PW4GDF

Oh no, my Seagate external drive seems to have crashed taking years of work with it. My computers do not recognise it, it makes a whirring and clicking noise that it never did before and just will not open. It has not had a power surge as I always keep it unlpugged.
Any helpful suggestions PLEASE!
Wendy
Cocoa, Florida

Gtole Loc: Connecticut

Have you backed it up?
Dont try running it anymore it sounds like you have a head crash and if you run it more you could loose it forever.
Hopefully you have a backup because recovering drives like this is hit or miss but I have had success recovering data on a drive that has completley failed. What computer and OS are you running?

PW4GDF

Windows 7 on a 4 year old Toshiba laptop. I was going to take it to office Depot to see if they could do anything.
THis is my back up, I don't back up my back up............
Thanks,
Wendy

mdorn Loc: Portland, OR

Yeah, unfortunately mechanical devices fail. Your data may or may not be salvageable without a significant expense. Office Depot would not be my first choice in computer repair, but if you trust the tech doing the work, then it's probably not a bad idea. Definately have a tech evaluate it for you. Don't start taking advice from those DIYers.

dirtpusher Loc: tulsa oklahoma

had one do that to me took it too computer shop to get back into it. will have to re do the drivers.

Gtole Loc: Connecticut

I agree Office depot wouldn't be my first choice. And anyone you talk to will ask you the same thing "Did you Back It Up"?
I back up to the cloud now using dropbox its a little bit of an expense but I will never loose my photos. There are many different ways to back up but i would never trust any one drive.
That being said your next step is important and could be expensive unless you fins someone who really knows what they are doing. Seagate themselves offer a data recovery service but its not cheap. I have used them in the past when i haven't been able to recover the data myself with my various programs.
And they were able to recover data from a completely crashed drive. There are many services out there that specialize in this but again they arent cheap.

I would suggest giving Seagate a call and see what they might be able to offer you

PW4GDF

Yes a call to Seagate makes sense, thanks. What a way to mess up your weekend.
Thanks,
Wendy

mdorn Loc: Portland, OR

Why is it messed up? I thought this was your backup drive, so you still have your originals on your main computer, right?

PW4GDF

No, sadly as this computer is getting old and starting to have 'issues' I thought it would be a good idea to clean as much off it as I could.................
Wendy

PW4GDF

Probably a dumb question, but what difference is there between a large capacity 'stick/thumb drive' to a external back up like the Seagate?
Thanks again,
Wendy

PhotoArtsLA Loc: Boynton Beach

If the drive spins up, as in, you feel the vibration when you touch it, or can hear it, generally, all the data, files and what not CAN be recovered. I have been recovering drives for years using Data Rescue, which is currently in version 3. I know it is available for the Mac, and am positive you can get it for the PC just due to market size.

The hassle is, you have to have a computer to dedicate to the task. It might take WEEKS. Semi dead drives, if full, generally take about 8-10 hours per terabyte. Sometimes, the drive will spin down, and Data Rescue will wait for it to spin back up. One PC drive (I am all Mac at this point, having chucked my Dell into a bulk garbage container) I rescued for an acquaintance took about six weeks, but I got everything off it.

Data Rescue requires a recovery drive at LEAST as big as the dead drive it is recovering, so you have to have this in mind. You should not shut down the computer during the recovery. In fact, apart from certain small hard drives, you should NEVER shut off a hard drive in general. 99% of drive wear and tear is in the turning it on phase. Drives maintain dependability better if kept happy, which is when they are spinning.

Gtole Loc: Connecticut

Yes I used disk warrior doing this exact thing but it took 3 days to recover a 100gb drive but it did recover all my data as i heard the drive dying a slow death

PhotoArtsLA Loc: Boynton Beach

Data Rescue is superior to Disk Warrior, which I also have and use, for drive recovery. Having been digital since Atari was the reigning champ of the computer world, I maintain petabytes of data in every form of storage which has existed, including glass plate media. These days, I favor MDisk, followed by Blu-Ray for backup. I have a bookshelf of narrow shelves filled with hard drives which I use in ESATA raw drive docks. If only somebody would make them in Thunderbolt, I'd be a bit happier.

dirtpusher Loc: tulsa oklahoma

what it is your usb drivers are fragged

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Wendy, Since this is the only location of your data, then it's not really a backup drive and once this is resolved you need to get an extra external hard drive so you have a second copy of your data.

Rather then go to Office Depot I would look for a local omputer repair shop if available. The chances are the staff in a small repair shop will be more knowledgeable than anyone in Office Depot. They may have some luck recovering some or all of your data. You will need a drive for them to copy it to if they are successful, and of course depending on the effort it takes, the restoration of your data will cost between $75 and a couple of hundred, or possibly even more. Assuming all you data is restored to a new drive, I would then discard the defective device even if it seems to be working again. You will not be able to trust it.