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DPChallenge Forums >> Hardware and Software >> Damn n Double Damn - I dropped my WD Passport
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08/31/2019 05:19:17 PM · #1
I can't believe it finally happened...11 years I've been carrying them...and tonight I was carrying my laptop and stuff to work on pictures...and it fell. It broke apart - but snapped right back together. But my computer isn't bringing it up on my laptop. If I go to the disconnect icon it's there. I've tried different ports still nothing...

Any suggestions? Oh, and BTW I'm out of the country so unless it's simple I can't do much about it...

Lord, there are 2 years of photo's on it...I might just get really sick....

Someone tell me it will be alright!!! I'm trying my best not to totally panic...

Message edited by author 2019-08-31 17:20:11.
08/31/2019 05:36:33 PM · #2
Originally posted by Ja-9:

I can't believe it finally happened...11 years I've been carrying them...and tonight I was carrying my laptop and stuff to work on pictures...and it fell. It broke apart - but snapped right back together. But my computer isn't bringing it up on my laptop. If I go to the disconnect icon it's there. I've tried different ports still nothing...

Any suggestions? Oh, and BTW I'm out of the country so unless it's simple I can't do much about it...

Lord, there are 2 years of photo's on it...I might just get really sick....

Someone tell me it will be alright!!! I'm trying my best not to totally panic...


Oh no!!! I'm so sorry!!

I'm copying the text and sending it to Meggie's boyfriend (computer geek!) to see what he says.
08/31/2019 05:54:49 PM · #3
Thank you Wendy!
08/31/2019 06:01:29 PM · #4
I hope you are not telling us your only copies of these images are on a portable hard drive you carry around with you on trips? That can't be true, can it? :-(
08/31/2019 06:04:37 PM · #5
Originally posted by Bear_Music:

I hope you are not telling us your only copies of these images are on a portable hard drive you carry around with you on trips? That can't be true, can it? :-(


Sadly yes...(hard head slap)!!!

I trying real hard not to panic.
08/31/2019 06:51:45 PM · #6
He asks if you can send any photos of the hardware
08/31/2019 07:31:17 PM · #7
I'm holding my breath...
08/31/2019 07:42:42 PM · #8
Laptop broke in two (didn't get submerged or crushed or anything). Chances are the HD is intact.
Just pull it out and mount it to another PC. You'll need a special connector and should be good to go.

Why didn't you have back up to a NAS or the cloud?
08/31/2019 08:47:44 PM · #9
Originally posted by Venser:

Laptop broke in two (didn't get submerged or crushed or anything). Chances are the HD is intact.
Just pull it out and mount it to another PC. You'll need a special connector and should be good to go.

It isn't the laptop that broke, it's her Western Digital External Drive that she stores pictures on.
09/01/2019 01:15:38 AM · #10
Originally posted by Venser:

Laptop broke in two (didn't get submerged or crushed or anything). Chances are the HD is intact.
Just pull it out and mount it to another PC. You'll need a special connector and should be good to go.

Why didn't you have back up to a NAS or the cloud?


In the past I’ve had 3/4 companies that I did backups with (son in law would find unlimited data deals) but then after I would back up to the cloud the company would either go bust or jack up the pricing so high I couldn’t stay with them - it would take 5/6 months to get everything all loaded up then they would go poof...it was frustrating.,.,

Wendy I’ll get a picture of it today. BTW it shows up in the area on my computer where I have to “safely unplug” a devise. But it doesn’t show the icon on my desktop. The light comes on as usual.
09/01/2019 01:53:49 AM · #11
https://www.werecoverdata.com/AS/Taipei-Taiwan/DataRecoveryTaipei-Taiwan.htm

09/01/2019 02:01:18 AM · #12
Janine, I just put "Fix WD External Hard Drive Not Working" and found this:
https://www.easeus.com/computer-instruction/wd-external-hard-drive-not-working.html

I am pretty sure there are many sites with similar instructions and that they are probably trying to sell you software. It is possible to follow these instruction using just Windows, do you have Windows 10?

I suspect that if there is no external damage and the power connection works that you have bad sectors that stop it from being read. There are ways to repair it so relax but some technical knowledge of Windows would help ;)
09/01/2019 02:15:32 AM · #13
The head may have been damaged
If there is damage the more you spin the disk the more likely you are to damage the files.
Organisations that recover sometimes take your disk out of its cover and pop it in a new one to make it all function properly or pop in a new head so it will read.
They then transfer all files to a new drive.

I had my Mac time machine stop working and two weeks later my computer drive died.
Unbelievable to both happen at the same time.
I was fortunate to get my files back.

Hope you are successful getting yours back.
09/01/2019 03:06:53 AM · #14
Possibly it may just be the enclosure that is broken and the hard drive is perfectly fine. If the enclosure has encryption that makes it tricky otherwise you can just pop it into a caddy like this one
https://www.amazon.co.uk/TeckNet-Docking
09/01/2019 03:35:00 AM · #15
Thank you all!!! Your making me feel better!!! Because I’m out of the country I have limited access to the internet (it’s hard to search/research things). I’ll look at your links and stop trying to open it up (plug it in) until I get back home. I don’t want to further damage anything thus risking a recovery. I have another empty passport with me so I can still dump my photos.

From all the stories I’ve heard on here over the years - I’m pretty sure I can recover my files (breathe...just breathe)!!!

What a stupid thing to do!!! Thank you sooo much for looking up information for me - I really appreciate the help!!! Anyone have a good stiff drink for me??? Geez!!!

09/01/2019 03:49:52 AM · #16
Originally posted by GeorgesBogaert:

https://www.werecoverdata.com/AS/Taipei-Taiwan/DataRecoveryTaipei-Taiwan.htm


Excellent - sounds like a good company ...I wonder what this might cost me...I don’t think I can find out until I would send it in...ballpark???
09/01/2019 03:49:53 AM · #17
Originally posted by Ja-9:

Anyone have a good stiff drink for me??? Geez!!!


8.45 in the morning is a little early for me, but I’m sure I can rise to the challenge 🤪

Message edited by author 2019-09-01 03:50:22.
09/01/2019 03:58:21 AM · #18
Originally posted by marnet:

Janine, I just put "Fix WD External Hard Drive Not Working" and found this:
https://www.easeus.com/computer-instruction/wd-external-hard-drive-not-working.html

I am pretty sure there are many sites with similar instructions and that they are probably trying to sell you software. It is possible to follow these instruction using just Windows, do you have Windows 10?

I suspect that if there is no external damage and the power connection works that you have bad sectors that stop it from being read. There are ways to repair it so relax but some technical knowledge of Windows would help ;)


Margret, the only scenario that I’m not seeing is “if you have stupidly dropped your EHD do this”...I think that I need to stop trying to open it up so I don’t further damage the disk...if it’s spinning wonky it could do more damage. But I will look more into this when I get home...Thank you for the effort!!!
09/01/2019 04:03:45 AM · #19
Originally posted by SaraR:

Originally posted by Ja-9:

Anyone have a good stiff drink for me??? Geez!!!


8.45 in the morning is a little early for me, but I’m sure I can rise to the challenge 🤪


Cheer!!! It’s Scotch right!!! Navy Strength!
09/01/2019 04:04:56 AM · #20
Originally posted by P-A-U-L:

Possibly it may just be the enclosure that is broken and the hard drive is perfectly fine. If the enclosure has encryption that makes it tricky otherwise you can just pop it into a caddy like this one
https://www.amazon.co.uk/TeckNet-Docking


I tried the link Paul - it won’t work. What is the product and I’ll search the US Amazon. Thank you!
09/01/2019 05:17:44 AM · #21
Oops

TeckNet
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TeckNet USB 3.0 Hard Drives Docking Station for 2.5 Inch & 3.5 Inch SATA HDD (SATA I/II/III) Support 8TB & UASP, Tool-Free Installation
09/01/2019 11:56:21 AM · #22
About a year into digital photography, I had a computer hard drive failure that evaporated all my digital images. No backups. (Backups were on the long list of good things to do "eventually.") I feel your pain (and send sympathy). Lesson learned, the hard way in my case. The image loss was what it took to pop that task to the top of the list and actually implement a system to minimize future loss:

1. Ingest images via card reader, with one original copy going to an external "archive" drive that preserves the original files and another copy going to my computer hard drive for editing. Software (Photo Mechanic in my case) automates this along with folder creation on both drives and file renaming for the internal drive copies.

2. Automated daily backup of active pictures, documents, and data via backup software onto a separate external drive called "swap drive." Would not happen if I had to remember to do it myself. Technically I use "mirroring" instead of "backup" so the folders on the drives have identical content.

3. Weekly exchange the "swap drive" for an identical drive that lives offsite (can be work office, friend's house, safe deposit box). In case of fire, theft, etc. at home, restore from swap drive gets things running with only a few days of files lost. Cloud storage could be more frequent (or continuous) but has own set of issues.

4. When a drive fails, restore from the most recent copy. ALL COMPUTER DRIVES FAIL. Physical trauma, theft, fire, etc. are extra failure reasons, but even without such events it is really just a question of "when" rather than "if." I monitor disk health with Hard Disk Sentinel software and aim to replace drives ahead of failure when possible. Some IT departments just replace drives every three years as a cost of doing business, but they typically have bigger budgets than mine.

Simpler systems may be fine for some, others may want additional safety. Any backup system will have some cost. Lack of backup system WILL have a cost too (likely more than expected in dollars and time as well as in value of lost files). I'm posting all this with hope that anyone who has not yet established a backup routine might take action now.

09/01/2019 04:02:52 PM · #23
Perhaps you should replace your portable hard drive with an SSD (Solid State Drive) at this point. They have gotten cheap enough now. Without moving parts, it should be more tolerant of accidents like this, as well as faster. I have a 250 Gb drive that cost about $55 or so. It's a Patriot brand, which is a second string make IMO, but I use it for convenience, not reliable backup. Better brand names and higher capacity will be a bit more, but still quite affordable.
09/01/2019 04:13:12 PM · #24
Originally posted by Yo_Spiff:

Perhaps you should replace your portable hard drive with an SSD (Solid State Drive) at this point. They have gotten cheap enough now. Without moving parts, it should be more tolerant of accidents like this, as well as faster. I have a 250 Gb drive that cost about $55 or so. It's a Patriot brand, which is a second string make IMO, but I use it for convenience, not reliable backup. Better brand names and higher capacity will be a bit more, but still quite affordable.


As an internal hard drive vs a portable external hard drive? At this point my computer is resembling a boat anchor more and more. I'm trying to milk it until Christmas time for "the deals" it's 8 years old ish...so I don't think it's worth putting the $$ into this machine. If it was newer - probably.
09/01/2019 04:42:32 PM · #25
Originally posted by Ja-9:

As an internal hard drive vs a portable external hard drive? At this point my computer is resembling a boat anchor more and more. I'm trying to milk it until Christmas time for "the deals" it's 8 years old ish...so I don't think it's worth putting the $$ into this machine. If it was newer - probably.

Nooooo... All the good External Drives are solid state now. You can get 1 TB as cheap as 48 bux from Toshiba on Amazon, but that's USB 3.0... The quicker models are USB 3.1 and they sell for 10025 bux and up. Penny and I both have external SS drives now as well as internal ones. Great for your own personal photo backup, you can park it in a safety deposit box or something in case the house burns down :-)
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