Is My Hard Drive Really Done For?

Crystallization · Aug 22, 2011, 05:18 AM

Edit: Never mind!

It was so simple all along. I knew the hard drive hadn't been damaged. And to think, I nearly formatted and deleted everything!

I just right-clicked on the drive and went to Properties > Tools and checked for errors. All was resolved!

Haha! So slow. :|

Dyre Straits · Aug 22, 2011, 08:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crystallization

Well, the inevitable happened. My 500GB seems to have...well I don't really know if it died per-Se but here's what's up.

My crappy computer would often face instability issues and blue screens at least three or four times a day. The most recent crash resulted in me no longer being able to access the contents on my 500GB drive. It's still visible to Windows and there are no clicking noises coming from the drive or anything but whenever I try to access it through explorer, the hourglass appears for a few seconds and then a message comes up saying that the "disk is not formatted" and it gives me the option to do so. Of course I say no but then nothing happens.

So tell me, is it really all gone? My art, my music...everything? or is there still something I can do to salvage it?

It's possible that you can recover the files. But, it likely is going to cost you a little bit. I've had great success with an inexpensive program called, Recover My Files. It's released by a company named, GetData.

The beauty of this is that you don't have to install the program. It can be booted up from the disc and then you follow the prompts to locate the drive in question.

However, before going this route, try this:

Remove the HDD and place it in a ziplock storage bag. Place it in the freezer for about 30 minutes. (Long enough to get it good and cold!) Then, place it back in the PC, boot up and see if it becomes accessible again. If so, you may have access long enough to retrieve the data you're after.

Post back with any results and/or questions.

Good luck!

Neshi · Aug 22, 2011, 10:22 AM

I thought even in a ziplock there will be condensation which will severely damage the platters (read heads crashing into the platters)

Tyrsonswood · Aug 22, 2011, 11:43 AM

Have you checked the data cable? I try a new cable first and see if there any difference. Also check the power cable, make sure it's seated correctly.... try another if it's available.

If you do get it working... BACKUP!

Jac · Aug 22, 2011, 01:55 PM

If I was in this situation I would get hold of another drive. Use that to install an OS to and get my system back up and running, from there I would attempt to access the damaged drive by placing the damaged drive in as a secondary drive.

It's very likely that all your files are still there but you may need some drive recovery software to retrieve them. Once I'd recovered all the files I could, I would then attempt an error checking and formatting of the old drive - it may be recoverable. However the more you mess around with the damaged drive the more likely you are to permanently lose the files on it.

This is just what I would do and I'm not an expert in disk recovery.

Liqourice · Aug 22, 2011, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dyre Straits

Remove the HDD and place it in a ziplock storage bag. Place it in the freezer for about 30 minutes. (Long enough to get it good and cold!) Then, place it back in the PC, boot up and see if it becomes accessible again. If so, you may have access long enough to retrieve the data you're after.

Hard Disk Drive Myths Debunked! Rev. 4.6

Tipstaff · Aug 23, 2011, 01:29 AM

Freezer bag... laaassstttt resort, so skip that. In fact I don't even think you need to do that as it's more than likely not a mechanical issue.

Most likely the partition table has disappeared or is corrupt, and there could be any number of reasons for that to happen, such as a power failure, virus, or even a bad sector on the partition exactly where the table is stored (this can be a mechanical problem, but most probably just be a partition problem). The first thing I would do is run a recovery software on the drive to get any data you can off of it, such as the one Dyre has suggested, and THEN try to actually recover the partition using a utility such as Partition Table Doctor or the like, or at the very least run a utility like HDD Recovery to scan the drive for errors to see if it corrects things first (then run the partition recovery software).

Dyre Straits · Aug 23, 2011, 04:19 AM

Just a "FTR" I've actually retrieved data from a HDD using the ziplock bag method. 30 minutes in the freezer won't cause the condensation problem mentioned above. If it were left in over night or something like that, then, yes, it could create a problem.

However, since I now have a copy of the Data Recovery Software, I don't go that route right off.

The other suggestion above about obtaining another HDD, installing the OS on that and then connecting the faulty drive as a Secondary, is another one I've done numerous times. If the drive can be recovered this way, it's usually after running a full CheckDisk operation on it. That can take HOURS and HOURS, though.

Judas · Aug 23, 2011, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Liqourice

Hard Disk Drive Myths Debunked! Rev. 4.6

I hate most of the "mythbuster" garbage as quite often they cannot account for the fact that there are odd ball situations that "can effect" the result or fall into the 1% range.

I've had 2 hardrives that i've successfully recovered most of the data off by putting them in the freezer over night and then quickly booting them up and moving data.

Heat plays a might fine roll in many things... could be related to soldering or broken connections that when "shrunk" using a freezer allows those connections to be re-established for a short period of time.

Of course it's ALWAYS a last ditch effort and not the first thing you do.

Liqourice · Sep 1, 2011, 12:05 PM

I had a drive crash in a fundamental way. It wasn't even recognised by BIOS so there was no way to access data on it, I thought.

Threw it into another rig as secondary, got hold of a program called GetDataBack and somehow that software managed to see the drive and scan it. It was extremely corrupt though and the scan took like two weeks.. after that I selected all the files I wanted to recover, and it seemed to find them all, and after another week of salvaging I got all of those files that I wanted to save back.

All in all, 3 weeks of pain and suffering waiting to see if I would get those precious files back from a drive that I thought was completely lost. So, a drive has to be extremely damaged for it to be totally unrecoverable.

Neshi · Sep 2, 2011, 03:08 AM

I just wonder.. what can corrupt a drive so suddenly

LinuxLewis · Sep 6, 2011, 02:32 PM

if u want to recover your information and possible delete things running in the background I would use mini-XP. Its available on ebay for a few quid.
I used it recently to enter the computer into Windows XP mode (my computer runs on Windows 7) and I navigated to folders I deleted and transferred to portable hard drive.
I would check the cable to hard drive. Make sure its locked in fully - this happened to me and gave me problems getting into windows and navigating
keep us updated

sahara_mafia · Sep 7, 2011, 09:03 AM

if the cables r fine still can not access ur stuff

then
unplug the hdd which one ur booting from
get a live ubuntu disk and boot of the disk from here
mount the drive and read the stuff it should open up

Crystallization · Dec 31, 2011, 01:08 AM

It has been awhile since I've checked this thread but I've tried some of the suggestions mentioned here but with no success.

I should explain that there is nothing wrong with the cables, the drive itself is not making any clicking noises and there is nothing to indicate that the drive is damaged in anyway.

Basically after repeated computer crashes, whenever I try to access the drive it says "The disk in drive _ is not formatted. Do you want to format it now?" If I click "No" than nothing happens and I can't see any of the files on the drive.

The drive is currently using 430GBs out of the 500GBs so nothing was erased. I also completed a Disk Cleanup and everything went through without issues.

Based on this information, are there any other things that I might try to access the drive?

sahara_mafia · Dec 31, 2011, 08:18 AM

there r two things u can try

1: get two air tight bag so the water can not get in , a news paper to role the hdd, tape to seal the outer bag

what i would do
rap the news paper on the hdd, put it in the bag seal the ends and to the other bag seal it with the tape and put it in the freezer for 8 hours
it fix all the shouldered joints and cools all the elements

2: i have a feeling that that the mbr is corrupt or missing

i forgot the name of the program i will post the name tomoro
what it will do is it recreate the mbr and fix the table

Crystallization · Dec 31, 2011, 08:49 AM

Hi sahara_mafia. Thanks for the reply but I've already fixed the problem.

I was minutes away from giving up and formatting the drive so that I could use it again but then I found that I could check the drive for errors by right-clicking on the drive and going to Properties > Tools > Check Now (under Error-checking). That seems to have solved the problem.

There was never an issue with the hard drive not spinning, therefore, no need to put it in the freezer. What I will be doing now is backing up all of my important files before it's too late.

sahara_mafia · Dec 31, 2011, 10:00 AM

nice to hear that u fixed

backup u hdd and format it

Tipstaff · Dec 31, 2011, 10:05 AM

What you essentially did was the internal scandisk that Windows offers, and you are quite lucky it worked. In my experience running scandisk from within the OS the disc is running on, or a disc from within a running OS tends to screw things up (most times you'd see a ton of deleted "lost" listings going on, or files being recovered/renamed/moved, and so fourth). This is why I usually run HDD Recovery first, and then run scandisk using a Windows bootable disc such as one built using BartPE such as UBCD for Windows. For some reason running scandisk from within that environment garners better results.

Glad you got it working.. finally.

Crystallization · Dec 31, 2011, 11:43 AM

The 500GB that I recovered is actually the secondary drive that does not have the OS on it; it's merely my media drive.

Dyre Straits · Jan 2, 2012, 08:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crystallization

The 500GB that I recovered is actually the secondary drive that does not have the OS on it; it's merely my media drive.

Yes, you can run the Check Disk function on any non-primary drive from within Windows. But, if you're going to do it on the OS drive, you have to schedule it for the next time you reboot.

Glad you got it working again!

Aug 22, 2011, 05:18 AM	#1
Crystallization HardwareHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 47 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	(Solved) Is My Hard Drive Really Done For? Edit: Never mind! It was so simple all along. I knew the hard drive hadn't been damaged. And to think, I nearly formatted and deleted everything! I just right-clicked on the drive and went to Properties > Tools and checked for errors. All was resolved! Haha! So slow. :\| __________________ Check out my art thread or my deviantART gallery. Last edited by Crystallization; Dec 31, 2011 at 09:04 AM. Reason: Problem Solved

Aug 22, 2011, 10:22 AM	#3
Neshi S.N.A.F.U. Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Wellington, NZ Posts: 3,378 Rep Power: 177 System Specs	Re: Is My Hard Drive Really Done For? I thought even in a ziplock there will be condensation which will severely damage the platters (read heads crashing into the platters) __________________ If one does not attach himself to people and desire, never shall his heart be broken. But then, does he ever truly live? Life is just too damn short for if's and maybe's

Aug 22, 2011, 01:55 PM	#5
Jac HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: England Posts: 761 Rep Power: 51 System Specs	Re: Is My Hard Drive Really Done For? If I was in this situation I would get hold of another drive. Use that to install an OS to and get my system back up and running, from there I would attempt to access the damaged drive by placing the damaged drive in as a secondary drive. It's very likely that all your files are still there but you may need some drive recovery software to retrieve them. Once I'd recovered all the files I could, I would then attempt an error checking and formatting of the old drive - it may be recoverable. However the more you mess around with the damaged drive the more likely you are to permanently lose the files on it. This is just what I would do and I'm not an expert in disk recovery.

Aug 23, 2011, 01:29 AM	#7
Tipstaff HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Real capital of Canada: Torauna Posts: 6,773 Rep Power: 190 System Specs	Re: Is My Hard Drive Really Done For? Freezer bag... laaassstttt resort, so skip that. In fact I don't even think you need to do that as it's more than likely not a mechanical issue. Most likely the partition table has disappeared or is corrupt, and there could be any number of reasons for that to happen, such as a power failure, virus, or even a bad sector on the partition exactly where the table is stored (this can be a mechanical problem, but most probably just be a partition problem). The first thing I would do is run a recovery software on the drive to get any data you can off of it, such as the one Dyre has suggested, and THEN try to actually recover the partition using a utility such as Partition Table Doctor or the like, or at the very least run a utility like HDD Recovery to scan the drive for errors to see if it corrects things first (then run the partition recovery software). __________________ Portal: The Flash Version _________________________________ Brain: So, you sacked the cocky khaki Kicky Sack sock plucker? Mr. Sackett: The second cocky khaki Kicky Sack sock plucker I've sacked since the sixth sitting sheet slitter got sick.

Sep 1, 2011, 12:05 PM	#10
Liqourice HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Stockholm Posts: 1,702 Rep Power: 98 System Specs	Re: Is My Hard Drive Really Done For? I had a drive crash in a fundamental way. It wasn't even recognised by BIOS so there was no way to access data on it, I thought. Threw it into another rig as secondary, got hold of a program called GetDataBack and somehow that software managed to see the drive and scan it. It was extremely corrupt though and the scan took like two weeks.. after that I selected all the files I wanted to recover, and it seemed to find them all, and after another week of salvaging I got all of those files that I wanted to save back. All in all, 3 weeks of pain and suffering waiting to see if I would get those precious files back from a drive that I thought was completely lost. So, a drive has to be extremely damaged for it to be totally unrecoverable.

Sep 2, 2011, 03:08 AM	#11
Neshi S.N.A.F.U. Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Wellington, NZ Posts: 3,378 Rep Power: 177 System Specs	Re: Is My Hard Drive Really Done For? I just wonder.. what can corrupt a drive so suddenly __________________ If one does not attach himself to people and desire, never shall his heart be broken. But then, does he ever truly live? Life is just too damn short for if's and maybe's

Sep 6, 2011, 02:32 PM	#12
LinuxLewis Linux Lewis Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Coevntry, UK Posts: 10 Rep Power: 0	Re: Is My Hard Drive Really Done For? if u want to recover your information and possible delete things running in the background I would use mini-XP. Its available on ebay for a few quid. I used it recently to enter the computer into Windows XP mode (my computer runs on Windows 7) and I navigated to folders I deleted and transferred to portable hard drive. I would check the cable to hard drive. Make sure its locked in fully - this happened to me and gave me problems getting into windows and navigating keep us updated

Sep 7, 2011, 09:03 AM	#13
sahara_mafia member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: botswana Posts: 3,362 Rep Power: 155 System Specs	Re: Is My Hard Drive Really Done For? if the cables r fine still can not access ur stuff then unplug the hdd which one ur booting from get a live ubuntu disk and boot of the disk from here mount the drive and read the stuff it should open up __________________

Dec 31, 2011, 01:08 AM	Thread Starter #14
Crystallization HardwareHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 47 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Re: Is My Hard Drive Really Done For? It has been awhile since I've checked this thread but I've tried some of the suggestions mentioned here but with no success. I should explain that there is nothing wrong with the cables, the drive itself is not making any clicking noises and there is nothing to indicate that the drive is damaged in anyway. Basically after repeated computer crashes, whenever I try to access the drive it says "The disk in drive _ is not formatted. Do you want to format it now?" If I click "No" than nothing happens and I can't see any of the files on the drive. The drive is currently using 430GBs out of the 500GBs so nothing was erased. I also completed a Disk Cleanup and everything went through without issues. Based on this information, are there any other things that I might try to access the drive? __________________ Check out my art thread or my deviantART gallery.

Dec 31, 2011, 08:18 AM	#15
sahara_mafia member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: botswana Posts: 3,362 Rep Power: 155 System Specs	Re: Is My Hard Drive Really Done For? there r two things u can try 1: get two air tight bag so the water can not get in , a news paper to role the hdd, tape to seal the outer bag what i would do rap the news paper on the hdd, put it in the bag seal the ends and to the other bag seal it with the tape and put it in the freezer for 8 hours it fix all the shouldered joints and cools all the elements 2: i have a feeling that that the mbr is corrupt or missing i forgot the name of the program i will post the name tomoro what it will do is it recreate the mbr and fix the table __________________

Dec 31, 2011, 08:49 AM	Thread Starter #16
Crystallization HardwareHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 47 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Re: Is My Hard Drive Really Done For? Hi sahara_mafia. Thanks for the reply but I've already fixed the problem. I was minutes away from giving up and formatting the drive so that I could use it again but then I found that I could check the drive for errors by right-clicking on the drive and going to Properties > Tools > Check Now (under Error-checking). That seems to have solved the problem. There was never an issue with the hard drive not spinning, therefore, no need to put it in the freezer. What I will be doing now is backing up all of my important files before it's too late. __________________ Check out my art thread or my deviantART gallery.

Dec 31, 2011, 10:00 AM	#17
sahara_mafia member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: botswana Posts: 3,362 Rep Power: 155 System Specs	Re: Is My Hard Drive Really Done For? nice to hear that u fixed backup u hdd and format it __________________

Dec 31, 2011, 10:05 AM	#18
Tipstaff HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Real capital of Canada: Torauna Posts: 6,773 Rep Power: 190 System Specs	Re: Is My Hard Drive Really Done For? What you essentially did was the internal scandisk that Windows offers, and you are quite lucky it worked. In my experience running scandisk from within the OS the disc is running on, or a disc from within a running OS tends to screw things up (most times you'd see a ton of deleted "lost" listings going on, or files being recovered/renamed/moved, and so fourth). This is why I usually run HDD Recovery first, and then run scandisk using a Windows bootable disc such as one built using BartPE such as UBCD for Windows. For some reason running scandisk from within that environment garners better results. Glad you got it working.. finally. __________________ Portal: The Flash Version _________________________________ Brain: So, you sacked the cocky khaki Kicky Sack sock plucker? Mr. Sackett: The second cocky khaki Kicky Sack sock plucker I've sacked since the sixth sitting sheet slitter got sick.

Dec 31, 2011, 11:43 AM	Thread Starter #19
Crystallization HardwareHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 47 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Re: Is My Hard Drive Really Done For? The 500GB that I recovered is actually the secondary drive that does not have the OS on it; it's merely my media drive. __________________ Check out my art thread or my deviantART gallery.