Recovering Data on a Failing Hard Drive
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From: Matt on 30 Mar 2008 19:14 Hey guys. I've got a real problem on my hands. Basically all my work for the last 4 years at University, along with countless amounts of data I've accumulated over the years stored on my hard drive might be lost. The drive suddenly stopped working properly 2 nights ago, and I've spent the weekend since trying ot recover what data I can. The first thing I should address is the issue of backups. Any meaningful backup has simply not been possible due to the high volume of data, and the very finite budget I live on as a student constraining me to only having one hard drive. A conveneient place to store around 9GB of data just doesn't exist for me. I guess hindsight is a wonderful thing, but at the moment I'm stuck without my data. Anyway, recovery of my work is of course a top priority, so I could do with some advice on how I should proceed from here? Firstly, I'll explain the situation in more detail: Causes for Concern: ------------------------------ - I get a "Disk Read Error" whenever I try to boot up the hard drive as a Master. - When I boot it up as a Slave, I can boot into XP from the other hard drive, but it takes a very long time to boot up and load XP. Once in XP, I cannot read the contents of the drive (which I can verify as I've just given it one last try) and I get a message telling me to format the drive. Causes for Optimism: -------------------------------- - On occassion the drive has been more co-operative and I have been able to copy over a small fraction of my work with the drive as a slave either in XP or in DOS. However, very quickly the operating system comes up against a file it cannot read, and eventually gives up the copying. - The drive is always detected by the BIOS - There are no clicking noises or other strange noises coming from the hard drive, which suggests to me the fault may not be mechanical. Going Forward ---------------------- A friend of mine who has more experience with PC repair ran a program called Restorer2000, but the drive contents couldn't be read by Windows, so the program didn't have much success either. However, it was able to read a few files from my Windows partition, but my work partition was completly unavailable. A number of read errors were quoted in locations. These locations were given as a string of numbers, either about 7-8 digits long, and 11 digits long. The exact values I can't recall. My next step has been to look for some companies that specialise in data recovery and see if they will have more luck by perhaps taking the drive apart and extracting data from the platters themseleves. Anyway, the main point of this post is to gain some a better idea of what has happened to my hard drive, based upon the above symptoms. From there I can see if paying ~£500 to recover a 40GB partition is likely to be successful. The drive is a Western Digital WD800JB 80GB ATA hard drive. Kind Regards, Matthew Boulton
From: Rod Speed on 30 Mar 2008 20:31 Matt <mattb95(a)hotmail.com> wrote: > Hey guys. I've got a real problem on my hands. Yep, the main problem is between your ears. > Basically all my work for the last 4 years at University, along with countless > amounts of data I've accumulated over the years stored on my hard drive > might be lost. The drive suddenly stopped working properly 2 nights ago, Pretty smart move not having that backed up. > and I've spent the weekend since trying ot recover what data I can. Pretty smart move risking making things worse. > The first thing I should address is the issue of backups. Yep. > Any meaningful backup has simply not been possible due to the high volume of data, Pig ignorant lie. > and the very finite budget I live on as a student > constraining me to only having one hard drive. Another pig ignorant lie. > A conveneient place to store around 9GB of data just doesn't exist for me. Another pig ignorant lie. Thats only a couple of DVDs. > I guess hindsight is a wonderful thing, And so is having enough of a clue to work out what fits fine on a couple of DVDs. > but at the moment I'm stuck without my data. Then its stupid to be risking making things even worse. > Anyway, recovery of my work is of course a top priority, so I > could do with some advice on how I should proceed from here? The only thing that makes any sense at all is professional recovery. > Firstly, I'll explain the situation in more detail: > Causes for Concern: > ------------------------------ Nothing viable between the ears. > - I get a "Disk Read Error" whenever I try > to boot up the hard drive as a Master. > - When I boot it up as a Slave, I can boot into XP from the other hard drive, Hang on, you just claimed that you could only afford one drive. > but it takes a very long time to boot up and load XP. > Once in XP, I cannot read the contents of the drive > (which I can verify as I've just given it one last try) > and I get a message telling me to format the drive. > Causes for Optimism: > -------------------------------- > - On occassion the drive has been more co-operative and > I have been able to copy over a small fraction of my work > with the drive as a slave either in XP or in DOS. However, > very quickly the operating system comes up against a file > it cannot read, and eventually gives up the copying. Thats normal with any drive that has quite a few bads. Thats not a cause for optimism at all. > - The drive is always detected by the BIOS All that means is that it isnt completely dead. In some ways thats a better prospect because a logic card swap can be all you need. > - There are no clicking noises or other strange noises coming from > the hard drive, which suggests to me the fault may not be mechanical. Nope, all that means is that that drive recalibrates quietly. > Going Forward > ---------------------- > A friend of mine who has more experience with PC repair ran a > program called Restorer2000, but the drive contents couldn't be > read by Windows, so the program didn't have much success either. > However, it was able to read a few files from my Windows > partition, but my work partition was completly unavailable. > A number of read errors were quoted in locations. These > locations were given as a string of numbers, either about > 7-8 digits long, and 11 digits long. The exact values I can't recall. What matters is how reproducible the numbers are. If they vary every time you try that, there is either loose material floating around inside the sealed chamber or there is a bad connection to the heads etc. > My next step has been to look for some companies that specialise in > data recovery and see if they will have more luck by perhaps taking > the drive apart and extracting data from the platters themseleves. Thats what you should have tried first given that you have no backup and the data is so important. > Anyway, the main point of this post is to gain some a better idea of > what has happened to my hard drive, based upon the above symptoms. Its either had a head crash and so there is loose material floating around in the sealed chamber, or there is a flakey connection to the heads etc. > From there I can see if paying ~�500 to recover a 40GB partition is likely to be successful. Nope. > The drive is a Western Digital WD800JB 80GB ATA hard drive. How repeatable are the read error locations ?
From: Matt on 30 Mar 2008 21:54 > > Any meaningful backup has simply not been possible due to the high volume of data, > > Pig ignorant lie. > > > and the very finite budget I live on as a student > > constraining me to only having one hard drive. > > Another pig ignorant lie. I understand you're not in my position, but I take it you're not used to living on £4,000 a year to make a comment like that. > > > A conveneient place to store around 9GB of data just doesn't exist for me. > > Another pig ignorant lie. Thats only a couple of DVDs. DVD's aren't something I can update conveniently on an minute-by- minute basis (or any kind of regular basis), which is how often this data is beibng updated when I'm working. Also I don't have a DVD recorder. > Hang on, you just claimed that you could only afford one drive. The other drive is my parents 20GB drive from their computer. > > > Anyway, the main point of this post is to gain some a better idea of > > what has happened to my hard drive, based upon the above symptoms. > > Its either had a head crash and so there is loose material floating around > in the sealed chamber, or there is a flakey connection to the heads etc. > How repeatable are the read error locations ? They were very repeatable, it was always the same locations that couldn't be read. I agree with your earlier comments that the drive should be left well alone now before I hand it over to a professional firm, and I wish I had done so earlier. But the prospect of being able to recover my data, given I had no idea how severe this was, so I could make a backup to my parents hard drive made sense at the time. Paying £500 isn't something I can do without a second thought. Do you recommend any firms that have done good work for you in the past? Kind Regards, Matt
From: Pennywise on 30 Mar 2008 22:47 Matt <mattb95(a)hotmail.com> wrote: >Anyway, recovery of my work is of course a top priority, so I could do >with some advice on how I should proceed from here? Firstly, I'll >explain the situation in more detail: Install the HD as secondary - and another HD to copy recovered files to. Then use one of the Boot CD's below to recover your files, each has the tools you need (I like the Hiren's CD) Hiren's Boot CD http://thepiratebay.org/search/hiren/0/99/0 Or Ultimateboot cd http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ -- www.theonion.com/content/files/images/onionmagazine_1020.article.jpg
From: Rod Speed on 31 Mar 2008 00:47
Matt <mattb95(a)hotmail.com> wrote: >>> Any meaningful backup has simply not been possible due to the high volume of data, >> Pig ignorant lie. >>> and the very finite budget I live on as a student >>> constraining me to only having one hard drive. >> Another pig ignorant lie. > I understand you're not in my position, but I take it you're not > used to living on �4,000 a year to make a comment like that. You're wrong. And anyone with a clue can backup to DVD when living on that sort of income. >>> A conveneient place to store around 9GB of data just doesn't exist for me. >> Another pig ignorant lie. Thats only a couple of DVDs. > DVD's aren't something I can update conveniently on an minute-by-minute basis You dont need to do anything like that to have a viable backup. > (or any kind of regular basis), Bare faced lie. > which is how often this data is beibng updated when I'm working. Even if you only backup say once a week, the most you will lose is one week of data, not the entire 4 YEARS of data. > Also I don't have a DVD recorder. They cost peanuts. Buy one, stupid. >> Hang on, you just claimed that you could only afford one drive. > The other drive is my parents 20GB drive from their computer. And anyone with a clue could have backed up to that. >>> Anyway, the main point of this post is to gain some a better idea of >>> what has happened to my hard drive, based upon the above symptoms. >> Its either had a head crash and so there is loose material floating around >> in the sealed chamber, or there is a flakey connection to the heads etc. >> How repeatable are the read error locations ? > They were very repeatable, it was always the same locations that couldn't be read. Thats bad news, because it means there is no simple fix that will eliminate the errors. Professional recovery can certainly recover what is recoverable in that situation. > I agree with your earlier comments that the drive should be left well > alone now before I hand it over to a professional firm, and I wish I > had done so earlier. But the prospect of being able to recover my > data, given I had no idea how severe this was, so I could make a > backup to my parents hard drive made sense at the time. Paying > �500 isn't something I can do without a second thought. Sure, but you should have had that further thought and realised that when you have no backups at all for 4 years of irreplaceable data, its very risky to try recovering it yourself with data that important. > Do you recommend any firms that have done good work for you in the past? I've never needed to use anyone because I always have full backups. And havent even needed to use them except for convenience either. |