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Damaged Hard Drive

Discussion in 'PC Hardware' started by PeteC, 2010/04/13.

  1. 2010/04/13
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff Thread Starter

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    From a PM....
     
    PeteC,
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  2. 2010/04/13
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff Thread Starter

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    Welcome to WindowsBBS :)

    I fear I am the bearer of bad news - it is likely that your hard drive is damaged beyond repair. If the drive was reading/writing when it fell it is highly likely that the read/write heads collided with the disk platter and damaged it, rendering those areas unreadable.

    You could try a file recovery program, but unless it sees the disk and can read from it - and the indication is that the drive is not readable - then you will be out of luck. Recuva is a good freeware file recovery applet.

    Your only real chance of recovering your files - and it may be a very slim chance - is to contact a firm specialising in data recovery - they are by no means cheap.

    This is rather like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted - you should always maintain a current backup on independent media (another external hard drive, DVD, ....) to cover for the unexpected.
     
    PeteC,
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  4. 2010/04/13
    lj50 Lifetime Subscription

    lj50 SuperGeek WindowsBBS Team Member

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    You're right PeteC. When it happened to me luckily I had my data and photos on my laptop. I reformatted my external hard drive but it never really worked the same. It's cheaper to buy a new external hard drive than to use any of the data recovery specialists.
     
    lj50,
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  5. 2010/04/14
    Bill

    Bill SuperGeek WindowsBBS Team Member

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    I would try to install that drive as a secondary drive in a PC, and attempt to read it through a drive controller, rather than an external USB enclosure. No promises, but worth a try - considering, I assume, the enclosure went through the fall too. It may be the one damaged (or had something knocked loose), and not the drive itself.
     
    Bill,
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