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Jul - Computers and Technology - Saving a failed hard drive... New poll - New thread - New reply
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YK

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Posted on 05-11-11 06:34:28 AM Link | Quote
My 1TB hard drive appears to be near death, and I've got like 700 gigs on it that I'd rather not lose. There's no way I could have backed it up, either (my other HD is only 80 gigs, and it'd take hundreds of CDs to back it up, as I don't have a DVD burner).

It still appears momentarily when I start up the computer, and during that brief period, I can still access the data on it, so it seems like it's still intact... But it then quickly disappears. It used to work fine running under Windows Safe Mode, which is rather odd... but even that's beginning to fail... Basically, I'm not sure what's wrong with it, but I'd hate to lose 700 gigs of stuff (games, music, TV shows, etc.; some of which would be hard to find again, given the erratic nature of the internet), so if anyone knows anything that could help me possibly recover it, I'd greatly appreciate it...

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Posted on 05-11-11 12:55:57 PM Link | Quote
so yeah

is it internal or external?


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paulguy

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Posted on 05-11-11 01:20:21 PM (last edited by paulguy at 05-11-11 10:25 AM) Link | Quote
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Try a linux live cd maybe? If it has rsync, you can keep rebooting and try to copy more and more each time rather than copying over the same files.

Edit: You'll want to start in some kind of command line mode if you want to get the most time out of the drive for copying. SystemrescueCD I've used, and it boots up fast if you choose one of the terminal modes.

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Posted on 05-11-11 09:48:15 PM Link | Quote
Buy an external DVD burner (they're relatively affordable now, $30 to $50) and some DVD±R(W) discs... make sure you buy a high-quality brand (no cheapo discs... don't want coasters on your backup )

Another alternative is to buy an external hard drive of 1TB (a bit more expensive but more reliable), which should be good enough (I have two, a WD and a Seagate... the Seagate sees more usage though)

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Metal_Man88's Post
Immediately discontinue use of the drive, unplug it, but keep it handy. Buy another one of equal or larger size. Use HDClone free edition to copy the old disk sector-for-sector to the new disk. Breathe a sigh of relief and continue on like nothing happened.

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Posted on 05-11-11 10:56:14 PM Link | Quote
I have to second the suggestion to buy a DVD burner, even if/after you get your data back intact.

It's just something quite useful to have - good for backups, storing files you don't think you'll use too often to conserve space (make SURE you keep the discs protected, however, to prevent damage!), burning files to them so you can just pass the disc to someone without worrying... and, of course, burning a video DVD if you'd prefer to watch your content that way.

If you're worried about CD burning, don't worry - you can still burn a CD with a DVD writer.

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YK

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Posted on 05-11-11 11:09:01 PM Link | Quote
All right... to answer the question asked earlier, and to elaborate more... it's a Seagate 1TB internal. I removed it yesterday, and a few days ago I ordered a 2TB external, but I get this sinking feeling like it may be too late. I didn't realize the drive was on the verge of dying, so like a fool, I kept messing with it, figuring it was either overheating (as the fan was absolutely clogged with dust, and some of the symptoms reminded me of when my old computer overheated) or just some Windows error, especially considering it worked just fine on Safe Mode. Now about all it does when I hook it up is make ominous clicking sounds... even the BIOS doesn't seem to recognize it... I did manage to get the drive to appear on Safe Mode once, and the data is fine, so... I don't know. I've never had an HD fail... I've heard that it may be possible to recover some/all of the data by putting the drive in a freezer or something, but it sounds iffy and "urban legend-y". Has anyone here tried it...?

As for a DVD burner, I'll definitely look into one of those after this disaster, especially if my data ends up being lost. Honestly, there wasn't much there that was irreplaceable (I did manage to save some stuff to my other drive, but it's far too small to have saved very much), but some of the games, music, and TV shows may be difficult to find again... and will take a long time to download, as well. Not to mention the fact that I'm very nitpicky about my files, and keep a very clean HD... and the internet itself is very *messy*. Which basically means loads of music retagging... Sigh...

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Posted on 05-12-11 12:41:25 AM Link | Quote
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Metal_Man88's Post
The clicking noise means it may already be too late. The freezer trick is real. Again, stop using the drive if you want it to have any chance of surviving.

When the new drive arrives, freeze the drive overnight, with it inside a plastic bag to keep it from getting damaged.

Then, ONLY CONNECT IT when you want to try and copy it to the new drive via HDCopy.

Then, and only then, do you possibly have a chance of recovering data.

DO NOT PLUG IT IN AGAIN FOR ANY REASON OTHER THAN THE AFOREMENTIONED COPYING TO A NEW DRIVE OR IT MAY LOSE WHAT REMAINS FOREVER BEFORE YOU CAN BACK IT UP.

Sorry if I had to yell but... this is essential to saving what is left of it.

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Posted on 05-12-11 12:51:31 AM Link | Quote
Originally posted by YK
Now about all it does when I hook it up is make ominous clicking sounds... even the BIOS doesn't seem to recognize it...

I've heard that it may be possible to recover some/all of the data by putting the drive in a freezer or something, but it sounds iffy and "urban legend-y". Has anyone here tried it...?
It sounds like you could get some more data off of it using the freezer trick, especially if the failure symptoms indicate overheating.

I'd guess the clicking sounds are the firmware trying to initialize itself; it doesn't show up to the BIOS because it's not initialized when the BIOS tries to access it.

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Posted on 05-12-11 02:35:09 AM Link | Quote
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The Clicking is the "Click of Death" which in hard drives is this. It can mean it trying to recover from an error, or smashing the head into the disk (destroying data), or both.

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YK

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Posted on 05-12-11 03:23:02 AM (last edited by YK at 05-12-11 12:27 AM) Link | Quote
Originally posted by Metal_Man88
The Clicking is the "Click of Death" which in hard drives is this. It can mean it trying to recover from an error, or smashing the head into the disk (destroying data), or both.


Hmm. That's similar, but not *quite* the same one I'm hearing... My drive would automatically shut itself off when not in use for a while, and turn back on whenever I opened something (didn't actually matter if it was on *that* drive or the other one), both times with a faint click. What this sounds like is that same click repeatedly, as though it's trying to "turn on" the drive, but failing and repeatedly trying again. That it's clicked like that before and the data turned out to be all right after all of them... seems like there's still a chance my files survived.

That said, I *did* unhook the drive yesterday, and it's still unhooked now. I'll try the freezer trick when my new HD arrives (should be tomorrow), as there's really no point in doing it now, since I won't be able to recover anything even if it *does* work without another drive.

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Posted on 05-12-11 03:34:26 AM Link | Quote
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Will that hdcopy let you start where you left off if it fails and need to restart? If you have to try from the start every time it fails partway through, it'd be quitee worthless.

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Posted on 05-12-11 08:43:46 PM Link | Quote
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I don't think it stops for anything. It keeps copying and if a sector fails, it fails.

It just goes to make a 1:1 copy sector-for-sector. If it hits a bad area it'll just keep going and the result drive will just have corruption where it fails.

Since it's made for 'rescuing' and all, it'd make no sense if it stopped and required a full restart of the entire process for every corrupted sector. On this note, the result of the hdcopy will probably be best used as a slave drive, as it's unlikely to have escaped some corruption on the OS side at this point.

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Posted on 05-12-11 08:45:38 PM Link | Quote
Originally posted by Metal_Man88
On this note, the result of the hdcopy will probably be best used as a slave drive, as it's unlikely to have escaped some corruption on the OS side at this point.


Fortunately, it *was* a slave drive, so I don't need to worry about the OS or anything. My new 2TB external arrived today... I guess I'll give the freezer trick a try now and hope for the best.



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Posted on 05-12-11 08:50:15 PM Link | Quote
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Ah. And a reminder in case I forgot--make sure to use the 'bootable disk' version. That's the one most likely to work in this kind of situation.

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Posted on 05-12-11 10:38:50 PM Link | Quote
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I mean more if the drive just gives up and needs to be restarted to try again. I've had that happen, where a drive might continue to work for a bit longer after it's stopped reading, due to some firmware whatever, after being power cycled. In that situation, it'd be advantageous to be able to start from where it left off, or a given offset.

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Posted on 05-13-11 12:30:12 AM Link | Quote
Originally posted by Metal_Man88
Immediately discontinue use of the drive, unplug it, but keep it handy. Buy another one of equal or larger size. Use HDClone free edition to copy the old disk sector-for-sector to the new disk. Breathe a sigh of relief and continue on like nothing happened.


I just noticed this post; somehow I'd missed it before. I'd give this a try, but I'm not sure... is it too late now? I mean, if the HD isn't getting picked up even by the BIOS...

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Posted on 05-13-11 01:14:41 AM Link | Quote
Originally posted by YK
I mean, if the HD isn't getting picked up even by the BIOS...
This person was able to fix a disk that wasn't recognized by the BIOS. I'd guess the drive waits for its power-on calibration to finish before responding to the BIOS, and that clicking you hear is the calibration repeatedly failing.

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Posted on 05-13-11 02:15:30 AM Link | Quote
Arrrrgh. I just tried one of those programs, and *nothing*. Couldn't even find the drive. Apparently, you have to use them *before* the drive becomes unrecognized by the BIOS! Arrrgh... It's like this knowledge and my new HD arrived about two or three days too late. That freezer trick scares the hell out of me... if it works, great, but if it fails, all the data is gone for good, instead of just being unreadable by the drive...

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Posted on 05-13-11 03:00:54 AM Link | Quote
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Metal_Man88's Post
Originally posted by YK
Arrrrgh. I just tried one of those programs, and *nothing*. Couldn't even find the drive. Apparently, you have to use them *before* the drive becomes unrecognized by the BIOS! Arrrgh... It's like this knowledge and my new HD arrived about two or three days too late. That freezer trick scares the hell out of me... if it works, great, but if it fails, all the data is gone for good, instead of just being unreadable by the drive...


Technically when it stops being recognized by the BIOS is when it is potentially gone forever. You don't really have anything to lose at this point.

As for what Paul said... hm, I dunno what HDCopy does then. I'd guess it'd do that but I never had that happen.

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