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DPChallenge Forums >> Hardware and Software >> Hard drive crash - please help!
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 04/11/2009 04:52:58 PM · #1
Hi everyone, I've got a big problem, my external hard drive has crashed and I can't now access it. I have tried on a couple of different computers with no joy. I was running a batch edit of some wedding photos and my computer froze, when I restarted every time I tried to access the drive it give me the message "Drive must be formatted to continue". Obviously I'm not going to format it - does anyone know what I can do to get into the drive? It has a large chunk of the shots from a wedding I did this last weekend, along with many other photos I have no backup for. Yes I'm an idiot.

Please help!!
 04/11/2009 04:55:26 PM · #2
Do you have a Mac or PC?
 04/11/2009 04:56:50 PM · #3
PC! Windows crappy Vista.
 04/11/2009 04:59:33 PM · #4
Here is a link to an article from maximum PC magazine that lists some good Data recovery software. Most of the apps listed are free.

One option may be to take the hard disk out of it's case and put it directly into your computer. If it is the electronics of the drive box that have failed, you may be able to access it then. More likely it is the drive itself. If the file allocation table is all that has been damage, you will be able to recover the files.

Time to run a backup of my own.
 04/11/2009 05:04:36 PM · #5
Hope it wasn't a raid drive (?)

--makes it doubly difficult if it was raid0

Message edited by author 2009-04-11 17:04:57.
 04/11/2009 05:09:18 PM · #6
Well I'm hoping it's just a software issue, I would think after it does the formatting it would be fine. I'm not tech savvy enough to start cracking the case of the drive, also I'm running a laptop so I don't think it would fit somehow.

I'll have a look at those links and see what I can come up with, cheers.
 04/11/2009 05:10:39 PM · #7
Originally posted by Medoomi:
Hope it wasn't a raid drive (?)

--makes it doubly difficult if it was raid0


I don't think so - it's a western digital 500gb job - being a student I couldn't afford a backup :-(
 04/11/2009 05:11:23 PM · #8
If you can get a hold of a Mac, try plugging it into it and see if it recognizes the drive. I've been successful doing that before
 04/11/2009 05:19:38 PM · #9
Ok I might give that a go! Thanks.
 04/11/2009 05:24:46 PM · #10
Well nothing is working so far - all of Yo_Spiff's software (the free ones) get as far as telling me the drive is corrupted and give up.

Making a visit to the computer shop tomorrow, I've got a feeling this is going to be expensive...
 04/11/2009 06:42:09 PM · #11
You don't have a backup of your backup? Does your insurance have an option for data recovery? I know mine does and most commercial wedding photography business insurance will. It will likely run over $1k for full data recovery if it can be done. But usually it can.

I have heard of others with issues with externals and have removed the hd itself as the issue has been with the enclosure.

Matt
 04/11/2009 06:51:25 PM · #12
Originally posted by MattO:

I have heard of others with issues with externals and have removed the hd itself as the issue has been with the enclosure.


I had that work with an internal hard drive a few months back. For $20 I bought an enclosure and it worked long enough to get the data off of it. it seized up again a few weeks later, but the data is the precious.
 04/11/2009 07:13:25 PM · #13
Unfortunately no insurance (in not technically a business). I've found a couple of bits of software that are looking positive, 1 is free but takes hours and hours to scan the drive, and the other takes 2 minutes to scan but costs $99 to actually retrieve anything. I'm setting the freeware to scan over night so fingers crossed I'll be able to recover from that tomorrow.

Photography is an expensive and stressful hobby :-s
 04/12/2009 08:55:00 PM · #14
If you do not have another drive yet- I might suggest you get one. Load your OS onto it and enough programs to get you going and hook up the other drive as a slave. Even if it is unable to boot from the drive you may be able to access files on it. If that is the case, you can then copy your photo file from one hard drive to the other. If you format the one you have you will probably lose everything on it. Once the files are transfered you can then try to format it. Then you can use either one as a master and slave (if the drive is still working) and use one for backup. If you are in the US check out //www.newegg.com for good prices on drives.
04/12/2009 09:04:21 PM · #15
Originally posted by JimiRose:
Unfortunately no insurance (in not technically a business). I've found a couple of bits of software that are looking positive, 1 is free but takes hours and hours to scan the drive, and the other takes 2 minutes to scan but costs $99 to actually retrieve anything. I'm setting the freeware to scan over night so fingers crossed I'll be able to recover from that tomorrow.

Photography is an expensive and stressful hobby :-s


Any good recovery software will take hours to scan a drive. It reads the entire drive for data and tries to find files without referencing the File Allocation Table as this is quite often what is corrupted.

If you're going to have to pay for software, try and get one that will at least show you what it can recover before you actually have to buy it, otherwise you might end up spending quite a bit for something you're never going to use.

Since Window is stating you need to format the drive it's not all bad, the fact that it recognises there is a drive there at all is a good thing, with a bit of luck you'll get most if not all of what was on it back.

Just make absolutely sure you don't make any new changes to the faulty drive. Any good recovery software will write the files it finds to another drive and not alter the original, is is because making changes to try and fix the drive can ultimately make the situation worse.

Good luck!
 04/17/2009 04:49:24 PM · #16
Just an update here to let everyone know that several days and £160 pounds later I have all my files back! Woop! I'll be posting up some the "Best of" the Wedding as soon as I'm finished editing.

Thanks for all the support and advice guys, it got a bit hairy back there but I pulled through.

I now have a backup backup drive too!
 04/17/2009 06:07:09 PM · #17
did vista crash your drive?

Originally posted by JimiRose:
PC! Windows crappy Vista.
04/17/2009 06:37:28 PM · #18
Yeh, well I'm blaming Vista as it seems to be the only consistent factor in my computer's incessant freezing. It happens completely at random and is unrecoverable, I have to do a hard shut-down every time.

I have been a long time anti-mac advocate, but I honestly don't think I can bring myself to buying a PC loaded with Vista again. Especially not a Sony Vaio, I've had nothing but problems with both the hardware and software since I bought the thing.

IMO when it comes to photography, especially paid, you need a system that is reliable and stable and I don't think that any new PC can claim to be as good as a Mac in that respect (as much as it pains me to say it, and believe me my friends would back up the fact that I have been anti-mac for a good few years.)
 04/17/2009 06:40:03 PM · #19
Originally posted by JimiRose:
Yeh, well I'm blaming Vista as it seems to be the only consistent factor in my computer's incessant freezing. It happens completely at random and is unrecoverable, I have to do a hard shut-down every time.

I have been a long time anti-mac advocate, but I honestly don't think I can bring myself to buying a PC loaded with Vista again. Especially not a Sony Vaio, I've had nothing but problems with both the hardware and software since I bought the thing.

IMO when it comes to photography, especially paid, you need a system that is reliable and stable and I don't think that any new PC can claim to be as good as a Mac in that respect (as much as it pains me to say it, and believe me my friends would back up the fact that I have been anti-mac for a good few years.)


That's how it starts...

Come on in, the water is fine. ;-)
 04/17/2009 06:50:37 PM · #20
As an impoverished student I think it's going to be a looong winter in the wilderness until I can actually afford the level of iMac I need.

I'm moving to South Korea next year - anyone know if Apple produces iMacs out there or are they constructed in the states?
 04/17/2009 08:00:29 PM · #21
Originally posted by JimiRose:
PC! Windows crappy Vista.


That was your first mistake, you shouldn't have spent the extra money for the upgrade to crappy- should've stuck with standard. :)

Sorry, couldn't resist. Best of luck with your drive- I've lost a couple of those myself.
 04/17/2009 08:01:10 PM · #22
You can try doing following:

1. take HDD out of box (you have to give it a bit hard hand to the enclosure)
2. Put that HDD as additional drive to the system
3. see if system recognize it, it might be possible that there is any issue with the external HDD hardware and saying your HDD has gone bad.
 04/17/2009 08:10:09 PM · #23
Originally posted by pgirish007:
You can try doing following:

1. take HDD out of box (you have to give it a bit hard hand to the enclosure)
2. Put that HDD as additional drive to the system
3. see if system recognize it, it might be possible that there is any issue with the external HDD hardware and saying your HDD has gone bad.


No worries I'm all sorted now, thanks for the advice but I spent money and got a clever man to fix it for me!
 04/17/2009 11:13:16 PM · #24
Originally posted by JimiRose:
Originally posted by pgirish007:
You can try doing following:

1. take HDD out of box (you have to give it a bit hard hand to the enclosure)
2. Put that HDD as additional drive to the system
3. see if system recognize it, it might be possible that there is any issue with the external HDD hardware and saying your HDD has gone bad.


No worries I'm all sorted now, thanks for the advice but I spent money and got a clever man to fix it for me!


Happy for you!
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