I have a "WD" 1 TB portable external hard drive that is kaput
Feb 16, 2019 19:05:09 #
Dikdik
Loc: Winnipeg, Canada
Pstrykacz wrote:
I don't know what is a general consensus on solid state drives, so I would be interested to know.
They are good, fast, reliable and can be inexpensive. They are only recent, and there is not much of a history for them. My solid state drives are dual M.2 PCIe, and are about 5 times faster than SATA solid state drives. If they 'go wrong' it is very unlikely that you will be able to recover anything; consider it gone forever (or a very long time). My OS and apps are loaded on M.2 and all my data is stored on regular mechanical hard drives, which are regularly backed up; the key is 'regularly'.
Dik
Feb 16, 2019 19:07:23 #
Feiertag wrote:
My PC will not recognize my drive. It has thousands of photos stored on it. Any suggestions on how to recover my data?
Harold
Harold
Did you fail to back it up?
Feb 16, 2019 19:11:11 #
Dikdik
Loc: Winnipeg, Canada
Architect1776 wrote:
Did you fail to back it up?
He's learned the error of his... I just hope it's not a total loss, and, hope he can recover the photos.
Dik
Feb 16, 2019 20:33:51 #
John_F wrote:
The Best Buy Geek Squad is gennerally focussed on Best Buy products. They might have the tools and know-how, but the incentive might not be there.
Trouble with Best Buy there computer techs don’t even have a A plus certication which is the basic certification. I wouldn’t trust them at all there idea is too Format your hard drive or sell you a new one. A real computer store you’ll get much better help.
Feb 16, 2019 20:49:07 #
John F said "I would suggest investing in a SSD drive - no moving parts to fail."
True but unfortunately a finite number of 'writes' hence guaranteed failure. SSD is faster but not the complete answer.
True but unfortunately a finite number of 'writes' hence guaranteed failure. SSD is faster but not the complete answer.
Feb 16, 2019 20:56:35 #
The fellow that suggested an external docking station has the right idea. I'd suggest you shut down the PC, power it down, and unplug it. If the external drive has a separate power supply, unplug that and unplug from the PC. Wait a few minutes (maybe 5 or so). Then power up the PC and reboot. Power up the external drive and plug into the PC. If the drive is going to come to life, it should by now. If you are not using the external docking station, I'd suggest getting one and follow the instructions to connect the drive and try again. If that doesn't work and the drive is important to you, you may have to look into one of the companies that specialize in recovering data from failed drives. Be warned, they are super expensive, tho. One company comes to mind: www.ontrack.com/Disk_Drive I have not used them, but heard they do good work.
Feb 16, 2019 21:35:16 #
Dikdik
Loc: Winnipeg, Canada
elent wrote:
A last ditch (cheaper) approach might be to do a quick format (just erases the address portion)
Not a good idea... that would be 'the last ditch'.
Dik
Feb 16, 2019 21:49:42 #
Angel Star Photography
Loc: Tacoma, WA
Kslin01 wrote:
The fellow that suggested an external docking stat... (show quote)
I am inclined to disagree that a docking station would be of any help. At some point in this thread the OP stated his system asked him to format the drive. This indicates that the drive is powered up, the system is aware of its existence, but it just cannot read the drive. It has no reference to where sector 0 is located and most likely the partition table has been corrupted. It is possible that the controller in the enclosure is damaged but this not as likely as a partition table corruption. This is why I believe the approach I suggested using a Linux distro will work. No additional hardware costs, no additional software costs, Linux distros are free and especially Knoppix.
Feb 16, 2019 21:57:46 #
Feiertag wrote:
My PC will not recognize my drive. It has thousands of photos stored on it. Any suggestions on how to recover my data?
Harold
Harold
There are companies that specialize in recovering data from dead drives. Google to find one in your area. If you have to go out of area, you can ship the drive (very well-packed). Depending on the nature of the damage, they may or may not be able to retrieve your data. If the disk is not damaged, chances are good. For the future, Never, Never have valuable files saved on only one device in one location. The safest method is cloud backup with a company like Carbonite. Having your irreplaceable files only in your house or place of business does not protect you from risks like fire, water damage, "oops-I knocked the drive off the desk to the floor," etc. Carbonite is he best $60 a year you'll ever spend. (I don't work for them, but I have used the service since they started in business.) Good luck! >Alan
Feb 16, 2019 22:26:13 #
from a computer expert. when you get the format option, the boot sector or file allocation tables have been corrupted. there are software tools out there that can sometimes (success is fairly low) repair the boot sector. do a web crawl on how to resurrect a corrupt disk. if u decide to use one (they are all pretty much the same) it may or may not successfully restore the drive.
the good news is that it is physically ok so the data is still intact, it just cannot be accessed because the main information files are jumbled.
other option is to take it to a data recovery site. but as has been noted, it will be expensive.
the good news is that it is physically ok so the data is still intact, it just cannot be accessed because the main information files are jumbled.
other option is to take it to a data recovery site. but as has been noted, it will be expensive.
Feb 16, 2019 22:33:28 #
I haven't read thru the previous seven pages of replies but I can tell you there are places that can extract the data but it will cost …. a lot. I've had to do it twice now, once on my kid's computer and once on my own. Cost me about $900 both time. Google "data recovery". Here's a cheaper one I found right off the bat:https://www.getyourfilesback.com/?sm=bing/cpc&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=2019%20SDR%20Main%20Template&utm_term=data%20recovery%20service&utm_content=Data%20Recovery
Feb 16, 2019 22:35:35 #
10MPlayer wrote:
I haven't read thru the previous seven pages of re... (show quote)
Ever heard of cloud backup? You'll never have to go through that again. One word for you: Carbonite.
Feb 16, 2019 23:26:42 #
If the drive is alive and you can't just read it, I would try Easeus Partition Master program or their Data Recovery program. I own both and they work fine for me. If the drive is dead, you may try drive manufacturer data recovery service. They can read your data from dead disks.
Good luck!
Good luck!
Feb 17, 2019 00:08:46 #
You might want to check out this link. It is a specific piece of software for WD drives. Don't know much about it but there is a video on how to use the software along with a step by step process.
https://recoverit.wondershare.com/harddrive-recovery/western-digital-external-drive-file-recovery.html
If this software doesn't work I would suggest that you might need to contact a company that specializes in recovering data from damaged and/or dead hard drives. I think WD has such a service. They take the drive apart and read the data using an external device. The data is transferred to another device and returned to you. This can be expensive based on the amount of data that needs to be recovered. I would assume that you files are not backed-up anywhere else. Then the expense would be what ever value you place on data that is otherwise unrecoverable. It's up to you. Good Luck.
https://recoverit.wondershare.com/harddrive-recovery/western-digital-external-drive-file-recovery.html
If this software doesn't work I would suggest that you might need to contact a company that specializes in recovering data from damaged and/or dead hard drives. I think WD has such a service. They take the drive apart and read the data using an external device. The data is transferred to another device and returned to you. This can be expensive based on the amount of data that needs to be recovered. I would assume that you files are not backed-up anywhere else. Then the expense would be what ever value you place on data that is otherwise unrecoverable. It's up to you. Good Luck.
Feb 17, 2019 01:34:25 #
George II
Loc: Fayetteville, Georgia
Feiertag wrote:
My PC will not recognize my drive. It has thousands of photos stored on it. Any suggestions on how to recover my data?
Harold
Harold
Did you ever think to contact Western Digital?
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