Help! Need to recover important files from broken external hdd

[lei_san]

Hey guys. My external hdd

Western Digital 500GB WD500BEVT-22A0RT0 DCM: HHNTJBN Laptop HDD

is broken and I really need to recover some files from it. When I plug in the device it shows up on device manager as "USB Device" but does not show up on the computer window. Is there any way to repair it or recover files from a broken hdd?

Thanks for reading!

 

[Emerald]

take the drive out and connect it to the SATA controller on the motherboard

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there lei_san,

Is the drive recognized by Disk Management? If yes, does it require any action?
Apart from that, the serial number you have provided is of an internal HDD. If it is in some kind of enclosure, it might be a good idea to try connecting it internally as Emerald already suggested.

Cheers,
D_Know_WD

 

[lei_san]

Thanks for the answers.

Sorry about the serial number. I think this is the correct one: WXC1E1VM760

It shows up on disk management as "Disk 2 - Unknown - 2048 MB - Not Initialized"

When I try to initialize the disk, I get "Data error (cyclic redundancy check)"

On device status it says "Device is working properly"

About connecting it internally, I don't have access to my desktop PC right now. Could I connect it with a usb-to-SATA adapter?

 

[D_Know_WD]

You can test the drive with WD's Data Lifeguard Diagnostic tool. Also, you should not try to initialize the HDD as this could be data destructive. Most probably there is something wrong with the file system.
Also, you may check this out: http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/288692-disk-1-unknown-not-initialized-unallocated.html

Cheers,
D_Know_WD

 

[lei_san]

Okay, I tried the WD Data Lifeguard diag tool.

Here are the results:

Test Option: EXTENDED TEST
Model Number:
Unit Serial Number:
Firmware Number:
Capacity: 0.00 GB
SMART Status: Not Available
Test Result: PASS
Test Time: 11:09:29, October 30, 2014

On MiniTool Partition Wizard, the disk shows up as "Bad Disk - 2048.0 GB"

 

[D_Know_WD]

I think that it may be a good idea to connect it through SATA. Also, you can try some other partition recovery software.

Cheers,
D_Know_WD

 

[fzabkar]

The drive is dead. Its symptoms are consistent with an internal fault, possibly a bad head or a damaged firmware module, or both.

Connect it via SATA and then see if you can retrieve its firmware modules with SeDiv.

http://sediv2008.narod.ru/Easy3.9Password01234567890.rar
http://sediv2008.narod.ru/Settings.rar

We can then examine the modules to ascertain the physical state of the drive.

 

[lei_san]

@fzabkar

I connected the disk to my laptop with a SATA to USB adapter, but it made no difference. The disk *clicks* 2-3 times, then stops functioning. I also tried the SeDiv program, but it gives these error messages on launch:

"DIV has stopped working"

"Exception EOLeSys Error in module SeDiv.exe at 000E2941. Invalid window handle."

(for the record, I am using win 7 ultimate 64 bit)

Thanks for the help so far.

 

[fzabkar]

Connect the drive to a SATA port on your motherboard, not via a USB-SATA adapter.

 

[lei_san]

fzabkar, thanks for the response.

unfortunately I won't be able to use my desktop PC for about a week. I will post here when I've tried what you said.