Topic: data recovery from a damaged external drive

[yousef]

 

I knocked over my external drive this evening and now it just just makes strange ticking noises...

Although there isn't really anything irreplaceable in there, there are many hours of hard work tied up in it that I really, really would like to avoid having to go through again.

I've done a bit of Googling, and it would seem that there are a fair few companies offering data recovery services but I'm a little dubious of their claims - has anyone else here had reason to use them who can offer an unbiased opinion of how likely I am to see my files again?

Who'd have thought such a slight knock would kill the thing?

As I said: 

[John Kary]

Your chances of recovering your data are close to nothing, from what I've heard.  If the drive is ticking, there's a good chance the drive heads are damaged and unable to move properly.  I had a power failure recently that took out one of my external drives housed in an enclosure.  I had to end up RMA'ing the drive back to Seagate for a refurbished one (thankful for 5 year warranties.)  Data recovery will run you a few thousand, most likely, and even then, they probably won't be able to recover much if any.

Take it as a lesson learned about making backups.  I have a 500GB Seagate FreeAgent that I manually back-up my important files every month, then unhook it and store it in its box in my closet (would be better if I had an off-site location to store it.)  I use the program Nero BackItUp to do the backups.  It scans my watch folders for new files created/modified since the last backup and copies them over, so I don't have to worry about remembering what all is backed up.

You can also run a RAID1 backup, which uses 2 hard drives and keeps identical data on them.  Then if one fails, the other picks up without you even realizing it.

Good luck!

[yousef]

+T for your wise, if somewhat depressing, words.

It is indeed a horrible lesson in backing up... most of what was lost was AVI files of footage I have on DV tapes - all 'backed up' in effect, save for the tiny Vegas files that represent hours of work on the finished and partly-finished projects.

Well, I'll know better next time, I suppose.

Right - off to recapture 12 hours of video in real time 

[taper420]

I heard something about getting a few minutes of use out of the drive if you put it in the freezer, bagged up to avoid condensation. I always had the idea of actually running cables out of the freezer in an attempt to lengthen the access time. Never tried it. Let me know if it works... I've had a crapped out drive I've been meaning to get to for like 5 years now. Same as you... the tick of death.

[yousef]

I heard something about getting a few minutes of use out of the drive if you put it in the freezer, bagged up to avoid condensation.

Hmm... I can see this thread developing into an endless list of increasingly bizarre and intricate processes designed as much to humiliate as recover data...

Even so, I think I would have given the freezer option a go had I not just got back from exchanging the drive for a new, hopefully indestructable, one.

But before I put a single byte on it, I'm wrapping it in cotton wool and bubble wrap.

Thanks, though!

[JasonSobel]

Even so, I think I would have given the freezer option a go had I not just got back from exchanging the drive for a new, hopefully indestructable, one.

But before I put a single byte on it, I'm wrapping it in cotton wool and bubble wrap.

no hard drives are "indestructable".  They all have fragile moving parts on the inside, and they all will fail at some point.

[yousef]

no hard drives are "indestructable".  They all have fragile moving parts on the inside, and they all will fail at some point.

I know, know. I've had enough die on me not to be under any illusions on that account.

I was perhaps thinking of the Simpsons' planned new dog: "one with an untwistable stomach".

[it-goes-to-eleven]

But before I put a single byte on it, I'm wrapping it in cotton wool and bubble wrap.

Good idea - fry it with heat and you won't need to worry about shock failure

[yousef]

Good idea - fry it with heat and you won't need to worry about shock failure

Bloody hell, I hadn't thought of that.

It's a daft design too - a decidedly unstable vaguely trapezoid shape with a particularly short mains lead.

Perhaps I'll just gaffer tape it to the floor.

[phanophish]

Repeated click sounds from a hard drive are usually not a good sign.  As others have said data recovery services do work but are expensive.   I had a client have a HD go belly up and despite weekly warnings for a year they did not have a backup of production critical files.  It cost them about $1800 to recover about 8 gigs of AutoCad files. Anyway I'm guessing your data is not worth that.  I actually had good luck with a application called SpinRite http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm  It saved some data from a drive that I know had bad sectors for me just a week ago.  It took about 48 hours to completely run on the drive, but it worked.  If the fall damaged the actual heads you may be out of luck, but it's worth a try, it impressed me.