external hard drive crapped out. any way to recover data?
 

ok so my external hard drive just crapped out on me. is there anyway to recover the data from it? And by crapped out, i mean its just clicking and my computer cant detect it.

disassemble it and plug it in thru ide/sata in your computer

most likely the enclosure crapped out before the actual hd did

tried what you recommended and still cant access it...

You're pretty much fukt.

ya, you're done for unless you want to pay like 1$/1MByte recovery

Wrap it in saran wrap and put in the freezer overnight and then try it. Also make sure you have some good hard drive recovery software on your computer.

I have two crapped out hd, one from desktop one external. Im just putting it away as "time eggs" and when I'm richer/older I'm going to recover them and dig through all the stuff I had when I was young haha.

+1. freezer overnight in a ziploc bag. take it out and immediately run data recovery software on it. GetDataBack for NTFS and GetDataBack for FAT are both pretty good. I've had 2/6 successes so far.

if this does not work, throw it back into the freezer overnight. when you take it out, keep the ziploc on, get dry ice and cover the top and bottom of the hd. this will keep it cold. try backing up again.

if this does not work, bang the edges on a table, with enough force to crack an egg. try again.

if this does not work, then you are out of luck.

Instances like these make me want to set up an external Raid system.

so i pretty much just gave up on the hdd and just threw it out. luckly i transfered my porn on to my computer the day before :thumbsup:

so now i just bought 2 500gb WD caviar greens and a thermaltake blacX duet docking station. i plan to put the exact same files in each hdd just incase one fails. should i just copy files into each hdd manually or is setting them into raid easier? if it is, how do i set that up?

try a recovery software program

I searched as much as I could, all the data recovery threads mentioned that there are companies that offer the service, it's just insanely expensive; but none mentioned any names.

I need to help someone recover data, and money is pretty much no object (it's business data), can any one recommend me a place?
I tried googling, and a bunch of companies popped up, but I'd like to hear actual references/testimonies if possible..

Thanks..

edit: i've tried data recovery software myself already, but had no luck.

i got CSOD(Clicking Sound Of Death) on my HDD too. the freezing thing didnt work for me if i would do that i would try it for a week or soemthin then take it out. what worked for me was throwing the drive like a frisbee but not actually letting it go. hold the drive like you would a frisbee and pretend your going to throw really try and get a flinging motion in your wrist at the end i did that a few times and was able to recover 30% before it would die again and then i would unplug start waving it around in the air really hard or pretend like im throwing a frisbee and got another 30% or so i only got about half the info off the drive the rest i didnt care about just music and crap but give it a shot. hitting it slightly on a table worked as well. be careful tho its a magnetic disk your dealing with too much force and its gone so just enough like cracking a egg someone mentioned earlier.

I have heard of people buying an identical drive (same brand/size/etc) and being to able open it up, swap the platters, and get to the data off.

1stdatarecovery is a place that i've sent many people to at my workplace. all of them turned out to be a success. average price is 700-800.

^ Thanks for the suggestion.. any one else have additional success stories?

yes in theory it would work, but have u tried disassembling a hdd b4 and play around with the internals? its such a tedious job. any scratches or dust on the platters and its GG.

Yeah I've taken a few apart before, it wasn't too bad actually. The platters were very durable.

+1.. tbh I'd like a home server as well.. but for most people it's overkill. personally i NEVER leave just one copy of data. My externals hold data that's also on my computers as well. I think just having data in 2 places is good enough since the odds of BOTH your hard drives failing is pretty slim.

Like others have said, try the freezer method. Put it in an air tight ziploc bag, then put it in the freezer for a while. After it's been there for a while, take it out, connect the cable (ideally directly into the computer instead of USB as you need to transfer ALL the files to your other drive as quickly as possible).

Same thing happened to my friend who heard a clicking sound on the crapped out HDD and it worked for him. He was able to recover all his data.

http://geeksaresexy.blogspot.com/200...over-data.html

There are other success stories, google them up.

I tried the freezing method twice, and it did not work for me. I got some files but not the ones I needed.. still looking for suggestions on companies that will do it.. thanks.