External harddrive help

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FunkyFeatures

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Hey guys
My friends harddrive semidied, and he cant access it from windows pathfinder or what its called. Is there any other program that is more patient, and wont just go non respond. Also, tried freezer trick, failed. Any other way to restore the data?
 
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USAFRet
The drive is removable. Some enclosures harder than others.
If a metal case, the screws are probably under the rubber feet. If a plastic case, gentle prying on the seams should do it.

But the thing is not working now. Breaking the enclosure only means a broken, easily replaceable enclosure.
The drive inside may still be good.
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geofelt

geofelt

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It is possible that the external enclosure has some sort of a problem.
You could try installing it directly inside the case connected directly to a sata port and a sata psu power connector.

If the data is truly critical, there are data recovery companies that can likely recover your data. They will be EXPENSIVE.
 
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FunkyFeatures

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It is not removeable from the hddcase, but do you know any programs that can access things windows cant?
It is mostly pictures and photos, but 500gb of them is damn much to loose. I can ask him if it is money worth to get it restored from a company, but how much money are we talking about? Also if we pick a recovery company, would we have to buy a hdd from them?
 
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geofelt

geofelt

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How did the hard drive get into the case in the first place??
I suspect that you can find a way to remove it. If it is the usual sata drive you should be able to install it in a pc.

Is this a USB connection?

Recovery companies will return your data on whatever media you want.

In windows, go to control panel/administrative tools/computer management/storage/disk management/
See if windows can see the drive.

 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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The drive is removable. Some enclosures harder than others.
If a metal case, the screws are probably under the rubber feet. If a plastic case, gentle prying on the seams should do it.

But the thing is not working now. Breaking the enclosure only means a broken, easily replaceable enclosure.
The drive inside may still be good.
 
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FunkyFeatures

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1. We dont know. It makes weird noises, and suddenly it did that. No sign of failure before that. He did not damage it in any way.
2. I will ask him if he can find a screw or something, maybe its hidden under rubber feet.
3. Ok, but in general at what price?
4. Windows sees the drive, but clicking on it forces us to close it down with task manager.
 
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geofelt

geofelt

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Good news, I think. It means that the original should still be there on the original source.

I think I would buy a second external drive and back up now while awaiting some sort of rma for the failing drive.
 
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FunkyFeatures

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Ehh, he broke the source trying to fix something... thats why i need help, else he could just throw it away.
He and his family has some nice videos on there, and if cheap enough, they would pay for that recovery thing, and that kinda says how important the files are.
 
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FunkyFeatures

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Questions, should he
1. Try to get wd to recover the files if under warranty? Its their drive failing.
2. Try to get a company to restore files?
3. Put it into pc and take it out of hdd enclosure, possibly voiding warranty, possibly saving files.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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1. WD warranty covers the 'drive', not the data on it.
2. I'm thinking $500 at the low end. 10x that possibly.
3. If you send it back to WD, you'll get a new bare drive back.

Me personally, I'd take it out and try in a dock or internally in a desktop.
 
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geofelt

geofelt

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On the link I gave you, there are names/addresses/phone numbers for WD approved recovery services.
Since the platters are intact the effort for recovery may be minimal.
I suggest a call to a couple to see what it is likely to cost.
And... they will certify to WD that the drive failed and is eligible for a warranty replacement.
In the mean time, I would avoid using the drive for fear of damaging it further.
 
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Malling17

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I tried to run the "extended test" in lifeguard and for a monument the drive didn't made the noise it had been making since it broke. It Sound normal, but i clicked the application, and it crashed. Now it sounds like before
 
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FunkyFeatures

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Geofelt, i may try to arrange something with wd or recovery company. Me and my friend will not be able to answer anymore before tomorrow. Its quite late in denmark. I appreciate that you guys help us. We will continue to post about our tries in this thread, so you will know if anything worked.
 
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FunkyFeatures

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All right - We are going to do following things in this order:
1. Contact WD Support, and ask if they will recover it since their drive failed us, and it kinda is their fault.
2. (if 1 doesnt work) we are going to contact a danish recovery center, and ask for a price. If the price is acceptable, then we will try to do that.
3. (If 2 doesnt work) we are going to try and take the harddrive out of the cabinet, and put it into a sata port on the pc.
 
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