guy777

First off hi
Been lurking alot around here the last few days trying to solve my HD issue but with no luck so here i am in need of some advice..

I have a 300GB maxtor one touch II external usb HD (NTFS) / WIN XP sp3
I was burning a bunch of audio CDs using Nero 5 when it suddenly failed to burn saying it couldnt read one of the files (i still have the error log)
then got an exclamation symbol in the notification area saying 'F:\$MftMirr is corrupt & unreadable'

i opened the folder containing the file & tried to play it but it wouldnt
shortly after i got another warning saying 'F:\$Secure is corrupt & unreadable'
the drive was then still visible in explorer but when i clicked on it i got 'F:\ is not accessible, the file or directory is corrup or unreadable'
disk manager showed the drive as 'Healthy (active)' but the file system was blank
the drive was still showing in device manager under both drives & usb controllers

i ran maxtors diagnostics but nothing came up
i ran a testdisk scan as per the sticky here..
http://www.techsupportforum.com/hard...-computer.html
but no joy
i ran a full Getdataback scan and nothing happened

then i ran Seaview's File Recovery for Windows
first i did a partial scan until after a few minutes it warned me about bad sectors and not continuing.
i stopped the scan and managed to recover 2GB of files including a file called '$MftReconstructed' although i didnt know what to do with it
perhaps stupidly i ran the scan again ignoring all the error messages & left it
when i returned the pc had restarted and i got a windows serious error recovery message
the drive was then not visible in explorer
disk manager detected it but said it wasnt initialized
i ran the testdisk scan again and it made the drive visible in explorer but not accessible
i ran the maxtor diagnostics again and got an error code

so right now...
the drive is visible in explorer but unaccessible
disk manager detects it as Healthy(active) but with no file system
device manager detects it under drives & usb controllers
.. but i dont know what to do next
Please help!

raptor_pa

It sounds like a physical failure of the drive. Based on what you have tried so far with no success and excesive bad sector errors, about the only solution for you now appears to be professional data recovery. Basically that is NOT using the local computer shop, or any of the big box electronics stores, but a competent recovery house with in house clean room and techs who know how to properly repair a drive.

guy777

many thanks for the info
any idea roughly how much that might cost me?

raptor_pa

Depends on the issue, but generally $800 and up - depends on what is needed for parts and what the problem is, kind of like taking your car to the garage, can't get a good estimate till the problem is diagnosed.....

guy777

sure, thanks again for your help :)

linderman

RMA the drive back to the manufacturer for replacement ............... your data will be lost .............. the only way to recover your data at this point is drive recovery service as stated .............

guy777

unfortunately my warranty expired
thinking about sending the drive to these guys based in Belfast
http://www.easyrecovery.co.uk/
fixed fee of £250+tax sounds very enticing
anyone used them before/got any feedback?

raptor_pa

I would ask them if they have an in house clean room, or do they use a contractor for physical repairs.

linderman

also ask what certified level is their clean room .......... if they dont give the correct reponse; they dont have one!

you ever hear the old expression "when a deal sounds too good to be true ??"

this one has that smell ! considering now days $1000.00 is a red hot deal when being done by a real drive recovery service

raptor_pa

Yep like Linderman says LOL, the best price I know of from a company I trust is $800 - and that is up to 300 GB I believe, bigger drives are more expensive. Ours is 1100 - 1800 up to 500 GB.

linderman

do some research on what a hard drive clean room looks like.............. and you will see its impossbile to fund such an adventure when you are charging $250.00 for drive recovery ................... hell sometimes it takes a whole week of struggling to get a drive recovered ????????????????

raptor_pa

LOL, A week is pretty quick on some drives! 24 hour Turnaround would be possile ony on SIMPLE logical recoveries, the kind anyone could do at home with GetDataBack, R-Studio, Stellar software. It sometimes takes days to find a suitable donor for parts if it requires physical repair before it can be recovered.

guy777

seems the £250+tax deal is a special offer for a January only
its normally £499+tax, so maybe not so stupidly cheap after all
thanks for the tips, i've sent off an email asking about the clean rooms
let ya know