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DPChallenge Forums >> Hardware and Software >> Dropped my G tech backup drive.
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Showing posts 1 - 5 of 5, (reverse)
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08/31/2018 10:19:14 AM · #1
It makes noise when booting up and my computer does not recognize it. Is it a goner? Can I retrieve my pictures somehow?
08/31/2018 11:26:58 AM · #2
I have had external rotating hard drives abruptly make a grinding noise and become unrecognizable by the operating system, even without physical trauma. Drive failure is a matter of "when" not a matter of "if." Definite bummer. Failing drives sometimes can have content rescued via specialized software when detected early, but that requires preservation of recognition/communication with the operating system. Sounds like your drive is past that stage.

A backup drive is used for keeping copies of files that reside on another (main) drive (internal or external). Quickest image recovery would be to make fresh backup copies from the main drive. Good idea to get a new external drive (pretty affordable now) and run your backup routine again. Right away is best.

If the "backup" drive was actually an external storage drive with no other copies of the images available on other drives, the situation is not so good. I learned that lesson the hard way back around 2007. There are companies that sometimes can recover data from malfunctioning drives. My understanding is their services can be expensive, and they have limits on what they can do. Best wishes and lots of sympathy.

08/31/2018 11:57:51 AM · #3
Not familiar with this drive but if it is a drive in an enclosure, I have had some of these die before on me and it is just the enclosure that has died - and taking the drive out of the enclosure and popping into desktop PC or some sort of hard drive docking station you may be lucky. Tho sometimes the enclosure has encryption - that is a tough one! Your situation may be totally different but worth trying some recovery software as I have had good success with such software in the past - some free and some for a marginal cost. I don't recall the name of the software as hasn't been needed for a good few years. You have at least reminded me to make a back up of my photos as I ran out of space on Google Drive about a year ago so have a years worth of photos only on a single hard drive - eep! Good luck! I hope you manage to recover your files.
08/31/2018 04:54:55 PM · #4
May be helpful

https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/270851/Does+anyone+know+how+to+open+up+this+case
08/31/2018 05:16:03 PM · #5
Thanks for the help. The pictures lost are going back to 2015. Luckily I keep the original smart media cards. I may have lost some edited pictures. A lot of the them I have uploaded to Smug Mug and many are still in the computer. Its a sinking feeling when that happens:(
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