HDD crashed, can't access as drive

B

Borrels

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2009
Messages
752
Reaction score
75
Location
Centurion
My external harddrive seems to have crashed. I tried a bunch of different data recovery apps including:
  • Stellar Phoenix
  • Free Undelete
  • MediaHeal
  • JFileRecovery
  • NTFS Formatted Drive Recovery
My problem is that Windows does not pick up my hdd as a drive, so when I click on it in explorer it say 'this disk has to be formatted'. This means that I can't select the correct drive in any of the data recovery programs so that it can do any recovery.

Any suggestions? If I need to take it in to a specialist, who would you recommend and what are the typically costs?

Thanks
 
Have you tried to run the drive without the external chassis? If you bought it as a complete solution (ie FreeAgent) your guarantee wil be over though if you open it...worth a shot I think.

I have used GetDataBack (http://www.runtime.org/data-recovery-software.htm) when my file system got corrupted - worked a treat.

Also, have you tried a linux live CD? It has the ability to read file systems when Windows have a hard time.
 
Is the drive still in its enclosure or is it connected directly to the PC?
 
synapseZA said:
Have you tried to run the drive without the external chassis? If you bought it as a complete solution (ie FreeAgent) your guarantee wil be over though if you open it...worth a shot I think.

I have used GetDataBack (http://www.runtime.org/data-recovery-software.htm) when my file system got corrupted - worked a treat.

Also, have you tried a linux live CD? It has the ability to read file systems when Windows have a hard time.
Click to expand...

It is a portable HDD and it is still in it's enclosure. It is out of warranty period, so I will try taking it out of the enclosure
 
Borrels said:
My external harddrive seems to have crashed. I tried a bunch of different data recovery apps including:
  • Stellar Phoenix
  • Free Undelete
  • MediaHeal
  • JFileRecovery
  • NTFS Formatted Drive Recovery
My problem is that Windows does not pick up my hdd as a drive, so when I click on it in explorer it say 'this disk has to be formatted'. This means that I can't select the correct drive in any of the data recovery programs so that it can do any recovery.

Any suggestions? If I need to take it in to a specialist, who would you recommend and what are the typically costs?

Thanks
Click to expand...

If the drive platters are turning
You could take it out of the enclosure place it in a sealed plastic bag and stick it in the freezer for a few hours then use it internally or back to the external enclosure.
This will work if the drive still powers up if the discs don't move I would think this drive is cooked.
Worth a bash it may last long enough to transfer any important files not already backed up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X