how to recover data from failed hdd
 

One of my storage HDD failed. Prior to failing, it was on endless CHKDSK, it would hit a stage I think something verification and go on forever, reading the drive. So this means that the HDD is actually spinning, that nothing is physically broken.

Now Windows won't even detect the drive when it's plugged in. It's a Seagate and warranty doesn't end until July 2013. The most they'll do is replace it with a new drive, no data recovery.

I assume the board is messed, that's why it's not being detected. I've tried it on my brother's PC but still no luck. Anyone know ways to recover data without spending too much? It's mainly movies and musics I want to recover.

I can

1) Try to repair it myself and void warranty.
2) Send it in and get a new 1TB with loss of data.

PS - It failed when my music playing from that drive froze, causing my whole computer to lag. End tasking the music player didn't work, it would show the music player still in the process list. So I reset my PC and it started CHKDSK on that drive.

I've had huge success with Data Recovery Software to Undelete Files; Disk recovery; Recover Deleted Files

Program was well worth it.. even shows you what it can recover before you pay

I've gotten a lot of that solution before from another forum but one thing people don't quite to seem to understand is that, the HDD was on a CHKDSK, which windows was attempting to read. If I skipped CHKDSK and double click the drive in windows, it would hang with an hour glass as my cursor.

As of now, windows can't detect the drive which means data recovery program won't see the drive either.

this is a longshot but i bring it up because its free. i've had something like that happen before and made a ubuntu live cd and i was able to read off the drive.

again its 1-2 hours of work and it might not work. just throwing it out there :)

hey this worked for me sometimes. When ever a hard drive/ storage device fails on a windows computer, put the hard drive into an enclosure and try to open it on a mac.

for some odd reasons Mac's can save the day. no soft ware needed lol. its what i did in the office when ever something like this (very rare) happens. just plug it in the mac and the mac will read it lol

and back up the data on the mac.

if that doesnt work bring it to like an ncix, see what they say.

seagates are the worse drives for reliability |: unless your using like baracudas for a server in a raid config.....

shouldve gotten a wdgreen or samsung f1. best of luck!

edit1: also a quick google search for a software, apparently this software works. it costs money though... but if you know how to get it for free *cough* then yea.. LOL http://www.runtime.org/data-recovery-software.htm

I can't imagine how any software would work if the drive can't be seen, but I'll give it a shot.

I got this drive long ago when seagate used to be the shit. Apparently they extended the warranty because they know this series is defected. It's the 7200.11. Had one failed on me before with all my porn in it, but luckily they had a recall on it and were able to retrieve the data. I'm sure they accessed the files on there to test if it worked. :lol

LOL i lol'ed so hard haha

the reason why i gave you that is because exactly because you cant read it. kind of rusty but.... your partition table seems to be corrupted hense why you cant see your drive letter.

that software is to fix that.

the reason why i said a max can work is because macs are able to read uh their GUID some kind of apple format and some otehr powerpc format or w.e i 4got what they called lol.

try it, see if it works XD

hope for the best!

SaveThatPorn2013:fullofwin:

Yes, I definitely agree Seagate is the worse for reliability issues. I had a few die on me as well and one with the click of death.

Luckily I was able to back up the critical and personal data. I used Spinrite to scan my drives once I noticed my drives were having issues; the software started marking bad sectors while scanning the drives and doing some data restores as well. I have replaced them with Western Digital drives since then with no problems.

The data in question, are they very critical that you must have it? If yes, then there are hard drive services companies which could be able to get back the data you require. It's the ones where the customer would send the hard drive to the company. I forgot the costs but it can be very expensive, if you need to take this route.

I plugged the HDD back in to test it out. At first, windows saw the drive, but was still inaccessible (no information on capacity, etc.) Then windows automatically installed some disk driver, and ask me to restart, but I pressed later.

Used the GetDataBack program, it saw the drive, but when I try to recover, it says I/O Error Unknown reading sector 0. So I went to restart my computer and now the drive disappeared. Can't be seen with any program. Did a system restore and still nothing.

Tried using Ubuntu, but didn't work either. How the hell does a driver cause my drive to suddenly disappear?

throw it into a freezer inside a SEALED ZIPLOCK BAG for a few hours and then try again

Dam yo, definitely a faulty disk or corrupted partition table. If software can't recover your drive... then try calling the manufacture you got it from to see if they can lend you a hand. Then just RMA it. No point formating the drive then reusing it. If the problem reoccurs again in the future... well it'll suck :(

Other wise keep trying to use softwares. Use a unix based os like linux, ubuntu or OS X. Hope for the best.

http://www.seagate.com/support/

The Seagate 7200.9's & .10's were rock solid. I still have a 500gig 7200.10 running 24/7 today.

Used a software called HDD Regenerator. It actually scanned the drive with bad sectors. And at the beginning it gave me a warning "Master Boot Record is damaged". Then it scans each sector. One sector takes like 5 minutes and the drive has like 1956739375983, I don't even know.

I'm not trying to reformat and use the drive again, I'm trying to retrieve the data, but doesn't seem like it's getting anywhere.

I managed to get windows to actually detect the drive if I unplug the cables and plug it back in while still in windows.

I contacted seagate and they said the best they can do is give me an identical drive for replacement. It's nothing really important, just movies, musics, and some document files.