No doubt the worst of things that could ever happen to a tog and that is for my external hard drive to deicide to go bang !!!!!!!

 So if there are any of the models i have worked with in the past waiting for thier chosen pics to be edited then i am so so sorry as i can not complete this as there is no way (so i am told ) to get my work back :-((((((

Once again so sorry

Terrible new Skip.

Who told you the data cannot be saved? Have you tried a specialist data recovery company. As far as I am aware unless you literally smash the hard drive with a hammer the data can be recovered, maybe not all.

M

DragonLady , Digital Retoucher  posted on 25/02/2010 18:07:23   Posted 934 times

Located:London,London, UK
Member Since: 07/11/2008

thanks drangon i shall have a look

Agree with Margaret - while you're getting your cheque book out the rest of us will cross our fingers for you!

Model websites from just £10

SmilesPhoto , Photographer  posted on 25/02/2010 18:25:27   Posted 311 times

Located:UK,Kent, UK
Member Since: 27/03/2009

Sorry to hear the bad news there Skippie.  I guess this is where either a raid system, or multiple backups come into their own.


Kevin

Skippie, Sorry to hear about your bad news . Good idea from dragon but data recovery services do not come cheap. Will depend upon how much you want to get your data back and how big and deep your wallet is. One question which part of the drive went bang? PM if you would like more advice as I work in IT for my sins.

Has the drive itself broken down Skip, or is it a data crash?

If it is a broken directory index then there are data recovery tools that are not prohibitively expensive.

Are you Mac or PC based? If you are Mac I might be able to help.

If it's a hardware breakdown find out which bit has gone phut. The drive itself may be OK but there will be an interface, either USB, firewire or ethernet. you may be able to salvage your work by removing the drive and putting it in an external case.

Finally, the drive and interface may be OK, but the power supply may have packed up. "Switch mode" power supplies, common in modern digital equipment can be a bit twitchy.

Eltham , Digital Retoucher  posted on 25/02/2010 20:41:14   Posted 97 times

Located:Hengoed,Mid Glamorgan, UK
Member Since: 08/04/2009

Thanx guys and girls

 erm been told the unit is not powering up at all so dead of the dead and then they took a deep breath in and said that will cost about £700 to sort out !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i laughed and took myself out the shop

If its power supply you may be able to take the external drives out of their casing and put them in a new unit
If its the drives itself, then unless you happen to know a forensic IT person you are stuffed I'm afraid.

Best of luck.

Quoting post from Skippie
Thanx guys and girls

 erm been told the unit is not powering up at all so dead of the dead and then they took a deep breath in and said that will cost about £700 to sort out !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i laughed and took myself out the shop

That's ridiculous Skip, you can get a new drive for a fraction of that. 

I can imagine that it might cost that much to salvage the data, but if the drive isn't powering up it doesn't mean it's dead. The drive, the data interface and the power supply are three separate components. If the power supply is dead (or any part of the circuitry between the PSU and the drive's supply input) the drive won't spin up but it doesn't mean it can't...

Before doing ANYTHING else, get one of these:

http://computers.shop.ebay.co.uk/Hard-Drive-Caddies-Enclosures-/86758/i.html?_catref=1&_fln=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m282

Crack open your drive casing and pull out the drive unit itself and install it in a new caddy. If it doesn't work it's dead. If it does, you may have saved all your data.

Seriously, PM me. It's not rocket science; you only need to know how to use a screwdriver.

Eltham , Digital Retoucher  posted on 26/02/2010 22:37:30   Posted 97 times

Located:Hengoed,Mid Glamorgan, UK
Member Since: 08/04/2009

This may sound completely bananas but it worked for me.

Put the HD in a plastic bag - suck as much air as possible out of it - seal it very tightly - very tightly - and put it in the freezer compartment of your fridge.  Leave it in overnight.

This was suggested to me by one of my students a couple of years ago when my HD went pop.  I tried it and and it worked.  Left the HD in the freezer overnight andit died again.  This technique has also worked for two other people who suffered HD failure.

Just a suggestion - maybe worth a punt.

Gordon

That's an interesting suggestion Gordon; but I'd see it as a course of last, rather than first resort. Hard drives can suffer a phenomenon called "stiction" which causes the platters to jam and it's possible that cryo treatment can free things up but there are risks. The drive itself should be hermetically sealed, but the surrounding circuitry isn't; even if you get a high degree of vaccuum and residual moisture in and around the interface components can expand as it freezes and cause component damage.





The most common form of hardware failure involves not the drive itself, but the power supply so I would definitely try a new caddy and PSU before anything else.

Eltham , Digital Retoucher  posted on 27/02/2010 15:05:51   Posted 97 times

Located:Hengoed,Mid Glamorgan, UK
Member Since: 08/04/2009

Totally agree with you - it is a last resort.  I should have pointed that out in my posting.  Apologies.

But as I said - it worked for me and at least two others that I know of.  From further enquiries it seems it was a regular technique amongst my ex-students when their drives gave up the ghost.

Gordon

Well I've got a couple of dead drives and a vacuum chamber to assist in hermetically sealing them so I'm going to give it a go...

Eltham , Digital Retoucher  posted on 27/02/2010 16:31:46   Posted 97 times

Located:Hengoed,Mid Glamorgan, UK
Member Since: 08/04/2009

Of course if the power circuits on the drive itself are buggered, you could pic up a replacement drive cheap on ebay and just transfer the electronics over.  I have done this a few times without fail.

Hi skippie - mail me if you still stuck - i had a problem with my drive and a friend managede to get some - (not  all) of the photos of of mine for me

Dave

By the way - this is my wifes laptop - my pc is still Knackered - cant afford a new one just yet :(((((