Hard Drives

[Guitargodchris]

Hey all im in desperate need of knowledge.

I had a lot and i mean a LOT ! of my earlier songwriting and i know its very careless but its my only copy and its on a hard drive that doesnt work anymore.

i was just wondering is there anyway to get my files off of it without formatting it and loosing everything.

everything else that i have done lately is written down, on my ipod and on a backup drive but i really need my earlier work for my college music course.

loves for a swift reply from anyone

xxx

[thelevellers]

It depends what kind of not working it is?

Some faults can be worked around, but others there's no chance I'm afraid... For example I believe it is possible to fix some hardware breakages with hard drives if you can get hold of the same make/model to cannabilise for parts... I nearly did that once, but decided it was more hassle than it was worth...

If it's a software/data problem then there's probably a programme out in the wonderful world of the internet that can help retrieve data... (My friend has retrieved around 100GB of data he accidentally deleted and overwrote some of before! )

So yeah, I would advise either letting us know a little more about the fault, or googling for a support forum for your product, or just try the windows/macOS/Linux support forums for help there's usually someone out there who's had the same problem at some point and can help

Good luck! Rohan

[john]

Hey

There are companies that can get data off of almost any drive, but it's not cheap.

Try this google search:

Failed Hard Drive Data Recovery

Cheers

John

[Nick]

Do nothing hasty is the first thing. Trying to mend something with limited knowledge is often worse than doing nothing and letting someone fix it for you. I learned that one from bitter experience and see it all the time at work

As someone else asked "What is not working?"

Is this a drive that has been working until recently?

To your knowledge what caused it?

Does the machine boot up at all?

If you turned on the machine now what happens and where does it get to?

What is the operating system etc etc?

I managed to retrieve all the data off a friend's Windows XP machine which had ceased to load Windows - it constantly rebooted. I have a copy of Knoppix (Linux operating system on a bootable CD). I booted up the machine using the CD and copied the data off then formatted it. The machine still works fine now and my friend has their data

[Nightwolf]

Do nothing hasty is the first thing. Trying to mend something with limited knowledge is often worse than doing nothing and letting someone fix it for you.

Nick is right about that.

I used getdataback and it worked well, it will show you what is retrievable before you plunk down money

[Guitargodchris]

well its not in my computer , it was a hard drive i had to take out because it didnt boot at all, it doesnt work at all when i plug it into my computer but sometimes if i tilt it then it will work it is quite weird, might be because it is quite old but still i dont know.

System:

Microsoft windows xp

version 2002

service pack 2

Computer:

AMD Duron processor

1.36GHz with 768MB of RAM

Sapphire Radeon 9600 Atlantis

TE100-PCBUSR 32-Bit Cardbus PC Card

hope that is anyway helpful

[Steve]

well its not in my computer , it was a hard drive i had to take out because it didnt boot at all, it doesnt work at all when i plug it into my computer but sometimes if i tilt it then it will work it is quite weird, might be because it is quite old but still i dont know.

System:

Microsoft windows xp

version 2002

service pack 2

Computer:

AMD Duron processor

1.36GHz with 768MB of RAM

Sapphire Radeon 9600 Atlantis

TE100-PCBUSR 32-Bit Cardbus PC Card

hope that is anyway helpful

Presumably, you have another hard drive running windows? Have you tried setting the jumper to 'Slave' and plugging the drive back in? If it works whilest tilted at an angle, Try plugging the cables in with the drive outside the case and placing it at an angle! Although if it does only work at an angle, it might be much more serious than you think!

[thelevellers]

I would second what Steve suggests... And add that if it only works when tilted it sounds like a hardware fault to me, which is a pain, as the best way to get your data back (if plugging it in a tilting doesn't work) would be to find a GOOD computer shop/repair facility that can retrieve the data for you, but as that will cost money, it may not be worth the expense...

Good luck! I expect you'll need it... Bloody technology!

Rohan

[Guitargodchris]

Well I am now using a program called File Scavenger , Im listening to John 5's solo album and I have a nice cup of cocoa so im quite happy and hopefull that it will work

thanks for all the help guys

[FinnArild]

If it is a spin problem, you can sometimes get it spinning by helping it off by holding the disk with your palm down and quickly but gently rotate it 10 degrees back and forth until it starts. Then get all your data out as quick as you can.