trying to recover off a damaged external

Recuva
1

I"m new to recuva. It was recommended to me by a friend who has used it several times.

My issue is, I have a WD external drive that was dropped while plugged in and being used. When reconnected to any computer it does not initialize. My computer will not assign a drive letter to the external but I can see it in the device manager.

I previouly tried the program get data back, it recognised the external immediately but after scanning and telling me there were files on it, the program did not produce any data.

The files were not deleted, but I cannot get recuva to scan the external drive when plugged it. It only wants to scan the internal drive (1 partition). Is there a way to get it to scan the external without a drive letter. I tried the external (ipod/card) and it gave me the no media found error.

Thanks

2

just a quick update as well, I have used disk management which can also see the drive, to assign a drive letter. It will not let me. The change drive letter and path option are greyed out when I right click on the drive.

3

I would suspect internal damage to the disk's platter/heads. Perhaps a head crash? This first thing I would do is not power the disk up. Then seek a professional recovery service.

Anyone have any suggestions?

4

Wrap drive up in freezer bag and leave it for a few hours in freezer (make sure drive is properly wrapped)

Then try drive again.

Freezing often works and gives you a very small time window to get any info off, but if the platters are damaged you may be unlucky.

5

Mmm.. Did you know that freezing a drive can cause frost on the platters? When the disk spins up the heads abrade, making the disk much harder for a pro to effect a complete recovery. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad1uVAB5bNA

I'm still of the opinion that this disk, because it was dropped while operating, has internal mechanical damage.

And if you absolutely have to try these tricks, try just lowering the temp to 40F or so. You'll still get nearly the same amount of metal contraction, but without ice crystals further tearing up an already damaged surface.

6

Not a trick at all the freezing of a drive.

This is a last resort tactic for when nothing else works.

I have used it and it works.

As regards frost, why do you think I mentioned to make sure the drive was securly wrapped before putting it in the freezer for a few hours.

7

Thanks fro the tips. I have obviously plugged it in to scan it and try to force a drive assignment. It sounds normal on power up (not that it means there is no damage but its not making and never has made any weird noise). I'll give freezing a shot. My last alternative is also to bypass the WD interface on the drive and connect directly USB to IDE.

8

The air in the disk is going to be the same as the air outside. When I do a freezer trick - I just use the refrigerator set to like 35F. AND I wrap it in a bag, with a couple of handfulls of those little desiccant pouches.

As long as the disk is not encrypted a usb bridgeboard swap could work. Assuming there's no internal damage to the mechanics of the drive.

What sort of data is on this disk and how valuable to the Original Poster is it?