So...I think my ext. hard-drive just broke

Discussion in 'General Chat' started by twistedspikes, Sep 10, 2008.

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  1. #1
    My flatmate went to borrow it (was working fine on my computer), so unplugged it, etc took it to his and it won't work, nothing comes up when you plug it in, not on his computer, not on my computer, not anywhere.

    Is there anything I can do? I mean there is a hell of a lot of stuff on that hard-drive that would be very nice to get back (for example photos since I was in school till now -- thats a hell of a lot of photos --, my music -- 40Gb worth, I guess I have quite a bit of it on CD anyway, but still --, a lot of work -- portfolio, university work --, a hell of a lot of other things too, all in all about 300Gb worth of data).

    Surprisingly i'm not that bothered about it yet, i'm sure it'll sink in sometime soon though...when I want something from the HD. :(

    Anyone know if there is anything I can do, even if it's only to recover some of the data?

    Thanks,
    TS
     
    twistedspikes, Sep 10, 2008 IP
  2. Prune

    Prune Well-Known Member

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    #2
    TS
    Dont worry. It quite unusual for a drive to go completely beyond recovery. It could just be the enclosure electronics that are malfunctioning, the drive itself could be ok.
    If you have plenty of tech experience, you could gently remove it from the enclosure and connect it up to a working PC as a slave drive (you will have to change the jumper settings on the drive). If the drive appears in Windows Explorer then its looking good.
    If this doesnt work, you may need to use a data recovery specialist. This used to cost a small fortune ($1000-$2000) but I heard a podcast lately where they were talking about a new Company doing good work for much less (from memory it was maybe $300-$500).
    If you dont have this money, you could just pop the drive into an anti-static bag and archive it for future times, when you do have money to spare to spend on recovery.
    Hope all goes well
     
    Prune, Sep 10, 2008 IP
  3. Brandon Sheley

    Brandon Sheley Illustrious Member

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    #3
    Just get an adapter and scan it on your other computer?
     
    Brandon Sheley, Sep 10, 2008 IP
  4. twistedspikes

    twistedspikes Notable Member

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    #4
    When I turn it on it makes a clicking sound. I'm going to have a look for the warrenty, can't remember if it was 1 or 2 years, if it's the latter I can't open it up unless I void that.

    I'll see what happens.
     
    twistedspikes, Sep 10, 2008 IP
  5. Fka200

    Fka200 Guest

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    #5
    Same thing happened to me one day... I recovered a lot of important files by placing it in the freezer for 2-3 hours and then plugging it in ASAP.
     
    Fka200, Sep 10, 2008 IP
  6. Prune

    Prune Well-Known Member

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    Twistedspikes, clicking noises are not good. It usually indicates a mechanical failure inside the hard drive. In these cases, if there is data which you care about on the drive its better not to try to access the drive any more (i.e. dont even plug it in). This could make any possible recovery job more difficult.
    External drives usually have a decent length of warranty (my Seagate 500gb external for example is warrantied for 5 years) but I know you are more interested in the data. At this point I would start to look for a good keenly priced data recovery specialist if you need the data.
     
    Prune, Sep 10, 2008 IP