Community Newsletter: Q&A: Ways to recover data from a corrupt hard drive?
- 10/10/08 3:51 PM
Recovering Hard Disks and Corrupted Data
by lodave - 10/4/08 12:07 AM In reply to: Ways to recover data from a corrupt hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
It's not cheap ($89) but Gibson Research Corporation (GRC.com) has long had a utility named SpinRite, now in version 6.0 that has saved disks thought long past redemption. Read the testimonials and FAQs at their website and you'll likely decide that it is well worth the price. SpinRite is also a preventative maintenance utility.
Dangerous ways to try to recover the info
by Galdhrim - 10/4/08 12:16 AM In reply to: Ways to recover data from a corrupt hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Well, there is a document "200 ways to revive a hard drive", there are also other version "100 ways to revive..." and so on. You can google it, or you can take a look at http://www.hddrecovery.com.au/downloads/200ways.pdf
But please remember, these are extreme solutions, and they are not guaranteed to work. And the worst thing is: each attempt you do to recover the info will decrease the next attempt chance to succeed... I could recover all the information in my brother's hard drive, by using the "freeze it" solution... it required several attempts, and each attempt required more time in the freezer... also, I had an hdd to USB adaptor that made things a lot easier (when the temperature of the dead hard drive increased, it stopped responding, and my computer stopped responding too, until I unplugged the drive)... so don't attempt these advises unless they are your only chance of recovering the info... my choices where to try to recover the info myself, or to drop the hard drive in the trash can.
I forgot to add...
by Galdhrim - 10/4/08 12:29 AM In reply to: Dangerous ways to try to recover the info by GaldhrimI saw some people suggesting to check for damaged circuits... if you an get somebody to do it, try that before freezing the hdd. Also, since there was not 'funny' noises, I would vote for the damaged circuits too.
And for backups, I have been using Comodo Backup (it's 100% free), and that allow me to do incremental backups (that is, it updates the modified files and add the new files too, to the backup, that is a good way to keep your important data in an external hdd). DVDs are cheap, and they are a good way to backup data, but check them from time to time, since fungus, heat, and other things can kill a DVD without giving you any warning...
Recovering Corrupted Hard Drives
by Sandy Jankowski - 10/4/08 12:28 AM In reply to: Ways to recover data from a corrupt hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
SpinRite! http://www.grc.com/spinrite.htm The program is amazing.
I have had the unfortunate opportunity to use it on a number of occasions. I can remember only once that it was unable to recover a drive.
Someone I know had her hard drive corrupted by a power surge. SpinRite brought it back to life in minutes.
A colleague was faced with a very badly corrupted hard drive. SpinRite warned that it would take days to finish. Time was not an issue so they went ahead. It did take days, but in the end they had the drive and its data back.
Ways to recover data from a corrupt hard drive?
by sm1m - 10/4/08 12:30 AM In reply to: Ways to recover data from a corrupt hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Try "RECOVER MY FILES". An excellent program which recovers files from reformatted HDD's as well. It does however take quite some time (although three full days does seem a bit excessive) to recover your lost information.
data recovery
by psyclenut - 10/4/08 12:43 AM In reply to: Ways to recover data from a corrupt hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
try putting the hard drive in your freezer over night. (try in an antistatic bag with a rubberband around it) i`ve also had a 120gb hard drive die on me and this trick helped me get some of my pictures back. it may only work while the drive is cold but if you are quick enough you might be able to at least copy some of the data to another hard drive before the faulty drive heats up. and if it doesn`t work set as a slave try the cable select setting. while i dont recommend running your computer with the inner workings exposed or a hard drive hanging out the side panel, quickness may be essential to this save working. good luck and hope this works for you -psyclenut
Reviving a corrupt hard drive
by alfzay - 10/4/08 1:26 AM In reply to: Ways to recover data from a corrupt hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi Chuck:
I experienced the same thing about 2 months ago, but managed to solve the problem using a software for Data Recovery.
Email me alf@mustwin.biz for more info.
Thanks!
Regards,
Alf
Data Recovery
by alangan - 10/4/08 1:38 AM In reply to: Ways to recover data from a corrupt hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
you might want to try Easy Recovery Professional from Ontrack.
currupt recovery
by sivani64 - 10/4/08 1:41 AM In reply to: Ways to recover data from a corrupt hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
i have an experience. i lost my file while working and found it was corrupted. i tried in so many ways but the result was it cannot be recovered. i m using ccleaner. while updating i found a software RECUVA advt in its window and i installed it from www.recuva.com.
To my surprise i was able to recover the corrupted Excel worksheet with RECUVA. my experience was so wonderful. i was able to recover it with RECUVA after all my efforts with all other recovery tools for more than three months. i was futher surprised while recovery, i got all files i deleted for the past three and half years.Hope my experience may be useful to you. i post it as i experienced the same sufferings as you are now.with regards-sivani
Corrupt Hard Drive
by 2dogday - 10/4/08 2:16 AM In reply to: Ways to recover data from a corrupt hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Last year I went through the same thing, only for a different reason. My HD was impossible to load due to a conflict with an auto-MS service download. After wasting hours and hours I finally gave up trying to recover it and called a pro. tech. guy. He picked up my computer and took it to his shop. He explained EVERYTHING to me in minute detail--talked steadily for over an hour!
The good news for me was that my HD didn't have any corrupted files even though it was 6 years old with only 80 Gigs. He was able to transfer all my files safely to a new 332 Gig HD. During our conversations he explained that as files become corrupted parts of them deteriorate--that is, letters or even pages may disappear. This is very gradual and may not be noticed for some time. If you see that a few files are incomplete or photos had become faint, you'd better get a new HD right away and hopefully be able to transfer what's left onto the new one(as the reader tried to do.)
When the old HD gets to the point where a file or two is corrupted due to use, it will go out very fast. He said that once it starts, tiny cracks form that will corrupt the whole drive and that can occur quickly. Because the reader's daughter's photos are illegible when transferred and most files won't transfer at all, probably means her old HD is totally gone. To make sure, however, he could remove it and use a magnifying glass to see if there are fine cracks on its surface. If it looks good, he may want to have a pro try to transfer any files that are left. This is all the more reason to have an online storage facility or do regular file downloads to CDRs or other peripherals.
Possible solution
by williamdekeukeleire - 10/4/08 2:20 AM In reply to: Ways to recover data from a corrupt hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Chuck ive got a simple solution for you.
Get the hard drive out the computer, put in in a bag for a freezer.
Then let the bag with the harddisk in for about 7 hours in the freezer.
Afterwards you waited the hours you install the harddrive again, do it as fast as you can.
Youll see it will work, but attention it will work only a short time+- 10 min. Its just the time it need for rescue your daughters data to the new drive.
How it works: the cold temperature of the freezer makes the small parts of the drive forcing in it the right place again.
hope it helps you, kind regards from William in Belgium
Try to connect your drive to a Mac
by SpockTeam2008 - 10/4/08 2:44 AM In reply to: Ways to recover data from a corrupt hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I had the same problem with my hard drive. After many attempts exactly as you did, I connected my drive to a Mac as a external drive (!), and it worked. Mac has recognized my hard drive. I have recovered my files on the disc from the Mac and then on another hard disk.
Good luck.
Abdel
re; currupt hd - chuck
by terryh2113 - 10/4/08 2:58 AM In reply to: Ways to recover data from a corrupt hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
my first thought is Spinrite, not free but a great program you can get it
from www.grc.com you download it, then burn to a cd or floppy; then boot from that. cost is $ 89.00; I think.
hope this helps,
terryh2113
Data Recovery
by redescorttd - 10/4/08 3:22 AM In reply to: Ways to recover data from a corrupt hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I used File Scavenger from Que Tek http://www.quetek.com/prod02.htm
on a 120gb hard drive that was not recognised and was able to recover about 75% of the files, you can test it free and it is only $49 to buy.
Patrick
to recover the Data from Corrupt hard disk
by Ahmadkawa - 10/4/08 3:48 AM In reply to: Ways to recover data from a corrupt hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
If you have important data, I have tried several times to recover the data i.e. first I put the Bootable CD in the CD ROM and let him run till it comes to options where we can choose one step among several steps and transfer the data to another participation
| Forum legend: | |
 |
Locked thread |
 |
Moderator |
 |
CNET staff |
 |
Samsung staff |
 |
Norton Authorized Support team |
 |
AVG staff |
 |
Windows Outreach team |
 |
Dell staff |
 |
Intel staff |
