JiB410_2

Right, first off I have looked through the pages already posted and I have found some really great advice which I'm going to be trying out as soon as I get home.

Recently my 500GB Western digital HDD has died on me, I'm looking for the best way to get my data back as I didn't do the responcible thing of backing it up...

Basically I came in one day and my PC was shut down... (unusual lol)

I imeediatly disconnected all non-esential HDD's (all but C + D)...

Plugging them in one at a time reboot after reboot i got the infamous message on my boot screen, hard drive going to die etc etc.. so I thought i'd clear some space on my portable drives via my laptop. Once done I plugged the 500GB faulty drive back into my computer, got the error message again and the computer kept crashing on the windows boot screen. (just pausing, no BSOD)

After a few tries i managed to get the computer to boot. It's pot luck, the drive is either displayed with the default "Local Disk" name and no information about size (not letting me access it through windows of course) or it fails to display at all...

not being a hardware man, i'm stumped... I'm tight for money at the moment with a new morgage taking priority etc, and i'm not wanting to pay hundreds of £££ to a company to get my data if i can do it myself...

Any advice would be great guys I will be on here as much as I can if you need any more details that I haven't provided. (I'll also have some things i've picked up from past posts and will post my success here and on those topic's)

Thank you in advance for anyone who can help.



Kind regards,

Jamie

Tumbleweed36

You might want to use the manufacturer's utility (Data Lifeguard) to see if you can get it back enough to get your data off. Some times (no promises) those utilities will recognize the drive when nothing else will:

Hard Drive Utilities

JiB410_2

Tumbleweed36,

You are the best! I didn't even know these exsisted!!! I have got ALL my data back! I can't thank you enough!

Jamie

Tumbleweed36

You are most welcome. Now, don't be a stranger on the forum, stick around and if you see a problem like you had, jump right in and help. Enjoy your week.

bsamstag

I have a 200 GByte Western digital drive, but TestDisk only sees 80 GBytes. I am using a DOS boot disk to bring up the TD application. While on the TestDisk site I noted a reference for different software for larger drives, but cannot find that area. My WD Recovery CD is long gone, so that's not an option. Can you suggest something to get back my 200 GBytes?

Thanks,
Bernard Samstag (aka: Sam)

raptor_pa

Try this http://blog.atola.com/restoring-fact...rive-capacity/

JiB410_2

I won't be!!!

I used to have another account on here "JiB_410" (thus the 2 lol) but I can't access the old e-mail to reset the password

Once again thank you for the help with the HDD, you really don't know how much those files ment to me.

(incidently it's now backed up over 3 HDD's

Jamie

wasted7

i'm having a similar problem with my external harddisk WD element 320gb

i plug it on to my laptop... it only shows the drive but no information about the size
and when i double click it,, the harddisk ask to format... T_T
issit the same problem with your harddisk can i use the program Tumbleweed36 gave to??
life guard??? which version and can u explain how to use the program ...

hope u can help guys alot of important document is inside...

JiB410_2

That's exactly the same problem,

I downloaded the latest version in the list given by Tumpleweed36, and it's a very simple tool to use.

Just download and run. most of the questions are very oveous multiple choice.

I hope this works as well for you as it did for me. :)

wasted7

it didnt work T_T
i downloaded and installed WinDLG version 1.13
i connected my harddisk and run a EXTENDED TEST it didnt manage to finish the process then a pop up message says "FAIL 08-Too many bad sectors detected "

then i run a QUICK TEST the same thing happened a pop up message saying "FAIL 06-Quick Test on drive 2 did not complete! Status code = 07 (Failed read test element), Failure Checkpoint = 97 (Unknown Test) SMART self-test did not complete on drive 2!"

can anyone help?? T_T

raptor_pa

Try running MHDD from www.hddguru.com . It sound slike you have a physically failing drive. Possibly a bad head on the head stack, when you run MHDD look for a pattern in the bad sectors, this would indicate that it is a failing head, or damaged platter. If all sectors come up as very slow or unreadable, then it would indicate a failure in the headstack, perhaps preamp failure. Unfortunately none of those are user serviceable issues.

wasted7

so does that mean i cant retrieve it myself?? T_T
i took it to the shop last week they said it might b patition corrupted and they can retrieve it back 80gb per 150RM (malaysian riggit) which is very expensive.... if they can do it i'm sure i can do it ......

i 'm not really sure how this this MHDD works
i first open the program and i see 2 drive how do i select it? i see a number in front of the drive, i copied it and type it down nothing happened...

very sorry i'm not really good in this stuff
thx for the reply raptor_pa!!

raptor_pa

If it is a typical PC shop, then yes if they could do it you could do it, but if it is physical damage, then no, not something you are going to do or they are going to do. I would imagine if they thought it was partition coruption, in all likelihood they would throw the same tools at it you have so far.
Have you removed the drive from the enclosure? MHDD will not run correctly thru a USB interface - the low level protocols and commands that are eneded are not handled properly by USB. You will need to get the disk mounted to a desktop to continue, but also be aware, if there is head or platter damage, continuing to attempt software recoveries can damage the platter surfaces making the data unrecoverable. Also, DO NOT open this disk once it is out of the enclosure for any reason, WD disks secure the head alignment through the cover, and realigning the heads is a daunting and often unseccessful task for even experienced DR engineers.

wasted7

it couldnt be a physical damage.. i have never dropped it before

i think i get wad u mean... open up the harddisk casing right? and plug the harddisk directly in the PC.. i saw this on youtube but the thing is i cant open up the casing this WD element seems to be seal tightly if i force it open, i'm worried i'll break it..

raptor_pa

Doesn't need to be dropped, can still be physical - we see hysical failures all the time that have nothing to do with any actual physical impact. Yeah some of the cases are tough, look under rubber feet for screws or for small lips that might have a release catch.

wasted7

hey thx for all the reply raptor_pa
i manage to recover all my files by using HDD Regenerator without opening it up....
it fixed all the bad sectors quite long cuz it's 350gb harddrive.....

wasted7

btw do u know wad causes the bad sector in the harddrive??
so i'll try not to let it happen again....