Computer says NO!!!!!

Author
Discussion

grandmasterramro

Original Poster:

34 posts

197 months

Friday 1st February 2008
quotequote all
Early last you i purchased a external hard drive as my laptop was full, so straight onto ebay it was where i found one a 60GB one for £50 from a powerseller, i could have spent an extra £50 and got a named one but thought it was a waste of money as i was convinced that it would be the same hardware inside. The otherday my external hard drive failed and i have been unable to recover any of the data as yet and can't access it at all despite my computer seeing it and it been in the device manager. I tries data recovery safe mode etc and still can't access it so i called an expert. I explained the problem and he told me it was probably a head or spindle error in the hardware but for sure it was a mechanical error, but he told me that he would beable to recover the data, which cheered me up as i have pics of my son when he was younger etc things that just can't be replaced. So i asked him how much and it basically come in at £500 + i would need a new hard drive as the data was over 20GB so you can say it would be £600. So i now face a £600 bill which to me feels like i am getting well and truely f*****d. The only good thing i took out of it was that the drive turbed out to be toshiba which i consider to be a good lable in the computer work. I havn't gone forward with this yet but i really want that data.

lunarscope

2,895 posts

242 months

Friday 1st February 2008
quotequote all
No problem - just recover from your backup disks. wink

rich1231

17,331 posts

260 months

Friday 1st February 2008
quotequote all
grandmasterramro said:
Early last you i purchased a external hard drive as my laptop was full, so straight onto ebay it was where i found one a 60GB one for £50 from a powerseller, i could have spent an extra £50 and got a named one but thought it was a waste of money as i was convinced that it would be the same hardware inside. The otherday my external hard drive failed and i have been unable to recover any of the data as yet and can't access it at all despite my computer seeing it and it been in the device manager. I tries data recovery safe mode etc and still can't access it so i called an expert. I explained the problem and he told me it was probably a head or spindle error in the hardware but for sure it was a mechanical error, but he told me that he would beable to recover the data, which cheered me up as i have pics of my son when he was younger etc things that just can't be replaced. So i asked him how much and it basically come in at £500 + i would need a new hard drive as the data was over 20GB so you can say it would be £600. So i now face a £600 bill which to me feels like i am getting well and truely f*****d. The only good thing i took out of it was that the drive turbed out to be toshiba which i consider to be a good lable in the computer work. I havn't gone forward with this yet but i really want that data.
Profound

is a word i wouldnt use to describe your post.

jimmyjimjim

7,344 posts

238 months

Friday 1st February 2008
quotequote all
Or buy a new enclosure for a tenner, transfer the HDD into that and find that hey presto the drive isn't buggered after all. 90% of the time it is the enclosure that has died.

TheCarpetCleaner

7,294 posts

202 months

Friday 1st February 2008
quotequote all
60GB for £50???? Even early last year? From Ebay????

You could have got at LEAST double that if not more from even somewhere like PC World!

Mars

8,711 posts

214 months

Friday 1st February 2008
quotequote all
I think I got that but a quick proof-read/edit before you submit might make it easier for people to understand.

Basically, if you have only copy of your important data then more fool you. Computer equipment is rediculously cheap, especially a CD writer. Photos of my son are backed up to 4 products, the sum total price of which is less than you have been quoted to recover your data.

You have two options for connection of this HDD to your PC:

1. USB
2. IDE/SATA direct connection to your PC

You could try the HDD in another enclosure but if your HDD really *is* knackered then neither of these connections will result in your being able to recover the data.

Does the drive spin? Is there "head" movement? At what point does the drive fail to respond? If the HDD has mechanical problems then you might find you're data impossible to recover from.

wolves_wanderer

12,387 posts

237 months

Friday 1st February 2008
quotequote all
lunarscope said:
No problem - just recover from your backup disks. wink
hehe Tends to be a mistake not repeated.

grandmasterramro

Original Poster:

34 posts

197 months

Friday 1st February 2008
quotequote all
lunarscope said:
No problem - just recover from your backup disks. wink
Don't have any back up disks

E36GUY

5,906 posts

218 months

Friday 1st February 2008
quotequote all
grandmasterramro said:
lunarscope said:
No problem - just recover from your backup disks. wink
Don't have any back up disks
Village.

rich1231

17,331 posts

260 months

Friday 1st February 2008
quotequote all
E36GUY said:
grandmasterramro said:
lunarscope said:
No problem - just recover from your backup disks. wink
Don't have any back up disks
Village.
return to

grandmasterramro

Original Poster:

34 posts

197 months

Friday 1st February 2008
quotequote all
Mars said:
I think I got that but a quick proof-read/edit before you submit might make it easier for people to understand.

Basically, if you have only copy of your important data then more fool you. Computer equipment is rediculously cheap, especially a CD writer. Photos of my son are backed up to 4 products, the sum total price of which is less than you have been quoted to recover your data.

You have two options for connection of this HDD to your PC:

1. USB
2. IDE/SATA direct connection to your PC

You could try the HDD in another enclosure but if your HDD really *is* knackered then neither of these connections will result in your being able to recover the data.

Does the drive spin? Is there "head" movement? At what point does the drive fail to respond? If the HDD has mechanical problems then you might find you're data impossible to recover from.
The drive is making a clicking noise over and over i can't hear it spinning. I'll have to start proof reading me posts too sorry if it was difficult to understand

eldar

21,763 posts

196 months

Friday 1st February 2008
quotequote all
If you have data you don't want to use, back it up. Regularly, and check you can read the backup. If you don't understand what you are doing, get someone eho knows to tell you.

Get 2 external drives, and a copy of Acronis. Backup regularly - weekly or monthly to alternate external drives. As near to bulletproof as you can get for less than £100. Don't learn the hard way again.


As some one suggested, you might get the data back if you try the disk in another caddy. try it on other PCs as well.

130R

6,810 posts

206 months

Friday 1st February 2008
quotequote all
E36GUY said:
grandmasterramro said:
lunarscope said:
No problem - just recover from your backup disks. wink
Don't have any back up disks
Village.
People.

The Hitman

2,592 posts

210 months

Friday 1st February 2008
quotequote all
grandmasterramro said:
Mars said:
I think I got that but a quick proof-read/edit before you submit might make it easier for people to understand.

Basically, if you have only copy of your important data then more fool you. Computer equipment is rediculously cheap, especially a CD writer. Photos of my son are backed up to 4 products, the sum total price of which is less than you have been quoted to recover your data.

You have two options for connection of this HDD to your PC:

1. USB
2. IDE/SATA direct connection to your PC

You could try the HDD in another enclosure but if your HDD really *is* knackered then neither of these connections will result in your being able to recover the data.

Does the drive spin? Is there "head" movement? At what point does the drive fail to respond? If the HDD has mechanical problems then you might find you're data impossible to recover from.
The drive is making a clicking noise over and over i can't hear it spinning. I'll have to start proof reading me posts too sorry if it was difficult to understand
Write off the data if you don't have it backed up. Don't buy any old tat off of ebay, check the seller out and where they are sending it from, for intance I avoid EVERYTHING from hong kong and such.

Why not consider buying a new Laptop if you've "filled" it up...or maybe getting rid of some of the data you have on your laptop?

xtruss

182 posts

212 months

Friday 1st February 2008
quotequote all
Clicking noise is bad, sounds like a phyiscal drive error...
You could try the freezer methord http://geeksaresexy.blogspot.com/2006/01/freeze-yo...
Before though get another external drive ready to get the info copied onto pronto.

merc_man

1,926 posts

202 months

Friday 1st February 2008
quotequote all
grandmasterramro said:
Don't have any back up disks
Dr. Watson said:
Good Lord Holmes! I didn't see that one coming!

biglepton

5,042 posts

201 months

Friday 1st February 2008
quotequote all
grandmasterramro said:
Early last you i purchased a external hard drive as my laptop was full of swedish dwarf donkey bondage porn
  • EFA

Funk

26,286 posts

209 months

Friday 1st February 2008
quotequote all
Grandmaster - from the size of the drive and the problem you're describing, I can fix your problem in less than 30 seconds.

I'm deducing that you have a PORTABLE hard drive which draws its power from the USB socket. The USB socket you have it plugged into is not providing enough power and is probably on a hub?

Unplug the drive and plug it into a different USB socket, perhaps without other USB peripherals plugged in and I'll wager this will solve your problem.

Failing that, try it on another machine and see if it still occurs.

Edited by Funk on Friday 1st February 16:19

Road_Terrorist

5,591 posts

242 months

Friday 1st February 2008
quotequote all
TheCarpetCleaner said:
60GB for £50???? Even early last year? From Ebay????

You could have got at LEAST double that if not more from even somewhere like PC World!
No kidding, I got a 250Gb for about £40 from PC world last year, and that was a runout special while larger drives were coming in.

Still works fine as well wink

lunarscope

2,895 posts

242 months

Friday 1st February 2008
quotequote all
Before spending any money I firstly suggest that you find out if you have actually 'lost' the data.
To do this:

Get the manufacturer's name and drive model number.
Contact the manufacturer and find out how much the drive should weigh (in grammes to five decimal points should be accurate enough).
Now, weigh your disk drive to the same accuracy.
Compare the two figures.
If they are the same then you have definitely lost the data, therefore don't waste money trying to recover it. smile