Tech Help Por Favor

[islandman]

On a side note, even though I try to be diligent backing up my HDDs, if I get busy it isn't uncommon to find I have let it go several weeks between backups. Writing my dissertation, I couldn't afford to have a loss. I got Carbonite and for $60 a year I never have to worry about losing critical data. For me, I now consider this a yearly expense just like good internet protection.

This.

Local backups of backups can fail. Online backup is cheap and offers peace of mind. I've used it for years.

Installing the old HD into the PC brought more crashes but an external HD case worked like a charm! I'm doing the mother of all happy dances!

Thanks everybody! I owe you all big time!

More crashes isn't surprising given that the hardware and driver incompatibilities alone would render it useless for data-retrieval purposes. I was surprised that it was even suggested.

Glad it worked out for you. Since I just saved you $2,600, you owe me a beer.


Now, get Carbonite.

 

[islandman]

There is a good chance that the drive is near end of life, so it would be best to do a full image backup, then also copy the data folders to your new drive. Then run diagnostics on the old drive with a full surface test and repair. Take another full image of the drive if any repairs were done and copy your folders again.

Some of the files may be damaged.

Do you have a favourite ISO-creation program? I use imgburn, but am look for other suggestions.

TIA.

 

[Sir Victor]

Hi, I also use Imgburn and have not really tried any others for ISOs in many years.

 

[islandman]

Hi, I also use Imgburn and have not really tried any others for ISOs in many years.

That seems to be the consensus.

Thanks.

 

[EdwardMidweston]

I suggest that the first thing you do is connect it using the native connector to another known good computer, then back it up as is to an external drive using Acronis. Do a full image backup.

Then download Western Digitals diagnostic program and run it on the drive, be sure to not select any tests that destroy data. This is a typical example you have to look it up for your particular drive model:
http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=502&sid=30&lang=en

This alone might fix most of your problems. If this does not work and you really need to do data recovery and have given up on all other services try Steve Gibson's Spin Rite:
http://www.grc.com/spinrite.htm

I believe that WD and Seagate both offer data recovery services that are no where near as expensive as the quote that you got.

Another thing to consider is that both companies make very inexpensive drives for the competitive market but they also make "enterprise" drives for businesses who need better reliability. Look for a drive for servers, or with a high MTBF (mean time between failure) rating. Remember these are mechanical devices with moving parts and no matter who makes it they will fail someday. You might want to have a solid state back up drive if your volume of data is not that large.

I would just set up Acronis to do nightly incremental backups to an external drive. If your data is highly valuable you might want to back up monthly or weekly to another drive that you keep off site in case of fire.

Unfortunately, the "pro grade" drives I paid for turned out to be cheap crap. The company that sold me the computer ran the same scam on many customers and pocketed the difference. I didn't find out about it until he was out of business and long gone to who knows where. My new Seagate uis, however, an "enterprise" drive bought directly from the manufacturer, with data recovery (hopefully never needed) included in the warranty.

Despite that, I'm going to back up everything from now on--no more "it'll wait a couple days" mindset.

Thanks for your help.

 

[EdwardMidweston]

Hey Edward,

If you have a flash drive see if you can transfer the files via the flash drive.
When you have done that plug the flash drive into the USB port and see if it will
open the files.

Unfortunately, I had so many files on the drive that I would have needed many dozen flash drives unless I worked in very small increments, and I was afraid the decrepit old drive might die at any moment.

 

[EdwardMidweston]

There is a good chance that the drive is near end of life, so it would be best to do a full image backup, then also copy the data folders to your new drive. Then run diagnostics on the old drive with a full surface test and repair. Take another full image of the drive if any repairs were done and copy your folders again.

Some of the files may be damaged.

I have them saved now and I'm working my way through the files. All seem to be OK so far. You're absolutely right--the old drive is beyond life support and waiting for "Taps" to be blown.

 

[EdwardMidweston]

This.

Local backups of backups can fail. Online backup is cheap and offers peace of mind. I've used it for years.





More crashes isn't surprising given that the hardware and driver incompatibilities alone would render it useless for data-retrieval purposes. I was surprised that it was even suggested.

Glad it worked out for you. Since I just saved you $2,600, you owe me a beer.


Now, get Carbonite.

Carbonite it shall be, and as soon as possible!

I owe you several cases of beer. If only I could figure how to stuff them into a DVD drive. Where is teleportation when it's really needed.

 

[Sir Victor]

Unfortunately, the "pro grade" drives I paid for turned out to be cheap crap. The company that sold me the computer ran the same scam on many customers and pocketed the difference. I didn't find out about it until he was out of business and long gone to who knows where. My new Seagate uis, however, an "enterprise" drive bought directly from the manufacturer, with data recovery (hopefully never needed) included in the warranty.

Despite that, I'm going to back up everything from now on--no more "it'll wait a couple days" mindset.

Thanks for your help.

You can set up Acronis to do it automatically at night or whenever you want.
I favored Seagate for a while, then had a few that were noisy; lately I've gone back to WD. As I said they all have problems but I'd certainly go with one of these two and always check particular models for common recurring problems. You might consider a RAID server at some point if you can justify the cost.

I do not use online backup since I don't trust others having my data. All it takes is one corrupt employee to make theft easy.

You probably have no way of knowing if the data in every file that you copy off is good and therefore I'd image the drive before and after running Spin Rite as I said earlier.

 

[islandman]

I do not use online backup since I don't trust others having my data. All it takes is one corrupt employee to make theft easy.

While I understand the sentiment, that's not at all the case.

Most online backups - including Carbonite - encrypt data before it leaves your computer and it remains so at the company's data center. Forgetting all other security protocols for a moment, any employee would need a decryption key, which for obvious reasons isn't kept within the company, to match with the encryption of your data. It could be done, but you'd be the proverbial needle in a haystack for it to happen to you.