Storing Photos: I was storing photos on a 4 T External Hard Drive. It Died on me. I took it to 2 places that said they could not recover what was on the disc. I don't believe that the...

photobug.2

I was storing photos on a 4 T External Hard Drive. It Died on me. I took it to 2 places that said they could not recover what was on the disc. I don't believe that the info cannot be obtained. Does some one out there have any suggestions that does not cost 1-2 thousand dollars to get the info on the disc
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PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

photobug.2 wrote:

I was storing photos on a 4 T External Hard Drive. It Died on me. I took it to 2 places that said they could not recover what was on the disc. I don't believe that the info cannot be obtained. Does some one out there have any suggestions that does not cost 1-2 thousand dollars to get the info on the disc
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Whose drive is it? Have you tried contacting Seagate or Western Digital if it is their external hard drive?
Welcome to the forum!
Now you know the importance of a double back up.

johngault007 Loc: Florida Panhandle

photobug.2 wrote:

I was storing photos on a 4 T External Hard Drive. It Died on me. I took it to 2 places that said they could not recover what was on the disc. I don't believe that the info cannot be obtained. Does some one out there have any suggestions that does not cost 1-2 thousand dollars to get the info on the disc
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Is it a solid state drive or platter drive? And what did those 2 places say was wrong with the hard drive?

Answers to those two questions would help us figure out if data is recoverable or not.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

It depends on the failure mode.

For example: if the spindle motor died, the platter assembly would have to be moved to another drive body, either in a clean room or a clean booth. Very labor intensive and the head assembly would have to be removed first to get the platter assembly out. Ergo a thousand or two.

If a head crashed, that platter side, and head, are no longer usable.

Get a third opinion?

Hate to add -> That's what backups are for.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

As PixelStan said, contact the manufacturer. From what I've heard, recovery can be very expensive. If you don't have at least two backups, you don't have any backup. I use two external HGST 4TB Ultrastar drives and a NAS.

big-guy Loc: Peterborough Ontario Canada

I have an excellent place for HD recovery. They charge $500 CAD flat fee but only if they can recover the data. I have run 2 HD through them, both stone cold dead, and they recovered 100% of each drive. The first one took 4 weeks and the second took about 10 days. Unfortunately, I am at work so will let you know later today when I get home.

Jerry G Loc: Waterford, Michigan and Florida

Read somewhere "if it's not backed up in three places it doesn't exist".

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

photobug.2 wrote:

I was storing photos on a 4 T External Hard Drive. It Died on me. I took it to 2 places that said they could not recover what was on the disc. I don't believe that the info cannot be obtained. Does some one out there have any suggestions that does not cost 1-2 thousand dollars to get the info on the disc
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Backup ..... and then back up again. I use two external directly connected thunderbolt 3 RAID 5 drives from OWC (macéales.com). One in the closet of my office and one in a storm shelter in the far corner of our basement. With fiber optic connections and greater than 20 Gb/sec connection they are as good, and a lot safer, than in internal SSD drive.

Good luck on recovery. You've already received some very good suggestions of where to start. There is no short cut unfortunately.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

People backup the backup in case the first backup failed, they backup the second backup in case the first two fail. 10-12 backups should cover things nicely.
Disk manufacturers love people like that.
I have two local backup drives. I alternate between the two drives when doing a backup: 1 is on "A", 2 is on "B", 3 is on A, 4 is on B,...

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Jerry G wrote:

Read somewhere "if it's not backed up in three places it doesn't exist".

Does that mean it's gospel?

I've read lotsa crap.

Sounds more like a smirky remark.

Jerry G Loc: Waterford, Michigan and Florida

Longshadow wrote:

Does that mean it's gospel?

I've read lotsa crap.

Sounds more like a smirky remark.

Not gospel, but like you said 10 or 12 should be good.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Jerry G wrote:

Not gospel, but like you said 10 or 12 should be good.

pshane

Besides all of the recommended 'Back-Up' info, - I would add that, as small and inexpensive SD Cards are, when one fills up. insert a new one in your camera, and save the SD cards in a 'Tiny Library'! -
I have every one that I've used since around 2000, in hopes that they will serve as a 'Just in Case' option, in hopes that they continue to hold the info on them.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

pshane wrote:

Besides all of the recommended 'Back-Up' info, - I would add that, as small and inexpensive SD Cards are, when one fills up. insert a new one in your camera, and save the SD cards in a 'Tiny Library'! -
I have every one that I've used since around 2000, in hopes that they will serve as a 'Just in Case' option, in hopes that they continue to hold the info on them.

They are charge coupled devices. The "storage" charge will bleed off over time unless refreshed by plugging them in to power them to re-build the charge. They are not "permanent" as much as hard drives.
I won't use them for archival storage. (Nor SSDs.)

pshane

Thanks for the tip, - I didn't know that. - Will have to plug in a few to check this out!