Posted on 12/18/2014 9:18:26 AM PST by don-o
With no warning, when I plugged it in, (does run on external power) I got message "disk must be formatted". I took it to my local guy and he quoted $60 - $90 if data can be recovered.
Did a quick search and see "free" software listed for data recovery, but I am leery and seek input on what my best course is. There is nothing actually vital on it. But, I have maybe 200 GB of music that I have recorded from my singing groups that I would rather not lose.
And I would rather keep my money in my pocket. Is there any hope?
Without seeing it or knowing exactly what you’re working with; I’d try taking it apart and getting the HD out of the enclosure, and try to plug in a USB>SATA cable into a laptop to connect the drive.
See if the OS pics it up and if you can browse into it. If it doesn’t spin up, the drive could have literally failed. I doubt this is the case though, since your OS is asking you to format it when you plugged it in while it was in the enclosure.
Hopefully, it’s a failure with the enclosure, and the drive is fine. Just get that drive out of there, and try to directly connect to it somehow. Again, I don’t know exactly what you have, or are working with. I’m blindly advising here, so approach my advice accordingly.
UBCD (Ultimate Boot CD). Install it to a thumb drive, plug in your external HDD, boot to the thumb drive, and you should be able to get additional information about the drive.
If it shows as formatted in NTFS and you can see data, then the data is recoverable. If you lost the master boot record, you might be able to recover it with the Windows install CD and booting to a recovery console.
My external has no OS on it.
My experience is that you have a good chance of getting your data back if you try a few things and are persistent. I agree with the power comments. You might also look into the possibility of putting your disk in the freezer (in a sealed bag). I don’t recall all the details of this, so you should look it up, but it has worked for me in the past.
Try Recuva: https://www.piriform.com/recuva
I believe it has a demo/preview mode in which it tells you what it could recover if you paid them.
If it shows you your files, pay them 25 bucks and recover your data. If not, pay the other guy 90 bucks.
If you do not know how to run Recuva, pay the other guy the 90 bucks :-)
I am thinking that might be my solution. But, I also like the freezer solution for a what the hell option.
Throw it in the freezer for an hour.
Plug it back in and back up as much as possible.
Repeat until you get everything.
True story.
Most likely the logic board in the enclosure has failed [...]
STOP EVERYTHING ELSE!!!
kingu is right... this is the first step. The USB enclosure is often the problem. Take it apart, get to the drive, and either hang it in another enclosure, or preferably, hang it into a desktop box as a secondary drive. Often times, the drive is just fine.
NO.NO.NO!!!
Folks that are telling you this are kinda right - worked better on older drives than modern drives. But it is absolutely the very last resort, along with 'thumping' on it. LAST gasp before absolute doorstop. ok?
If trying other cables, adapters, enclosures, USB ports, other laptop test, etc doesn’t not fix problem, try Spinrite.
https://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm
The freezer option should be last last resort.
Covered that in post 1
I cannot see how to get into it besides just start prying at the edges. And I am not quite clear on what Ican do after I get it open. I have hooked up HDs in desktops. But I am on a laptop now.
Lots of possibilities, but the error message you're getting is actually good news since it indicates that the drive isn't dead, only mostly dead. Will follow this thread.
A surprisingly common source of electronics failure comes from oxidized metal contacts. I’ve fixed an external hard drive before by removing the electronics board from the disk case and rubbing all unsoldered electrical contacts with a pencil eraser. It’s something to try as a last resort if all other options don’t work and you still want your data.
Does it show up in the Device Manager when plugged in?
If so, uninstall it then reboot.
It comes apart. try a search on Youtube for 'take apart [insert make and model number here]' If it DOESN'T come apart, it's busted anyhoo... so don't be afraid to bust it sommore. Just be careful of the internal drive itself.
And I am not quite clear on what Ican do after I get it open. I have hooked up HDs in desktops. But I am on a laptop now.
Get another USB enclosure - You can buy them without a drive, fairly cheap... if it turns out that the drive is no good, just buy a new drive for it, and you are back to square one as far as off-machine storage is concerned...
Mind adding me to your ping list?? TIA
With no warning, when I plugged it in, (does run on external power) I got message "disk must be formatted". I took it to my local guy and he quoted $60 - $90 if data can be recovered.
Did a quick search and see "free" software listed for data recovery, but I am leery and seek input on what my best course is. There is nothing actually vital on it. But, I have maybe 200 GB of music that I have recorded from my singing groups that I would rather not lose.
And I would rather keep my money in my pocket. Is there any hope?
Testdisk and photorec. See http://www.cgsecurity.org/
Free and not junk or ad come on.
Found that YT vid and I see how to do it. Ihave concluded that first step is to try a new enclosure which I found for about 20 bucks on ebay.
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