Data Recovery

[bvilchez]

I'm hoping someone on here can assist me in this endeavor because it's painstaking but I can not afford to lose.

About a year ago my wife was compiling all of our digital pictures along with all the digital pictures that we had up to that point of our kids since they were born. Pictures were coming from thumbdrives, CD's, memory cards, etc. I had a Western Digital 500GB external hard drive that I was not using so I told her to utilize that one and that we would then purchase something bigger to back it up. Well she would unplug the USB cable from the laptop to plug it into the desktop a quite a few times but she did so without ejecting it properly. She would literally just pull the cable thinking it would be fine. Needless to say she plugged it in one time and nothing appeared on the drive.

Fast forward to now and now that I'm settled in over here I wanted to try and recover at least some of those memories. My dilemma is I'm not sure where to start. I've tried Recuva but nothing. I'm almost tempted to go and start purchasing all the data recovery software here on base one by one and see what works.

My last option is to send it to a data recovery specialist that I know will charge me a few limbs but I'm almost willing to pay it to recover those pictures.

Any assistance anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated. Some info on what I'm currently running:

Windows 7 32-bit
Western Digital 500GB

Thanks in advance

[pnoon]

I'm no expert in data recovery but I would start with something in Windows 7.
What do you see when you right click on the drive? Does it recognize anything? (Space used/remaining, files etc.) Also, see if there is a disk scan or disk repair utility.

I know this isn't much but it is a place to start. Good luck, Brother.

[bvilchez]

When I right click it gives me the option to open the drive. I attempt that and then it asks me if I want to format the drive. Not familiar with formatting so I'm unsure if by doing so it will delete the data on it.

It also does not make mention of the space used/remaining. My assumption is that maybe since it can not read that info that it can not read the files (pictures) on the drive as well and that all hope is not lost.

[jledou]

sounds funny but try placing it in the freezer for a while and then try accessing it.

[bvilchez]

Originally Posted by jledou

sounds funny but try placing it in the freezer for a while and then try accessing it.

I've heard of this being done before and while I appreciate the assistance that would be no-go for me due to the humidity out here. The second I would take it out of the freezer condensation would commence further damaging the internals of the drive.

[xFreebirdx]

You can recover/access data using a Ubuntu Live CD. You can download it for free off the Internet at Ubuntus site here. This OS will run from the CD allowing you to access ALL areas of a windows OS. Even restricted access areas. Make sure the external HD is plugged in and powered up. You then put the UBUNTU Live cd in and boot from your CD/DVD rom drive. When given the choice choose "Try Ubuntu without any change to your computer". And the OS will run from the CD and give you full access to the PC and Network so you can copy and paste your files/data anywhere.

Be patient and read all you can about it first. The link I supplied will give you all the info you need. Its a long process getting it figured out. But once you do you'll be unstoppable. I'd love to walk/talk you through it but your overseas so that may be out. I'd also like to type out how to do it but it would take me all day. But I have given you the tools to do it. It works very well and I have been able to recover 1000's of GB of data for my customers.

Good luck!

Again the site........https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD

[CRIMPS]

Originally Posted by xFreebirdx

You can recover/access data using a Ubuntu Live CD. You can download it for free off the Internet at Ubuntus site here. This OS will run from the CD allowing you to access ALL areas of a windows OS. Even restricted access areas. Make sure the external HD is plugged in and powered up. You then put the UBUNTU Live cd in and boot from your CD/DVD rom drive. When given the choice choose "Try Ubuntu without any change to your computer". And the OS will run from the CD and give you full access to the PC and Network so you can copy and paste your files/data anywhere.

Be patient and read all you can about it first. The link I supplied will give you all the info you need. Its a long process getting it figured out. But once you do you'll be unstoppable. I'd love to walk/talk you through it but your overseas so that may be out. I'd also like to type out how to do it but it would take me all day. But I have given you the tools to do it. It works very well and I have been able to recover 1000's of GB of data for my customers.

Good luck!

Again the site........https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD

+1 for Eddie's advice. This is by far the simplest solution. Good luck.

[bvilchez]

I'll give it a whirl.

Thanks Eddie

[xFreebirdx]

Your welcome!

And just to help you feel a bit better about it. I'm the owner of http://www.southernfriedcomputer.com/ and have been in business for over 12 years.

[xFreebirdx]

Also if time is not important. I'd be happy to send you the CD already made and ready to go.

[xFreebirdx]

PS: Once you've booted to the CD. In the upper left corner click the "Home Folder" and on the left in that folder you'll see a list of attached devices.

[mosesbotbol]

Whatever you try, do not format or use diskpart. If Ubuntu doesn't work, another CD boot OS may work like WinPE. Either you see the files or don't do anything unless you are a 100% sure.

Generally data recovery for your situation shouldn't be that expensive. It's not like they'll have to disassemle the hard drive.

[CigarNut]

Something that has worked for me -- open up the enclosure and find out what kind of drive you have inside (SATA, IDE, etc.). Find an old PC and then connect the drive directly to the to the IDE/SATA port on the mother board. This may allow you to get more information off the drive -- more than the USB driver will allow.

To protect yourself: before actually connecting the drive up, google the model number to find the jumpers and set the jumper for "read only". This will prevent you from accidentally writing to o formatting the drive.

[benedic08]

Originally Posted by CigarNut

Something that has worked for me -- open up the enclosure and find out what kind of drive you have inside (SATA, IDE, etc.). Find an old PC and then connect the drive directly to the to the IDE/SATA port on the mother board. This may allow you to get more information off the drive -- more than the USB driver will allow.

To protect yourself: before actually connecting the drive up, google the model number to find the jumpers and set the jumper for "read only". This will prevent you from accidentally writing to o formatting the drive.

This is the first thing i would try if it was me... Hook it up to your desktop sata/ide then check with
hd health program. I use crystal disk info.

You could also try Unstoppable copier, it copies all the files it can from a failed hard drive. Copies everything it can and tries to rebuild the fragments it copied.
http://www.roadkil.net/program.php?ProgramID=29

[T.G]

Sounds like it might be a trashed partition table Jay.

Typically what happens is that the file operation occurs, then the table is updated. If the power is cut during the update, the table could potentially be corrupted. When such a situation occurs, chances are that the data which composes the files is fine.

Such being said, I haven't had to recover a partition table in so many years that I'm not sure what the best software solution out there right now is. The aforementioned linux boot cd & recovery is certainly worth a try. Worst that happens is that it can't see anything.

[moosie]

http://www.piriform.com/recuva

Recuva is the answer.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by moosie

http://www.piriform.com/recuva

Recuva is the answer.

Originally Posted by bvilchez

Fast forward to now and now that I'm settled in over here I wanted to try and recover at least some of those memories. My dilemma is I'm not sure where to start. I've tried Recuva but nothing. I'm almost tempted to go and start purchasing all the data recovery software here on base one by one and see what works.

[xFreebirdx]

bvilchez? Just wondering how you made out?

[taltos]

For recovery from memory cards, there is a program called Card Recovery. My wife and I were able to recover pictures from a corrupted SD card and the program is not expensive.

[Silound]

Unless the drive is making some unusual clicking or grinding noises, this is not a mechanical failure. If it IS making these kinds of noises, then your ONLY option is professional file recovery, which is hellishly expensive. Trying home-rigged methods will almost assuredly result in partial or incomplete data recovery, or even potential total data loss!

For what it's worth, in my 15 years of experience, if the data was that critically important, I would have it professionally recovered, damn the cost.

This sounds to me like a case of file structure corruption on the disk, which happens if file structure was being written to the disk when she pulled the cable. Unfortunately, removing the drive from the enclosure and plugging it directly into the computer's motherboard will not solve this problem.

The disk has a huge number of areas to store data, and keeps something akin to a chart that tells it what data is stored and where. If that "chart" is corrupted (by pulling the plug before the computer has ejected the drive, for example) then the data is incomplete and the drive cannot tell where files are stored.

There are two ways you can try to recover this if it is just a file problem:

One is to try to Ubuntu method listed above. There is about a 30-70 chance you can recover some or all files because of the difference in the way the two operating systems manage file structures on disk (Windows vs Linux).

The only other option is to use a recovery software that will try to analyze the disk and possibly recover files. Because the actual data is still there on the disk, a recovery program like CardRecovery should be able to recover some of the data.


A warning: No recovery method is 100% foolproof, and frequently they cannot return everything. If you are serious about wanting those pictures back as complete as possible, then go with professional data recovery.