Author Topic: External Hard Drive is broke; need advice  (Read 8190 times)

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Offline subvinorosa

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External Hard Drive is broke; need advice
« on: December 13, 2010, 10:14:36 PM »
My WD external hard drive isn't working.  It's at the shop for repair.  The technician is asking if he can open it up.

The data there are irreplaceable.  I have no back up.  Not really smart of me but I was being lazy.  I didn't count on it borking on me.

Basically, it lights up when I connect the USB cable to the PC.  But it's not recognized at all.  I don't see it anywhere.

Before I have it opened up, is there any way to back up the data that's already in there?  I honestly don't know what to do and I don't want to be ripped off.

Thanks guys.

Offline smokester

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Re: External Hard Drive is broke; need advice
« Reply #1 on: December 14, 2010, 04:20:08 AM »
Ok, I see that it's an external USB HDD that you have.  Has the guy in the shop taken the hard drive out and tried it with another USB hook up?  Quite often it is the USB adaptor that breaks leaving the hard drive intact but inoperable via the hardware it is running through.  I had a Freecom external HDD do the same thing, so I took out the drive and mounted it internally in the spare IDE bay and connection and it is running now on the machine I am using to write this.  The Freecom case and USB hook up is in the bin, but you can buy a similar set up on Ebay for a few pounds from China.

If the guy in the shop has removed the drive and plugged it into another USB adaptor and the dive still isn't being read, then you're buggered. :)
Don't put off until tomorrow, what you can put off until the day after.

There is an exception to every rule, apart from this one.

Offline dweez

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Re: External Hard Drive is broke; need advice
« Reply #2 on: December 14, 2010, 08:14:18 AM »
subvinorosa, opening an external drive is not scary.  It's just an internal hard drive (hdd) inside an enclosure.  Allowing him to "take it out" should not damage the integrity of the drive in anyway but will allow him to connect to the hdd in other ways (connect it internally to another computer, use an hdd dock, use another enclosure). 

I had an external drive die on me once and it turned out just to be the enclosure.  The actual hard drive was fine when I removed it from the enclosure and used another.
--dweez

Offline smokester

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Re: External Hard Drive is broke; need advice
« Reply #3 on: December 14, 2010, 08:53:27 AM »
I wasn't sure whether the tech was going to split the actual HDD to see if the if head was crashing?

I have tried to save data by removing the physical disk of a HDD that had a head problem, and putting it in an old drive that was ok but had no data.  I discovered that you can only do that if you have 2 identical drives as any mismatch and it will reject it.
Don't put off until tomorrow, what you can put off until the day after.

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Offline dweez

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Re: External Hard Drive is broke; need advice
« Reply #4 on: December 14, 2010, 11:49:03 AM »
Yeah, I tried to save a drive by swapping out the circuit board on it with an identical hdd but evidently it was a physical defect on the drive.
--dweez

Offline subvinorosa

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Re: External Hard Drive is broke; need advice
« Reply #5 on: December 15, 2010, 09:02:29 PM »
I'm lost. :D

Yeah, I had it done.  I really didn't understand what he wanted to do with it.  He'd passed on the message to my mom who passed it on to me and you know how that goes.

I haven't heard back yet.  I don't care if the drive gets broke as long as I recover all the pictures.


Offline dweez

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Re: External Hard Drive is broke; need advice
« Reply #6 on: December 15, 2010, 11:15:52 PM »
He was trying to first determine if it was a defect in the actual hard drive or whether the casing (that has some electronics) was bad.  Bad casing == best case scenario.  After that, he probably wanted to put the hdd in another computer so that he could properly run diagnostic and recovery tools on it.
--dweez

Offline smokester

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Re: External Hard Drive is broke; need advice
« Reply #7 on: December 16, 2010, 06:18:13 AM »

I don't care if the drive gets broke as long as I recover all the pictures.

I'm afraid it's not really like a piggy bank where you can break it to get to the goodies inside, with a HDD, if it's broke it's useless and dead.
Don't put off until tomorrow, what you can put off until the day after.

There is an exception to every rule, apart from this one.

Offline chekovsulu

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Re: External Hard Drive is broke; need advice
« Reply #8 on: December 17, 2010, 11:40:52 AM »
My Samsung hard drive recently decided to scare me, it also had a lot of irreplaceable pictures.  When I connected it to my Windows PC, Windows referred to it as RAW and wanted to format it.

I managed to extract the data using Power Data Recovery and everything's now saved on some other hard drives.

I don't know if that's the same problem, it's just what happened to me.

Now Zoidberg is the popular one!

Offline subvinorosa

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Re: External Hard Drive is broke; need advice
« Reply #9 on: December 18, 2010, 02:23:28 AM »
Thanks chek. :-*

I'll keep this in mind.  I'll probably know by Monday if it's gone or not.

Offline smokester

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Re: External Hard Drive is broke; need advice
« Reply #10 on: December 18, 2010, 06:31:02 AM »
Thanks chek. :-*

I'll keep this in mind.  I'll probably know by Monday if it's gone or not.

Even if he loses the data but manages to get it working, you can still run a recovery program that will rebuild most of the binary into files as long as it hasn't had an extreme format run on it.  Shouldn't lose too much that way but if the disk has physical errors there isn't a great deal of hope.
Don't put off until tomorrow, what you can put off until the day after.

There is an exception to every rule, apart from this one.

Offline subvinorosa

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Re: External Hard Drive is broke; need advice
« Reply #11 on: December 19, 2010, 04:36:10 AM »
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!


 ;D

Offline Discover99

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Re: External Hard Drive is broke; need advice
« Reply #12 on: December 19, 2010, 01:39:22 PM »
i hope you'll get all your files back sub

Offline subvinorosa

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Re: External Hard Drive is broke; need advice
« Reply #13 on: December 19, 2010, 06:49:55 PM »
Disco!  Where have you been?

Is this some sort of conspiracy?  Hmed suddenly pops up and you do too?

Hmmm...I'm thinking...

Offline subvinorosa

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Re: External Hard Drive is broke; need advice
« Reply #14 on: January 16, 2011, 04:02:00 AM »
My external hard drive works perfectly now...as a paper weight.

Offline smokester

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Re: External Hard Drive is broke; need advice
« Reply #15 on: January 16, 2011, 06:18:15 AM »
My external hard drive works perfectly now...as a paper weight.

I wonder why It couldn't be fixed?  What did the repair guy say was wrong?
Don't put off until tomorrow, what you can put off until the day after.

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Offline subvinorosa

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Re: External Hard Drive is broke; need advice
« Reply #16 on: January 17, 2011, 04:47:20 PM »
I have no idea, it was my mom who talked to the tech guy.  He said something about it not spinning or something.

Offline chekovsulu

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Re: External Hard Drive is broke; need advice
« Reply #17 on: January 19, 2011, 11:39:27 AM »
I have a hard drive that doesn't spin up.  I'd like to know the most fun way to get my data off it.

Now Zoidberg is the popular one!

Offline smokester

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Re: External Hard Drive is broke; need advice
« Reply #18 on: January 19, 2011, 02:24:32 PM »
I have a hard drive that doesn't spin up.  I'd like to know the most fun way to get my data off it.

Try and find an identical one on Ebay. Swap the disk from the broken one to the working one.  Grab all the data onto yet another drive. Probably best to swap the disks back and chuck the original broken one away.

Not much fun but if you get a bottle of Brandy and some cheap hookers for afterwards, you should be able to make up for lost time.
Don't put off until tomorrow, what you can put off until the day after.

There is an exception to every rule, apart from this one.

Offline dweez

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Re: External Hard Drive is broke; need advice
« Reply #19 on: January 20, 2011, 02:52:56 AM »
Best to swap the pcb board off an identical drive first.  If it was the board that was bad, you should be good.  If it's a hardware failure, then try swapping out the platter like smokester said.  If it's successful, grab what you can right away as hdd's are made to be enclosed that left alone.  Opening it up to swap out platters might be successful initially, but any dust particles that got in it during the swap out could quickly end the life of the "fixed" drive.  So, if it does work, grab the data quickly.
--dweez

Offline smokester

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Re: External Hard Drive is broke; need advice
« Reply #20 on: January 20, 2011, 03:12:34 AM »
^ You're up either way too early, or going to bed way too late my friend.
Don't put off until tomorrow, what you can put off until the day after.

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Offline dweez

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Re: External Hard Drive is broke; need advice
« Reply #21 on: January 20, 2011, 03:18:26 AM »
Way too late.  I got my my computer parts in yesterday and have been installing the set up.  Finished a little bit ago and now trying to wind down so I can maybe get 3 hours or so of sleep.  Got nothing going on tomorrow night so 3 hours should get me through the work day.  Here's the boxes and I'll try and get pics of the full system soon.



Also, my lower back (both sides mostly but mid as well) has been sore since Saturday night and now I feel an ache in my groin.  I don't have personal experience with kindey stones but I've heard stories that the pain starts in the back...Hope it's not that.
--dweez

Offline smokester

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Re: External Hard Drive is broke; need advice
« Reply #22 on: January 20, 2011, 06:45:21 AM »

That's a whole heap of kit you have there Dweez, and are those RAM chips 2 or 4gb modules?  I need to build a new system even though my last one is only 4 years old (built that at maximum spec back then, which still rivals more modern set-ups), but Windows 7 will still not run some of the hardware I have to keep properly. If I have to use XP 64 bit which I can find drivers to use with, it's hardly worth going Quad or 6 Core and 24GB or RAM etc.

I should probably save my money anyhow as my kit's fine, but when you decide you need an upgrade you can't stop making excuses as to why you have to do so.
Don't put off until tomorrow, what you can put off until the day after.

There is an exception to every rule, apart from this one.

Offline smokester

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Re: External Hard Drive is broke; need advice
« Reply #23 on: January 20, 2011, 07:18:50 AM »
Shoulda got a mac.

Prettier.

Yes, I know a few people that have bought macs based on that premise. 

Not many of them knew how to turn them on though.
Don't put off until tomorrow, what you can put off until the day after.

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Offline goldshirt*9

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Re: External Hard Drive is broke; need advice
« Reply #24 on: January 20, 2011, 07:28:45 AM »
Also, my lower back (both sides mostly but mid as well) has been sore since Saturday night and now I feel an ache in my groin.  I don't have personal experience with kindey stones but I've heard stories that the pain starts in the back...Hope it's not that.
if i catch a bad cold , my lower back starts to ache  :P
dont think the worse. :)

Shoulda got a mac.
Prettier.
nice but expensive.

Offline dweez

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Re: External Hard Drive is broke; need advice
« Reply #25 on: January 20, 2011, 11:00:57 AM »
It's 4GB DIMMs.  Maxed out the box at 24GB cuz I plan to run a lot of virtual machines.  This beast will house my test bed.

if i catch a bad cold , my lower back starts to ache  :P
dont think the worse. :)
nice but expensive.

I'm not really stuffed up or anything but maybe it's just a bug of some sort.  It seems like it's getting better but I've been taking Advil and it deals with the pain really well...until it wears off.
--dweez

Offline goldshirt*9

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Re: External Hard Drive is broke; need advice
« Reply #26 on: January 23, 2011, 09:30:03 AM »
glad your better or getting.
thats just the area i start to suffer in , i dont always get a full cold though.

Offline goldshirt*9

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Re: External Hard Drive is broke; need advice
« Reply #27 on: January 27, 2011, 02:40:29 AM »
i have just been given a maxtorportable hdd.
wont even power on when plugged in to the pc. :P
i did tell my nephew that it was playing up .
children / young men of today.

i have suggested taking the case off but its up to him .we will see