Computer says NO!!!!!

[grandmasterramro]

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.

[grandmasterramro]

lunarscope said:

No problem - just recover from your backup disks.

Don't have any back up disks

[grandmasterramro]

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

[grandmasterramro]

xtruss said:

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.

WOW never even thought of anything as wacky as this it is going in the freezer right now.

[grandmasterramro]

biglepton said:

grandmasterramro said:

Early last you i purchased a external hard drive as my laptop was full of swedish dwarf donkey bondage porn

• EFA

You been looking on my laptop?

[grandmasterramro]

Funk said:

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

I don't think this is the issue as it uses a kind of duplex usb cable pulling the power from 2 ports