Recovering Lost Data from External Hard Drive

Olympus 40-150mm f/3.5-4.5 Zuiko Digital

11/29/2007 12:38:17 AM · #1

I may run out in traffic after this!!!

My PC has been having issues with compatability since we had to install a new power supply and a new processor. The hard drive and the external drive (which holds all of my photos and original files) were fine. During the many hours of phone conversations with Microsoft, I made sure the external drive was not plugged in.

We finally fixed all of the problems today and it was working like a champ. I plugged in the external hard drive (Seagate) and everything was fine. Tonight, I went to save something in that drive and although it was plugged in, the USB wasn't recognized. My son reconnected it and it booted up and I noticed NONE of my photos were there. The original DCM files showed, but if you clicked on them, nothing was there either. It does show that there is 20g of date there, so whether or not any of it is recoverable.. who knows. We contacted Seagate and I can ship them the drive and they might be able to fix it for $700 - 1600.00.

I had purchased another hard drive to use as back up but hadn't been able to use it yet since the PC wasn't operating properly until today. Needless to say, I'm pretty crushed. That's ALL OF MY PHOTOS FROM THE LAST FIVE YEARS. Gone...

Any suggestions? We tried using their online scan and it couldn't read the drive, so that doesn't sound very encouraging.

Katmystiry

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM

11/29/2007 12:50:08 AM · #2

Gonna run this by Computer Bob and get back with you :)

joynim

Olympus E-500 EVOLT

11/29/2007 12:56:09 AM · #3

O...M...G Judy I am having heart palpiatations at the thought of your incredibly creative and inspiring images gone. I am crossing fingers and toes and everything else that this will be resolved. In the mean time I am sending big hugs and positive thoughts ;)

awpollard

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS

11/29/2007 12:59:03 AM · #4

Ouch, no other pewters around to plug the drive into? I have to believe your data is fine.

What model seagate external is the drive? Is it the type that has an external power adapter or the type with the dual head USB cable? Some Drives draw pwr from the usb some draw from both usb and external adapter. Make sure power adapter is ok (plugged in (the drive could spin up with pwr from usb)) or if multiheaded usb cable the end with 2 USB plugs are plugged in (pewter end).

Windows XP SP2 correct?

Pewter is a Dell isn't it?

Message edited by author 2007-11-29 01:02:00.

jtf6agent

Canon EOS-1D Mark III

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

11/29/2007 01:05:39 AM · #5

JUUUUDY!! Good news for you... I know a guy. Yep! I know a guy, I know a guy, I know a guy. Come and sing along I know I guy, I know a guy. Ok seriously, I know a guy that just pulled all of my data from a damaged hard drive. He did it for $200 I paid him $400. I would have paid $1000 easy. Anyway he told me if I ever needed him again he would hook me up. So, let me know if I can help... or If my guy can help.

Nick

fotomann_forever

11/29/2007 01:06:58 AM · #6

Don't panic... best first step is to beg borrow or steal another puter to hook the drive to. If it works on another machine, back the drive up immediately.

If it doesn't work, there still are other options. I know it's hard, but try to stay calm.

Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO M.Zuiko

11/29/2007 01:07:25 AM · #7

Originally posted by awpollard:

It's the kind with the data/power and power (the split USB)cord. It's a small 100g drive. My computer is a custom made one. I have a tech friend who buys the components and builds them for me. That's what he did with the new power supply and processor.

Brad

Olympus OM-D E-M1

11/29/2007 01:18:00 AM · #8

Hey Judy,
Sorry to hear about this
Keep your chin up though. EVERY file is recoverable.

I had a power supply go bad and smoked the circuit boards on both hard drives on my shop's PC a couple years back.
The drives were sent to a data recovery specialist, where they have tons of hardware components to swap around and get it working again, then can write them all to a new drive. It wasn't cheap, but 2 drives, 100% data recovery, vital shop system databases and such burned to DVD's and the rest written to a new drive I supplied them with was $1,200. Partially high cost due to emergency turn around time (was like 48 hours or something - couldn't run my business without) and the data recovered from 2 smoked drives, etc

Call around.
Bet the whole thing can be done for considerably cheaper than my sceanrio.

(Hugs)

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS

11/29/2007 01:25:03 AM · #9

Thanks everybody. You RAWK. It's so weird. I feel like an amputee - it's like I just lost five years of my life. But sounds like it might work out. I appreciate all the info and positive energy!!! I'll keep you posted.

awpollard

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

11/29/2007 01:31:43 AM · #10

Originally posted by Jutilda:

Originally posted by awpollard:
Ouch, no other pewters around to plug the drive into? I have to believe your data is fine.

What model seagate external is the drive? Is it the type that has an external power adapter or the type with the dual head USB cable? Some Drives draw pwr from the usb some draw from both usb and external adapter. Make sure power adapter is ok (plugged in (the drive could spin up with pwr from usb)) or if multiheaded usb cable the end with 2 USB plugs are plugged in (pewter end).

Windows XP SP2 correct?

Pewter is a Dell isn't it?

It's the kind with the data/power and power (the split USB)cord. It's a small 100g drive. My computer is a custom made one. I have a tech friend who buys the components and builds them for me. That's what he did with the new power supply and processor.

So both plugs on the two ended side of the cable are plugged into a usb port on the pewter?

Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III

11/29/2007 01:47:46 AM · #11

Originally posted by awpollard:

So both plugs on the two ended side of the cable are plugged into a usb port on the pewter?

I sent you a PM

roz

OM System 90mm f/3.5 Macro IS PRO M.Zuiko Digital ED

11/29/2007 03:20:47 AM · #12

hey judy ..
i actually have nightmares about that sort'v thing happening ...
all i can say is hang in there ..
i've read the posts and it sounds like you may not have lost those five years .. i hope so judy .. it would be a disaster if you lost your wonderful work ..
when i imagine it happening, coz i dont just dream about it i also worry about it in my waking hours .. but i think that after i recovered from the shock and grief, which is how i reckon you'd be feeling, i'd be hoping that something positive would come out'v it .. often things that seem like the end of the world when they happen lead to wonderful things that wouldnt have happend otherwise .. you never know in advance wot amazing things will happen from this supposed horror .. just be open to the possibilities ..
my thoughts are with you ..
i'll be interested to hear the positives that come out'v this one !!! its a douzy .. !!

slaakso

Olympus E-510

Olympus 50mm f/2.0 Macro ED Zuiko Digital

11/29/2007 03:45:47 AM · #13

I know what this is like and it really isn't time to panic at this point in time. Drives sometimes comes back after several tries. If you have a friend with a computer to try this drive on that would be a good step to take. Take it slowly and don't do anything rash. Know that there are people that can recover files if it comes to that and it seems there are many people here that have connections.

It is curious that it worked at first and then it did not work later. Do all of your other USB devices work on the computer? Do you have another port to plug the drive in to? Make sure the ports are working and then work with the external drive.

Message edited by author 2007-11-29 03:49:14.

muz64

Canon EOS-1D X

Canon EF 50mm f1.2L

11/29/2007 03:56:44 AM · #14

Hey Judy,

If you can't find anyone local to recover the files, send it to me - I'll do it for nothing. The trouble is that I'm in Australia.

Just be very careful that any revovery efforts are done without damaging what's remaining - I'd do a sector by sector copy to another disk and work on the copy.

Good luck,
Murray

Yo_Spiff

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III

Olympus 12-100mm f/4.0 M.Zuiko ED IS PRO

11/29/2007 09:21:51 AM · #15

You can give Spinrite a try. It's been around for decades and I've heard some awseome things about what this program can do for recovering failed hard drives. The author does a weekly podcast on computer security and I have a lot of trust for this guy's skill and knowledge. //www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm

Message edited by author 2007-11-29 09:22:32.

11/29/2007 02:33:47 PM · #16

UPDATE!!!!

I took it up to the IT guy at my husband's work and he plugged it in and it worked just fine, so there is some incompatibility with the external drive I guess due to all of the work that was done on the PC (although it DID work fine yesterday afternoon). He's going to transfer everything to the new external drive we bought to back up the one that screwed up and then he can reformat the one with the problem.

WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to everyone for the PMs and offers to help. You guys are the best.

xianart

Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM

11/29/2007 02:54:54 PM · #17

YAY! glad it's ok.

jmsetzler

Sony Alpha a6000

Sony 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 E-mount

11/29/2007 02:58:32 PM · #18

Originally posted by Jutilda:

I'm glad to hear that your photos from this long period of time are not lost. I would love to suggest that you archive to CD or DVD at your earliest convenience also. A hard disk drive only becomes a semi-reliable backup medium when you are mirroring two drives or running a RAID-5 array, and like I said, that is only semi-reliable. My Photography Backup Strategy is a brief article I wrote on my blog recently about this very subject. My method isn't 100% foolproof, but it's as reliable as I can have without significant expense...

fotomann_forever

11/29/2007 03:01:54 PM · #19

yay!!! :-)