My external hard disk stopped functioning , i need my data please!

amber1980

November 16, 2012 4:31:01 PM

Hello,
I got Seagate 500GB FreeAgent GoFlex external hard disk and backuped all my files at work in it, now my life is all depending on it, yesterday i was copying some files from my pc into the ext. disk in an attempt to re-arrange some data, accidently the disk fall on the ground and gave me an error message indicating data loss in transfering so i plugged it off, later on i plugged it on and all working fine,so i persued the transfer process again, and i left it for a while since the files were big, but when i came back i saw that the ransferring process were interrupted again with the same message, so plugged it off, and now when i try it again the computer does'nt recognize it, also the light on it turns off after few seconds and remains off, i hear the drive sound ticking inside for few seconds then the light turns off with the sound as well every single time i try it, now i cannot get it working in any pc, i even tried downloading the remo recover so i can recover the data from it but of course i cannot see it, its off, please ,please,please, if anyone can help with this i will really really appreciate, my whole life is depending on this , im using windows xp ....thank you for the help

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inzone

Storage Expert

November 16, 2012 4:40:25 PM

The problem with dropping a hard drive is that it can damage the read heads or the platter mechanism that spins the disk. The arm that has the read head on it can also be knocked off it's trck and while it worked for a time after you dropped it it may have just been close to the end of the track and with it being knocked off track it's thinking it's at the end. This may require it being taken to a place that can repair a hard drive since it has physical damage.
A last ditch possability would be to take the drive out of the external case and put it inside the computer on the off chance it will work in a computer.

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amber1980

November 16, 2012 4:52:19 PM

thank you inzone , so you think the data is still there and i can still retrieve it?

thanks again

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inzone

Storage Expert

November 16, 2012 11:32:28 PM

Yes the data is still there and there are ways to retrieve it from very inexpensive to very expensive , it all depends on the drive at some point working enough to get a recovery program to retrieve the data. There are a lot of free data recovery programs that can be downloaded but they need the drive to al least spin up. It's not neccessary for the Operating System to be working on the hard drive but the internal platters do need to be spinning and the read arm working. The more expensive methods are with these companies that can take a non working drive and fix it enough to get it spinning and they can retrieve the data from it. If you were able to find a place that could repair the read arm then you could use the free recovery programs.

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