HELP! Hard drive dead ball wife cut backup no!

[upyourego]

Ok appologies for the over long thread title but it does express some of the way I'm currently feeling

Basically my external USB Seagate 320gb hard drive has died - well I say died - it still turns on and Windows still picks it up as a drive and assigns it as a drive letter but when I try to click on the drive to open it I'm told it is not formatted and asks me if I want to format it.

I don't! But I didn't have any other options. I've tried a defrag - didn't work as it didn't recognise it as a drive, tried going to a restore point on my computer, tried the HD on another computer, tried using the Seagate disk tools - same problem as a defrag. Nothing worked.

So I gave in and tried a low level format (in the hope I might be able to still recover the data later) but that didn't work it just bombed out saying it couldn't format.

So I tried a normal format using windows - same problem. Tried a format using Fdisk - same problem.

Help - any ideas? Do I have to just write this HD off?

[Viper007Bond]

Umm, format = wipe all data on drive. Essentially unrecoverable unless you're like CSI.

And yes, the drive sounds toast to me.

[Zuhaib]

Originally Posted by upyourego

Ok appologies for the over long thread title but it does express some of the way I'm currently feeling

Basically my external USB Seagate 320gb hard drive has died - well I say died - it still turns on and Windows still picks it up as a drive and assigns it as a drive letter but when I try to click on the drive to open it I'm told it is not formatted and asks me if I want to format it.

I don't! But I didn't have any other options. I've tried a defrag - didn't work as it didn't recognise it as a drive, tried going to a restore point on my computer, tried the HD on another computer, tried using the Seagate disk tools - same problem as a defrag. Nothing worked.

So I gave in and tried a low level format (in the hope I might be able to still recover the data later) but that didn't work it just bombed out saying it couldn't format.

So I tried a normal format using windows - same problem. Tried a format using Fdisk - same problem.

Help - any ideas? Do I have to just write this HD off?

I hope you where not trying to save the data off the drive... Because Formating and usind Fdisk will for the most part nuke the data on the drive. Your are going to need a recovery software that will try to pull your data off. If you just wanted the drive working again, well, from the sounds of it the drive might have really just given up and its time to move on. I would not trust my data on it even it started working.

[upyourego]

Thanks guys

I thought that might be the case - I gave up on the idea of actually getting the data back when I couldn't get windows to recognise it as a drive. Just wanted it working again.

Oh well time for a new drive.

Any suggestions for ones that aren't going to crap out after two years?

[jensked]

Originally Posted by upyourego

Any suggestions for ones that aren't going to crap out after two years?

Well I wanted to say Seagate, but that's the one that failed you

I have a Seagate External USB and it has been working for almost 4 years now. If it dies, i'm screwed.

[Viper007Bond]

Originally Posted by upyourego

Just wanted it working again.

Even if you did get it working again, I wouldn't trust it.

You can get a 500GB external for $100 anyway (here at least), so it's not the end of the world IMO.

Oh, and I go with Seagate personally, but I've never had a drive fail on me. Even my old real Maxtor (pre-buyout) is still kicking. My WD 74GB Raptor has been on essentially for 24/7 for like 4 years and it works fine.

[upyourego]

I guess I was just unlucky with my Seagate then. I have a Porche styled Lacie drive at work that is pretty nice and has worked pretty well - and hard - for me over the last couple of years so might get one of them for home.

This does mean I've lost everything though - my Top Gear vid archive, my music library, my audiobooks and even all the articles I've written - archived for prosterity.

But the most annoying thing is the kids pictures - Every time I put the contents of my camera card on my PC I upload a small selection to Flickr and every six months or so I put a selection of the best on to CD but there are tens of thousands of photos of the kids that I'm never getting back.

I think I might pay for online storage somewhere so I can keep a full archive of my pics, writing (I even lost the only draft of a book I'm writing but that's no great loss to man kind) etc.

Cheers for the help guys

Now I just need to hope my wife calms down before I get home

[fluke667]

I feel for you but that shows the importance of backups once again.
For the future i'd recommend backing up the really important files like your kid pictures on DVD-RAM unlike the +R and -R DVDs it's specified for a 30 year minimum lifespan.

p.s. get the HD out of the enclosure and try to connect it directly to your pc, i had failing HDs that were recognised by the pc that way and i could save most of the data.

[Viper007Bond]

Indeed. I can't stress enough the importance of making backups and storing important things like pictures (Top Gear can be downloaded again) in more than one place. I personally bought an extra hard drive (easier and bigger than optical media), stuffed a bunch of stuff on it, and stored it at a relative's house (to protect against fire here).

Oh, and online storage is highly overrated and overpriced.

[upyourego]

Yeah backup is the key - I think I'll go down the extra HD option then.

I'm thinking about THIS as my every day hard drive (replacement for the dead one)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/SEAGATE-FREE...5169991&sr=1-5


And THIS as my long term storage/backup drive.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digi...169991&sr=1-16

I'll put the second hard drive at my parents house attached to a machine in the loft that's always online so I can connect to it over VPN and backup remotely (will that work)?

[matt2000]

That Seagate does look like a good deal. I nearly bought one of those a while ago.

I really should get some backup drives, I have lots of photos that haven't been backed up onto CD or DVD and if my main HD actually fails, they're gone. All of my videos are on a second HD, but it's only an IDE one and it's slowing the PC down. I'm not sure about external drives though, aren't internal ones better and cheaper?

[toma_alimosh]

Damn it. That's it. I've heard and experienced too many horror stories. It will hurt my pocket, but from now on it's all gonna be stored magnetically.

Nexstar HDD dock it is ... even if it will cost me much more per GB than optical storage, it's gonna be worth it for backup purposes. And hopefully I can get rid of this damn CD tower in my room ...
$75 for 500GB ... damn ... hope it will be worth the trouble.

[Kip_6666]

I'd try to rescue the data of your old hard drive first, I use "getdataback" it has saved me numerous times.

As for the new choice, saying that one brand is more reliable than the other is complete bull.
All hard drives fail eventually and you should treat them as if they will die any minute when working with important data. There can be a noticeable difference in the quality of a drive, but thats normally a step from sata to scsi or sas drives. That doesn't apply with external drives (they're only sata these days), but those scsi/sas drives break too. I have over 500TB of drives that are used daily at my work, brands don't make a difference, the type of drive does. Laptop drives die the quickest (we run them in blade systems).

External drives are almost the same as internal drives, maybe some firmware tweaking has been done. No big differences.

This is how it works with brand differences in terms of reliability on the internet:
1) Alex bought a brand new Maxtor hard drive, it was kinda expensive for him but it works. Alex thinks it's the dog's bollocks.
2) X months later the maxtor starts making funny noises and dies. Alex becomes upset, maxtor is now a company that eats babies
3) Alex buys a new seagate, it works!
4) Seagate is now the best brand in the world, he'll never buy maxtor again. Never recommends that brand either, tells everyone it's shit... unlike seagate.

He's only owned two drives, but little alex had formed quite a strong opinion. :p

[The Chad]

BEFORE YOU THROW THE OTHER DRIVE OUT!!!!!!!!!

Bust open the external drive case and remove the drive from there. Then take the drive and install in internally into your computer. See if you can get the data off then. There have been several occasions that I have read and heard about (from Steve Gibson, creator of SpinRite) where the logic board in the external drive enclosure fails, which renders the drive useless, but the drive is still good and your data is safe. Try that since at this point, you have nothing to lose.

Edit: And speaking of SpinRite, you could, after installing the drive internally, run SpinRite (http://www.grc.com) on it and that might help recover the data if the drive still isn't working right. It's worked miracles for quite a few people. I'd even loan you my copy if you agree to pay for it if it helps you out.

[The Chad]

Originally Posted by upyourego

Yeah backup is the key - I think I'll go down the extra HD option then.

I'm thinking about THIS as my every day hard drive (replacement for the dead one)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/SEAGATE-FREE...5169991&sr=1-5


And THIS as my long term storage/backup drive.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digi...169991&sr=1-16

I'll put the second hard drive at my parents house attached to a machine in the loft that's always online so I can connect to it over VPN and backup remotely (will that work)?

Remote backup will work, but there are a few things you will want to consider before going this route...

1. How much data will I be backing up on a daily basis? Sure, the first backup will take forever, but the progressive backups on subsequent days shouldn't be too big. If they are, you might not want to actually backup this way.

2. Are you bandwidth limited with your ISP? If you are, backing up large quantities of data through the internet may not be that economical for you.

3. How slow is your upload bandwidth cap? If you are uploading a lot of data, it'll take an excruciating long time if you have a low upload cap.

You can always set your backup to occur overnight for the slow backup, as long as you don't have any caps on your bandwidth, but this is the solution that I employ...

(I have a Mac, BTW, but no reason why this couldn't work on Windows)

I use Time Machine to backup to an external drive. I have one external drive off site at a friend's house. Weekly, I swap the drives, so the oldest data on one drive might be 7 days. This way, I have a relatively current backup on-site, and one off-site. I have a 3rd drive that sits on-site constantly, that I use SuperDuper! to make a bootable backup clone of my internal drive, in case it fails and I need to be back up immediately.

"Sneaker"-net is definitely faster for my needs, and cheaper than using online storage. Plus I don't have to remotely administer a computer off-site.

[avidvideo]

That sounds exactly like the problem I had with my USB thumb drive in this thread. Unfortunately none of the solutions there worked for me, but maybe they might work for you.

[toma_alimosh]

Damn, wouldn't you know, online readings of store stocks are all wrong? Made a trip all for nothing, oh well, sunday I'll have to go to some other location.

I thought I remembered that Viper bought one of these Nexstar HDD docks not too long ago. How's it hanging so far, big buddy? Are they any good or giving you trouble? Better know before I spend the money for it.

[Viper007Bond]

Originally Posted by The Chad

I'd even loan you my copy if you agree to pay for it if it helps you out.

Well, I could also "load" *cough* him a copy if he wants.

Originally Posted by toma_alimosh

I thought I remembered that Viper bought one of these Nexstar HDD docks not too long ago. How's it hanging so far, big buddy? Are they any good or giving you trouble? Better know before I spend the money for it.

I never could eSATA working. I think I may have to turn on the PC with it attached and powered up, I dunno. The USB part of it works just fine though, at least for the couple times I've used it to access my 250GB which is normally sitting in a static bag on my table.

[The Chad]

Originally Posted by Viper007Bond

Well, I could also "load" *cough* him a copy if he wants.

True that, I'm sure many here are quite *cough* resourceful.

I was thinking though, if the computer can still kinda see the drive, I'm not entirely sure if the drive has bit the big one. I would try popping it into another enclosure or internally before thinking it's all hopeless.

[upyourego]

OK I've taken it out of the casing and installed it internally. It picks the drive up fine and GetDataBack picks up the drive and its capacity.

Unfortunately when it does a scan of the drive it just gives a long list of errors and then bombs out. I also can't format the drive.

I guess its just time to accept it as dead.