of 40 DVD-r's for 20 bucks and making 2 copies of all of your most valued stuff (on top of the copy on the HDD) is more important than anything.
--- End quote ---
Uh... it's a little more complicated than that. A DVD's half life is meager at best. Bought a stack of 100 HP DVD+R and they noticeably lighter than the last stack of TDK DVD+R I bought. Would've bught another TDK spindle, but no one carries it anymore. I expect the HPs to delaminate or get some bit rot before the TDKs. The HPs look and feel more like CDs of yesteryear. :badmood:
But I digress. If you're making two copies of your files (as you should) use two different manufacturers, not just brands. Go and download DVD Identifier (If you have to pay for it, you're being ripped off). Use the tool to identify your spindles until you find two that are from different manufactures. There are websites that help clue you in, but it's hit and miss. Maxwell changed manufacturers and I got a crap spindle of black archivals once. When you have two spindles from different manufacturers then make your backups.
Having two different manufacturers for your discs reduces the likelyhood that both will delaminate or experience bitrot at the same time.
If you don't think you'll experience bitrot, believe me, you will. I have burned CDs from the early days that are already failing. I lost about 20% of my old custom Carmageddon files because of this ---smurf-poop---.
saint:
I have completely abandoned optical media for backup. I keep copies of my data in multiple places (original on each machine, duplicate on the server in the house, another duplicate on my work machine), but I think the most brilliant backup addition I did was to buy thumb drives. Stick important stuff on a thumb drive, and put it in my fireproof locking safe in the house. Small, relatively cheap, and getting bigger all the time.
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