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Dropped External Hard Drive

  • 10-12-2011 6:54pm
    #1
    godtabh
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 23,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭


    Being a clumsy idiot I am just after dropping my external hard drive which I used as a back up.

    Thing is I just sold my PC so now I have nothing! Bollix!

    Any good places to try and get it back? I don't think my chances are good


Comments

  • #2
    bonzodog2
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,253 ✭✭✭bonzodog2


    You could be lucky, you may just have broken the enclosure.

    More details wouldn't hurt:
    Does it have its own power supply?
    How far did it fall?
    Make/model/capacity?
    Have you attempted and failed to access it ?

    Or you may be unlucky and end up paying hundreds to some specialist. How valuable is your data?


  • #3
    godtabh
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 23,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭godtabh


    bonzodog2 wrote: »
    You could be lucky, you may just have broken the enclosure.

    More details wouldn't hurt:
    Does it have its own power supply?
    How far did it fall?
    Make/model/capacity?
    Have you attempted and failed to access it ?

    Or you may be unlucky and end up paying hundreds to some specialist. How valuable is your data?

    It's an Iomega external hard drive with 1tb capacity. External clouser
    It fell about 1.5 ft

    When it is hooked up to the wife's laptop the HD spins and thn clicks and turns itself off. The laptop does not recognise it at all.

    There is lots of stuff on it but only really interested in the photos.


  • #4
    bonzodog2
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,253 ✭✭✭bonzodog2


    A friend of mine knocked a 500GB 3.5" SATA drive off a chair to the floor, so a comparable distance. I bought a USB/SATA cable and its working still 3 years later.
    Is it still in warranty? (if not, no need to worry about voiding it by opening case)
    Was it running when it was dropped? (worse chances if so)

    I'd say its worth a try to do one of:
    get a new enclosure/USB-SATA cable
    find a friend with a tower with a spare SATA slot


  • #5
    godtabh
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 23,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭godtabh


    It was om when I dropped it


  • #6
    bonzodog2
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,253 ✭✭✭bonzodog2


    One of these is less than 12 GBP, worth a try. Then you're into the territory of trying a circuit board from an identical drive, then the expensive specialists.


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  • #7
    coylemj
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 25,498 ✭✭✭✭coylemj


    godtabh wrote: »
    It was om when I dropped it

    That doesn't sound good. When a drive is switched off, the read/write heads are pulled away from the magnetic disks, precisely to reduce the risk of damage if the drive is dropped or suffers a severe knock. A drive can withstand a far greater shock ('g' force) without sustaining damage when it's switched off than when the disks are spinning.

    If the drive was switched on when it was dropped, there is a high risk that the shock caused the r/w heads to touch the (spinning) disks in which case the drive is probably destroyed because if one of the heads scratches the surface, it will release a cloud of dust, particles will then get under all of the other heads as a result of which the surface will be scarred and the heads wrecked.


  • #8
    Nothingbetter2d
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,037 ✭✭✭Nothingbetter2d


    godtabh wrote: »
    Being a clumsy idiot I am just after dropping my external hard drive which I used as a back up.

    Thing is I just sold my PC so now I have nothing! Bollix!

    Any good places to try and get it back? I don't think my chances are good

    there is a place in phibsborough that specialise in hard drive data recovery... its next to tescos

    here is their website http://www.datarecovery.ie/contact_us.htm

    WARNING data recovery from broken hard drives is a slow & expensive process.


  • #9
    godtabh
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 23,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭godtabh


    Nothingbetter2d wrote: »
    there is a place in phibsborough that specialise in hard drive data recovery... its next to tescos

    here is their website http://www.datarecovery.ie/contact_us.htm

    WARNING data recovery from broken hard drives is a slow & expensive process.

    I was in touch with them this morning. It is a €45 assessment fee but they wouldn't give me an idea of recovery costs (if anything was possible to recover).

    The question I have to ask is is what ever on the hard driver worth the expense and to be honest it probably isn't.


  • #10
    Nothingbetter2d
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,037 ✭✭✭Nothingbetter2d


    before you toss it out... open up the enclosure and remove the hard drive.... then put it into a pc as a slave drive (if the interface is IDE) or plug it into any of the spare sata sockets (if the interface is SATA)

    fire up windows and hope to god it still works


  • #11
    godtabh
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 23,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭godtabh


    I dont have access to a pc at the moment to do that.

    Also the fact that their is a clicking sound I wouldnt want to spin it up again.


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  • #12
    Nothingbetter2d
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,037 ✭✭✭Nothingbetter2d


    ive still managed to pull data off clicking drives.... the drive must be in slave mode for it to work if IDE drive. Must not be your c: drive in a sata drive.

    if you have a family member with a pc ask them can u put your drive in to recover the data and copy it onto a new external Hard drive.


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