Lost all my movies

Ray1964

I had just transferred all my movies (approx 1,200) to a bigger external hard drive which worked out fine. Then for some reason the original hard drive corrupted so I had to reformat it.

So no problem there as I now have my movies backed up on the new drive - then the unbelievable happened. As I went to backup my movies didn't the new hard drive fell off my desk and smashed the disk leaving me totally distraught as I have lost all my movies that took me years to collect.

I rang a data recovery company today who quoted me €800 to fix it but can't guarantee that they will be able to fix it.

Anybody got any ideas as to what I can do?

Thanks in advance,

Ray.

Faith+1

Ray1964 wrote: »

I had just transferred all my movies (approx 1,200) to a bigger external hard drive which worked out fine. Then for some reason the original hard drive corrupted so I had to reformat it.

So no problem there as I now have my movies backed up on the new drive - then the unbelievable happened. As I went to backup my movies didn't the new hard drive fell off my desk and smashed the disk leaving me totally distraught as I have lost all my movies that took me years to collect.

I rang a data recovery company today who quoted me €800 to fix it but can't guarantee that they will be able to fix it.

Anybody got any ideas as to what I can do?

Thanks in advance,

Ray.

That's taking the piss op

wandatowell

I'd give google a bash.

A mate of mine has an old laptop with linux on it and he uses that to recover data from hard drives.


Couldn't tell you any finer details than that pal.

Skatedude

there are a number of hard drive recovery programs that are not too expensive that can recover files after a format. not too dear and easy enough to use at home.
But not guaranteed to work everytime

Duggy747

Faith+1 wrote: »

That's taking the piss op

If the drive is truly borked and is beyond the help of software like TestDisk, Recuva, etc, then that's roughly what those companies charge since they have specialised equipment and usually deal more with businesses than the average person.

Was the drive on when it fell? Does it make any sound when you plug it in? You could be very lucky in that the hard drive came loose off it's sata connection inside of the enclosure, a matter of taking the shell apart and reseating the drive.

The old drive you reformatted, have you put anything on it since? You could try something like Recuva which would hopefully pull back something, though some movies will be unrecoverable / all messed up.

biketard

Yes, don't give up on the old hard drive. There are plenty of cheap, or free recovery programs out there that can salvage things even from formatted disks. As long as they haven't actually been over-written with something, they should (mostly at least) still be there.

I use "PC Inspector File Recovery" (which is free) myself, but I'm not sure if you can do better. Best to wait and see if anyone else recommends anything.

jonnyfingers

Op it depends what state the external hard drive is in.

Does your PC recognise the drive but can't read from it? Does the drive make any clicking or beeping noises? When you power it up does it even spin up?

If your PC can recognise the drive then you might have some luck with data recover software. If not then you might be out of luck.

I've just recently dropped my external hard drive too. Initially the spindle was just stuck but it looks like there has been a head crash also. As far as I know how to recover the data in that case is to remove the platter that holds the data and insert it into a new working drive. That requires clean room conditions though and is very easy to get wrong, which I imagine is why the price charged is high.

Luckilly I've nothing too important on the drive that isn't backed up elsewhere. But I think i'll invest in a solid state drive next time which is slightly more resistant to knocks and bumps.

stevenmu

FWIW an external hard drive is basically an internal hard drive put in to a caddy with USB and power connectors. If it's only the external caddy that has smashed, then there's a very good chance that the internal hard drive is fine and has all your data intact.

If that's the case, you could either get another caddy and put the internal hard drive into that and work away as normal, or open a PC and connect the hard drive inside it.

Have you any pics of the damage?

ThirdMan

Ray1964 wrote: »

I have lost all my movies that took me years to collect.

At least you still have the original DVDs/BluRays.

AnonoBoy

Ray1964 wrote: »

I had just transferred all my movies (approx 1,200) to a bigger external hard drive which worked out fine. Then for some reason the original hard drive corrupted so I had to reformat it.

I rang a data recovery company today who quoted me €800 to fix it but can't guarantee that they will be able to fix it.

Think about it. That's only 66 cent per movie to recover.

I know it's a lot on top of whatever the movies already cost you but it's a small price to pay to save your collection which you've spent a few grand on.

yes would be a bit of a pain to re-rip all those from your discs again
google a bit on some of the free programs available and try them on both hard drives - one of the drives should be ok to recover them from. plenty of companies out there preying off people who are willing to spend $$$ to get stuff back as it may be important files or family photos etc.
many of the free programs are as good as the professional services if you are willing to put a bit of time in.

Arthur Beesley

ThirdMan wrote: »

At least you still have the original DVDs/BluRays.

You'd certainly hope so.

Ray1964

Thank you all for your replies. The disk is making a noise which I think means I'm in trouble. I will try some of the suggestions here.

Thanks,

Ray.

norrie rugger

when I buy movies from a site, I can always download them again. Or I can just re-rip the disc.
I am, of course, assuming that you owned the films. ;-)

don ramo

if you can try plugging the drive directly into your pc, youll need a sata cable to do it, no way would i pay E800 euro to replace something that is so easily replaced, one of my drives died on me about 2 years ago with 900 films on it, twas a b1tch but like i said their easily replaced

miralize

Just "get" them again

Sad Professor

Moved from Films to C&T.

darragh o meara

stevenmu wrote: »

FWIW an external hard drive is basically an internal hard drive put in to a caddy with USB and power connectors. If it's only the external caddy that has smashed, then there's a very good chance that the internal hard drive is fine and has all your data intact. ?

I've seen a lot of externals recently that have no data ports and have the USB interface board as part of the hd's PCB.

Tokyo

Assuming you haven't done anything to the old drive except format it, it's probably your best chance of recovering your legally ripped and purchased movies. I've had a lot of success with both Recuva and Paragon sorftware in the past - it does take quite a while to get through the drive though....

stevenmu

darragh o meara wrote: »

I've seen a lot of externals recently that have no data ports and have the USB interface board as part of the hd's PCB.

Thanks, I hadn't realised that. I've fixed a few externals by transplanting the disk inside, but haven't done it with any recent ones.

riclad

MOST external drives are a case , a pcb,circuit board
with usb port, power socket,
connected to a drive by a sata power cable, sata data cable.
YOU could install it inside a pc ,using the sata cables from the external unit.
OR BUY a sata caddy,
in my experience a drive over 300gig needs a powered caddy to work properly.
ie drive enclosure with its own power unit,
Cost 35 euro approx.

most drives ARE standard sata hd ,,
connected to a small pcb circuit board which has power and usb interfaces on it,
AND sata ports 2 on the drive facing side.

http://www.dabs.com/category/components-and-storage,hard-drives,hard-drives-enclosures/11270

A docking station has its own power supply,
will take any sata hd , 2.5 or 3.5inch size.s