Crashed Hard Disk - Data Recovery?

muni · 14th March 2006, 14:31

Hey ppl.

I had bought a 200 Gb Extnl Seagate hard disk about an year back and it had loads of useful information on it. All top gear videos, my Camera pics, About 25 Gigs of Mp3, must have movies Etc. The disk was almost full!!

I connect the hard disk to my PC and laptop using the USB inputs.

whenever i connect the extnl hard disk each of the partition is scannes and assigned a drive name ( g,h, i ..)

Recently i found that one of the 60 Gb partition out of the 3 partitions ( 60+60+80) was having some problem while the system was trying to access the data which has rendered all the partitions useless.

I cannot access any of my priceless data.

Can anybody suggest/help me recover my data.

Hellcat · 14th March 2006, 16:09

Connect the external Hard-disk before you switch on you system. When the computer boots it’ll scan for the Disk…do a scan disk and defrag, it should help.

muni · 14th March 2006, 16:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hellcat

Connect the external Hard-disk before you switch on you system. When the computer boots it’ll scan for the Disk…do a scan disk and defrag, it should help.

on my laptop if i connect this way the laptop doesnt startup and hangs( its on windosxp)
Need to chk on my PC.

Is there anything else that can be done..

Ford Rocam · 14th March 2006, 16:20

Seems to me that hard drive has failed but you can still recover the data from it, u need to remove the disk from the box & attach physically inside the comp in secondary channel & try to see if the hard disk is detecting or not.
its a long process for recovery, if your data is very important i recommend get some professional help locally & dont experiment with it.

BuRnT RuBbEr · 14th March 2006, 20:40

first of all...give more information on what is the exact equipment!...is it a factory built external drive or a make-shift thing with after market casing??

It is possible that there has been some physical damage to your equipment, and in that case, you MUST NOT try experimenting. take it to a proffessional. The more you try to experiment, the more loss it would cause.

p.s: other partitions are working as usual?? or the data rate has become very slow or somthing????

airfoil · 14th March 2006, 21:03

For starters, cut your losses. Do not connect the USB drive to the PC until you have enough free space on the PC itself to copy the recovered data to. There's no point in running the drive unless you can actually do something to get data off.

There are several data revovery programs you can get to attempt recovery - here's a sampling of the free tools. http://www.snapfiles.com/Freeware/sy...arecovery.html

I guess actually buying a regular program may be the final way out though. O&O disc recovery is a program that will work well, if the drive is being detected.

When you're ready to go, carefully take the drive out of its external casing and connect it directly to the computer, then run the program.

This method will only work if the drive is being detected though. If it is not even being detected, then there may be other tricks such as the freezer trick that can be tried. This involves wrapping the drive in an anti-static bag and leaving it to cool in your freezer overnight - then connecting it and attempting to get some of your data off - either directly or with the help of a recovery program.

Good Luck!

Rehaan · 14th March 2006, 21:52

Muni,

Try getting your HDD out of the casing if neccessary, and connecting to your PC's IDE and then using this program. Its very popular, and extremely good i believe, and its FREE.

http://www.grc.com/spinrite.htm

cya
R

barbar · 14th March 2006, 23:19

yeah rehaan is right, use that software. Its superb for data recovery(iv heard) and can even recover data from physically damaged disks.
Down side : takes allllot of time... but is k if the datat realy imp to u.

Gordon · 2nd May 2007, 12:49

I have two HDD's - a 40GB and 80GB. There are four partitions, two on each HDD. The operating system is on the 80GB HDD. A few weeks back, the 80GB suddenly stopped responding. When the PC starts, it only detects the 40GB HDD and the rest of the devices.

The 80GB HDD is not detected. Called in an engineer who tried connecting the 80GB with the 40GB wires, but to no avail. It seems when you justtt press the power button, you can hear the 80GB whirrr, but two seconds later, it dies off.

I now face a risk of losing a lottt of data. Data includes approximately:

15000+ photos (MOST of them are the car and bike pics)
15 Top Gear Videos
10 Movies
The total amounts to approximately 40GB.

Please post in any important information that would help me recover it.

moralfibre · 2nd May 2007, 12:59

Gordon, in such events I usually try to connect my slave HDD (your 80GB in this case) to a friends computer to check if its working fine or not. Does the HDD light on the CPU panel (red LED) stay 'ON'?
I didn't quite understand what the engineer did by connecting the 80GB HDD with 40GB cable. What type of a Hard disk do you have, is it a normal IDE or Sata?

navdeep · 2nd May 2007, 13:06

Did you try any recovery software ?

tsk1979 · 2nd May 2007, 13:22

As per your post your HDD spins for around 2 minutes or so
I suggest you take out your HDD, put in a air tight zip lock bag, put in in the freezer for 3-4 hours. Make sure the bag is airtight, otherwise there will be condensation and more damage.
You can extract around 20 minutes of life.
The best way to do this is to use the HDD in an external casing. Keep the computer booted up, plug in the extern casing through USB, and start transferring.
If this does not work you need expertise in using programs like ddrescue(open source hence free), otherwise you will need to pay someone to do it for you.

If you know somebody proficent in linux, I suggest you try something from here
10 Best Security Live CD Distros (Pen-Test, Forensics & Recovery) »

List of LiveDistros - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

low_bass_makker · 2nd May 2007, 13:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by tsk1979

As per your post your HDD spins for around 2 minutes or so
I suggest you take out your HDD, put in a air tight zip lock bag, put in in the freezer for 3-4 hours. Make sure the bag is airtight, otherwise there will be condensation and more damage.
You can extract around 20 minutes of life.
The best way to do this is to use the HDD in an external casing. Keep the computer booted up, plug in the extern casing through USB, and start transferring.
If this does not work you need expertise in using programs like ddrescue(open source hence free), otherwise you will need to pay someone to do it for you.

I agree here....It will work try it....and connect it with a usb external casing only not through direct computer connection......once I saved my laptop data through this method.......

chanapli · 2nd May 2007, 13:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gordon

you can hear the 80GB whirrr, but two seconds later, it dies off.

Look like HDD is having physical spindle problem. If that is the case other than giving to professionals ( may not want to do if the data is not that critical - heavy for pocket) the freezer technique may work. Otherwise disconnect the drive for some days ( data and power cable) and re-connect - may work.

GTO · 2nd May 2007, 13:59

Gordon

In case your disk has crashed, there are some competent recovery agents around. PM if you want any numbers / references.

On a related note, always maintain a backup. If not daily, atleast a weekly backup. I use a software called SecondCopy which is fabulous!

14th March 2006, 14:31	#1
muni BHPian Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Bangalore Posts: 607 Thanked: 214 Times View My Garage	Crashed Hard Disk - Data Recovery? Hey ppl. I had bought a 200 Gb Extnl Seagate hard disk about an year back and it had loads of useful information on it. All top gear videos, my Camera pics, About 25 Gigs of Mp3, must have movies Etc. The disk was almost full!! I connect the hard disk to my PC and laptop using the USB inputs. whenever i connect the extnl hard disk each of the partition is scannes and assigned a drive name ( g,h, i ..) Recently i found that one of the 60 Gb partition out of the 3 partitions ( 60+60+80) was having some problem while the system was trying to access the data which has rendered all the partitions useless. I cannot access any of my priceless data. Can anybody suggest/help me recover my data. Last edited by muni : 14th March 2006 at 14:34.
	() Thanks

14th March 2006, 16:09	#2
Hellcat BHPian Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Bangalore Posts: 222 Thanked: 5 Times View My Garage	Connect the external Hard-disk before you switch on you system. When the computer boots it’ll scan for the Disk…do a scan disk and defrag, it should help.
	() Thanks

14th March 2006, 16:20	#4
Ford Rocam BHPian Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Mumbai-India Posts: 878 Thanked: 23 Times	Seems to me that hard drive has failed but you can still recover the data from it, u need to remove the disk from the box & attach physically inside the comp in secondary channel & try to see if the hard disk is detecting or not. its a long process for recovery, if your data is very important i recommend get some professional help locally & dont experiment with it.
	() Thanks

14th March 2006, 20:40	#5
BuRnT RuBbEr BHPian Join Date: May 2005 Location: DL 1 Posts: 367 Thanked: 13 Times	first of all...give more information on what is the exact equipment!...is it a factory built external drive or a make-shift thing with after market casing?? It is possible that there has been some physical damage to your equipment, and in that case, you MUST NOT try experimenting. take it to a proffessional. The more you try to experiment, the more loss it would cause. p.s: other partitions are working as usual?? or the data rate has become very slow or somthing???? Last edited by moralfibre : 9th May 2013 at 21:16. Reason: Removing font tags.
	() Thanks

14th March 2006, 21:03	#6
airfoil BHPian Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 318 Thanked: 81 Times	For starters, cut your losses. Do not connect the USB drive to the PC until you have enough free space on the PC itself to copy the recovered data to. There's no point in running the drive unless you can actually do something to get data off. There are several data revovery programs you can get to attempt recovery - here's a sampling of the free tools. http://www.snapfiles.com/Freeware/sy...arecovery.html I guess actually buying a regular program may be the final way out though. O&O disc recovery is a program that will work well, if the drive is being detected. When you're ready to go, carefully take the drive out of its external casing and connect it directly to the computer, then run the program. This method will only work if the drive is being detected though. If it is not even being detected, then there may be other tricks such as the freezer trick that can be tried. This involves wrapping the drive in an anti-static bag and leaving it to cool in your freezer overnight - then connecting it and attempting to get some of your data off - either directly or with the help of a recovery program. Good Luck!
	() Thanks

14th March 2006, 21:52	#7
Rehaan Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Bombay Posts: 24,039 Thanked: 34,069 Times	Muni, Try getting your HDD out of the casing if neccessary, and connecting to your PC's IDE and then using this program. Its very popular, and extremely good i believe, and its FREE. http://www.grc.com/spinrite.htm cya R
	(1) Thanks

14th March 2006, 23:19	#8
barbar BHPian Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Bangalore Posts: 60 Thanked: 3 Times	yeah rehaan is right, use that software. Its superb for data recovery(iv heard) and can even recover data from physically damaged disks. Down side : takes allllot of time... but is k if the datat realy imp to u.
	() Thanks

2nd May 2007, 12:49	#9
Gordon Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Mumbai Posts: 2,546 Thanked: 483 Times View My Garage	Crashed Hard Disk - Data Recovery?! I have two HDD's - a 40GB and 80GB. There are four partitions, two on each HDD. The operating system is on the 80GB HDD. A few weeks back, the 80GB suddenly stopped responding. When the PC starts, it only detects the 40GB HDD and the rest of the devices. The 80GB HDD is not detected. Called in an engineer who tried connecting the 80GB with the 40GB wires, but to no avail. It seems when you justtt press the power button, you can hear the 80GB whirrr, but two seconds later, it dies off. I now face a risk of losing a lottt of data. Data includes approximately: 15000+ photos (MOST of them are the car and bike pics) 15 Top Gear Videos 10 Movies The total amounts to approximately 40GB. Please post in any important information that would help me recover it.
	() Thanks

2nd May 2007, 12:59	#10
moralfibre Team-BHP Support Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: MH-12 Posts: 8,443 Thanked: 13,956 Times	Gordon, in such events I usually try to connect my slave HDD (your 80GB in this case) to a friends computer to check if its working fine or not. Does the HDD light on the CPU panel (red LED) stay 'ON'? I didn't quite understand what the engineer did by connecting the 80GB HDD with 40GB cable. What type of a Hard disk do you have, is it a normal IDE or Sata?
	() Thanks

2nd May 2007, 13:06	#11
navdeep BHPian Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Pune Posts: 892 Thanked: 4 Times	Did you try any recovery software ?
	() Thanks

2nd May 2007, 13:22	#12
tsk1979 Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 23,717 Thanked: 22,823 Times View My Garage	As per your post your HDD spins for around 2 minutes or so I suggest you take out your HDD, put in a air tight zip lock bag, put in in the freezer for 3-4 hours. Make sure the bag is airtight, otherwise there will be condensation and more damage. You can extract around 20 minutes of life. The best way to do this is to use the HDD in an external casing. Keep the computer booted up, plug in the extern casing through USB, and start transferring. If this does not work you need expertise in using programs like ddrescue(open source hence free), otherwise you will need to pay someone to do it for you. If you know somebody proficent in linux, I suggest you try something from here 10 Best Security Live CD Distros (Pen-Test, Forensics & Recovery) » List of LiveDistros - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Last edited by tsk1979 : 2nd May 2007 at 13:26.
	() Thanks

2nd May 2007, 13:59	#15
GTO Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Bombay Posts: 70,497 Thanked: 300,309 Times View My Garage	Gordon In case your disk has crashed, there are some competent recovery agents around. PM if you want any numbers / references. On a related note, always maintain a backup. If not daily, atleast a weekly backup. I use a software called SecondCopy which is fabulous!
	() Thanks