CANT ACCESS HARD DRIVE

kilograms

I have a Freecom external hard drive and it fell off my coffee table and now i can't access it.

It shows up in my computer but when i click into it, it just constantly loads. i can't get into properties to try run chkdsk as the same problem occurs, but when i turn the hard drive off, the properties menu comes up but i can't do anything with it.

sometimes it comes up that the parameters are incorrect.

I have thousands of photographs on it and really cannot lose them.

Any solutions please

ARGINITE

Sounds like the disk is dead.

To be sure remove the hdd from the enclosure and connect it directly to your mother board and see if you can access it that way. If that fails then the disk is toast, the last resort to try popping it into the freezer over night (in a water tight anti static bag), then connect it back to the computer and pray if it does work it then copy over everything quickly as it probably won't keep working for long.

Sparks43

kilograms wrote: »

It shows up in my computer but when i click into it, it just constantly loads. i can't get into properties to try run chkdsk as the same problem occurs, but when i turn the hard drive off, the properties menu comes up but i can't do anything with it.

sometimes it comes up that the parameters are incorrect.


Any solutions please

Have you tried running the chkdsk from command prompt?

Start > Cmd (as admin)> {Drive letter}:/ >chkdsk /f /r

Also there is a recover utility in Command prompt

Recover {Drive letter}{Path}

kilograms

yes, the laptop wont shutdown while the harddrive is on and when its starting back up you can hear the hard drive knocking off and restarting itself

riclad

Transfer it into a sata caddy 2.5inch,
cost 15euro,the units pcb could be loose, or damaged, just remove the hardrive gently.its connected to data slot, and power cable.
older enclosures, drives may use 3.5inch hardrive.
examine drive circuit,board . carefully,is there any cracks in it.

johndoe99

external HDs are very sturdy, there are encased inside a double sealed container much like a thermos flask. The platters themselves are most likely intact, however the circuit board is likely damaged.

All is not lost, you can dismantle the HD enclosure (if theres screws or clips), but you'll need to buy or borrow a caddy (can buy in PC World), and just attach the HD to the caddy and you have a new External HD.

kilograms

all is not lost, glad to hear that. thanks. i didnt fancy the freezer option. i wouldnt know wat to do if i opened it up so i'll have to bring it somewhere.

could one of you's do it, for a price?

kilograms

i would like to add that after it fell off the coffee table it worked for about 2 weeks

riclad

Data or power to drive inside could be loose.Does drive acess light flash when you try to acess it,from my computer.

Supermensch

Have you access to a Linux box? If not you can boot a live cd of Ubuntu or something.

Boot into Linux, connect your drive, open up terminal. As root, run 'fdisk -l'. See if your disk is listed.

yoyo

If external drives are unplugged without "Safely Removing Hardware" they can appear corrupt (you should never unplug a drive while its being written to), try running TestDisk on the drive, may help

Nick

kilograms

yes riclad it does.

i dont have access to linux.

Supermensch

Do you have an 8gb usb stick? You can make a Ubuntu Live usb. You won't be installing it to the actual computer itself, just to the usb. There are instructions here;

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromUSBStick

It seems like a bit of hassle, but, if your hard drive is found by fdisk, there is this program called for linux called ddrescue that creates an image of your disk drive. You can then mount this image and use DiskInternals Partition Recovery to get your pictures off of it.

I did this for a friend you had brought here HDD off to a computer repair shop. They had written her disk off as dead (lazy shítes probably just plugged it in and waited for it to mount). She was dead chuffed to have her baby photos back

kilograms

yes superman i do have an 8gb usb stick. i'll try it and see how it goes and get back to you's.

thanks everybody for your help

Supermensch

kilograms wrote: »

yes superman i do have an 8gb usb stick. i'll try it and see how it goes and get back to you's.

thanks everybody for your help

Just, when you boot into Ubuntu, you might get a message giving you the choice of "Try Ubuntu" or "Install Ubuntu", something along those lines. Click the "Try Ubuntu". You are not going to be installing Ubuntu on your computer

riclad

You can download ,mint linux,iso, burn image to 1cdr.boot from cd,use imgburn or similar program, burn iso file.
Boot from cd ,it loads up mint linux os, plug in the drive,
mint can acess any working usb drive.
thats easier than making up, a usb boot ubuntu drive.
You may need to go to bios, set boot order,cd/dvd=0, =1st boot,device, drive.
iso image is 650meg approx, go for x86, 32bit version.