# Help recovering files off portable Hard drive



## bettz (Feb 4, 2011)

Hi all a friend of mine has broken his hard drive he's been quoted £200 from a data recovery company in the city which i think is very ott . I said id take a look at it to see if i can recover so files off it.Just wondered what would be regarded as the best data recovery software to use? 

He said the hard drive is being recongnised by the pc & that he was told that if he open the hard drive up it would be permanently wiped???? as i was thinking about hooking it up to my pc as a slave drive? i will try to recover the data files first any other ideas?


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## brandonwh64 (Feb 4, 2011)

whats the symptoms of the harddrive?


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## bettz (Feb 5, 2011)

The hard drive will be shown in device manager but isn't initialising when I click intialise it won't ,also the hard drive light is flashing when connected.


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## Mussels (Feb 5, 2011)

take the drive out of the enclosure and hook it up directly to the PC. i've seen many enclosures fried, but the drive and data still good.


opening the DRIVE up will feck it, taking it out of the enclosure wont do any damage at all.


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## brandonwh64 (Feb 5, 2011)

Mussels said:


> take the drive out of the enclosure and hook it up directly to the PC. i've seen many enclosures fried, but the drive and data still good.
> 
> 
> opening the DRIVE up will feck it, taking it out of the enclosure wont do any damage at all.



i didnt read that it was in an enclosure, its a good possibility that the drive is still good like mussels said, take it apart and put the drive inside your PC


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## Mussels (Feb 5, 2011)

yeah he never specified it was in an enclosure, but its something i gathered from his wording.


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## bettz (Feb 5, 2011)

Yes the hard drive was enclosed.just spoke to my friend the shop he took it to took it out the enclosure and told him the hard drive was intermittent ??


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## Mussels (Feb 5, 2011)

that means the drive cuts in and out.


good news is that you can copy the data off in bits and pieces, when it is working.


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## bettz (Feb 5, 2011)

Let's hope so. Any software recommended?


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## Mussels (Feb 5, 2011)

Recuva is one i like - but if the drives working, simple cut and paste will be fine.


recovery tools are for corrupt or deleted data, which may not be the case here.


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## bettz (Feb 5, 2011)

Right just got the drive upon connecting it inside my pc theres a strange sound coming from the drive kinda like my old spectrum games when they used to load & beeping is that a sign the drives had it? the drives lights blue its a western digital drive aswell.

The drives being shown in computer management but it won't initialize

When i plug the drive in i can hear it spinning but then stops after a few seconds

I've run a western digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostic test its passed the quick test but upon completing the extended test its showing 

Test Option: EXTENDED TEST 
Model Number: WD  
Unit Serial Number:  
Firmware Number: 1.05 
Capacity: 0.00 GB 
SMART Status: Not Available 
Test Result: FAIL 
Test Error Code: 08- 
Test Time: 07:48:32, February 05, 2011


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## bettz (Feb 6, 2011)

Any ideas?


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## Frogger (Feb 6, 2011)

If the drive motor is still good you could swap the controler pcb for 1 from anther drive that works ...would have to be the same card


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## Mussels (Feb 7, 2011)

Frogger said:


> If the drive motor is still good you could swap the controler pcb for 1 from anther drive that works ...would have to be the same card



that doesnt work these days.


if the drive doesnt get detected in windows, you're screwed. either send it to a data recovery center (extremely costly) or give up on the data.


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## 95Viper (Feb 7, 2011)

bettz said:


> Right just got the drive upon connecting it inside my pc theres a strange sound coming from the drive kinda like my old spectrum games when they used to load & beeping is that a sign the drives had it? the drives lights blue its a western digital drive aswell.
> 
> The drives being shown in computer management but it won't initialize
> 
> ...



This is supposition based on what info I can gather on the web at various places.

The test code given (08) is for a "handling failure" (on page 15 of pdf found here), now, that could be due to dropping of the drive (even a hard bump), esd damage, moving the drive while it is operating, etc..

You don't list the model no. of the drive, so this part is guessing and there are a few forum posts of this problem... Some WD ,Hitachi, Samsung, Seagate, etc. drives have fall protection, called different names by different manufacturers.
Western Digital calls their's:  Free Fall Sensor (FFS) and Shock Guard - in later drives.
This is supposed to be in the firmware of the drives and is not an option to turn on or off.
The drives in questions have had reports of clicking, beeping type of sound, and tapping sound.  It has been guessed that this occurs, because of the head trying to park or un-park un-successfully after the drive has encountered something which triggered the fall protection error.

If your drive has this sensor, then, the free fall sensor will lock the drive's heads in 200 milliseconds to prevent damage when it senses that the drive is falling.
I would assume it would release the drive after the problem is resolved or eliminated, but, you never know.
But, with no sensor, I guess, you just get the damage.

I hope you are able to recover the data you want on the drive.
However, if the head is stuck and not responding then, IMO... it is not likely that you will be able to recover the data.
You best bet, if it is under warranty, is to RMA it.
Good luck


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## Completely Bonkers (Feb 7, 2011)

I'd like to share a tip based on experience

DONT ever use portable HDD enclosures.  This is their life: fine until they get dropped (even small distances), knocked, or shaken. Taking them in a bag and running or cycling is enough to kill them.

I have learned this rule by hard experience and data loss: never a portable HDD.

Get a USB Stick, or SSD portable. That is better. Or if you need large data volume, then get a NAS.  Hard cheese that you cant carry it to your friend. Put it online through dyndns.


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## Mussels (Feb 7, 2011)

Completely Bonkers said:


> I'd like to share a tip based on experience
> 
> DONT ever use portable HDD enclosures.  This is their life: fine until they get dropped (even small distances), knocked, or shaken. Taking them in a bag and running or cycling is enough to kill them.
> 
> ...



i currently have 10 external hard drives. i upgrade them every year or two to larger capacity, but i dont think i've had one die in the last 2 years without something stupid being done (EG, power connected backwards, spilled drink on it, etc)



i think the point you should be making is "externals are safe, some users arent"

who the hell puts a HDD in a bag and goes running or cycling?


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## Completely Bonkers (Feb 7, 2011)

Yes, perhaps I should have made the usage scenario of my warning clearer.  But my comments are addressed to the OP, who described the HDD as making noises that are very similar to drop- or shake-damage.  That scraping sound is typical when a head has folded over as a result of the HDD platter turning in the wrong direction.  This is due to physical shock/movement. My warning is for this type of usage.

If your external is going to sit next to your PC or media center, then agreed, so long as it doesnt get dropped or knocked you are OK.

However, if, as many young people do, this portable HDD is used to ferry mp4's, mp3's, installers and the such from place to place, or if there are young children in the house that like picking things up or knocking things over, then you have been warned.

I actually find portable enclosures very useful for recovery. When a PC wont boot, pull the drive, stick in the external enclosure, USB to a working machine, pull off/recover all data.

@mussels, I'm surprised you have so many external HDDs. You are exactly the type of person I would imagine to build a Linux box in the basement as a mega-NAS. So why not? You must have a garage of wall warts!



Mussels said:


> who the hell puts a HDD in a bag and goes running or cycling?


There are more students putting the HDDs in their school/college-bags than there are people with 10 external HDDs! People cycle on campus. People run across the street or for a bus. People drop their bag onto the floor. Who the hell does that? LOL


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## bettz (Feb 7, 2011)

Well my pc detects the hard drive i hear the sound from when you connect something to your pc and when i disconnect the hard drive from my pc.After a few mins the device shows up in computer management but status as unknown and initialize disk is greyed out.When i run data lifeguard it shows in the drives properties as Warning

Would it be worth formatting it if i can to repair the errors and then try and recover the data or will i lose it all? im sure i had the option to format it using the data lifeguard app

Yes from what my friend has said the hard drive was dropped and thats when the problems started. He's been quoted £200 to recover the stuff on the hard drive which is very expensive.


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## Completely Bonkers (Feb 7, 2011)

200 quid is actually quite cheap for HDD recovery on a damaged disk. Of course, if they don't get the data off but it is a "fee even to try" then I agree, whoosh, ott.  When HDDs are really damaged and they have to go into clean environments for recovery, it costs thousands if not tens of thousands. That of course is not for us, regular consumers, but for military/intelligence services.

After you have retrieved the data... you and your friend should dismantle the drive to see how they work. You'll learn a lot, and understand how delicate those things are.  Whatever happens DO NO attempt to re-use the HDD. You have physical damage and the HDD will only deteriorate at a faster speed than the normal lifetime.  My guess is a head scratch from the bump, and possibly also a folded over read/write head.  If you can get the data off you are lucky. You might find the drive cannot write accurately anymore, and attempting to do so might nuke the drive (slowly).

***

Oh, I should add something important. Often after a drop the HDD works ok for a while. This is actually bad news... because the user thinks everything is OK and doesnt do a backup. After ANY drop, backup the data, and expect your drive to degrade.


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