iomega ext hard drive

[kara]

help .....
i have a iomega 1tb ext hard drive wich is making a beeping sound and my computer can not find it .(it did have a wee fall :~( )... been it touch with iomega and they will replace the unit but not the files.. and as i have all my photos in it i dont want to lose them ..
is there any one who could help retrive the photos from this thing ????
:(
just had a qote from ioega and it migh be in exc of £1,000 :eek:
they must be having a laugh .......

[RecQuery]

There are ways, I've done it extensively in the past, its an assumption based on the description but I'd say atleast a 95%-99% data recovery is possible. Don't try any of the guides online you'll likely damage the data.

Try calling local IT companies but again be careful many will just have a go, damage the data and then lie to you saying it was impossible to recover.

I'd provide a guide but its pretty technical stuff, if you do find someone local and they aren't sure get them to post here.

[Bobinovich]

I'd be willing to try - I'd remove the drive from the external casing (going on the assumption it could be the USB interface which is the problem) and connect it directly to a PC to see if it's being recognised. If not then I'd not go any further.

However if it is recognised by the BIOS and in Windows then it's possible that the drive itself is not damaged - it may just be the interface which is dead. In which case it may be possible to transplant the drive into another external USB interface, without having to back up the files on the drive.

Let me know by PM if you'd like me to give it a go?

[RecQuery]

Yeah that sounds about right, my quick broadstrokes overview would be:


Pull it from the casing, attach it as a secondary/slave, avoiding a second USB/network enclosure if possible. Though it may work depending on the situation.
If the BIOS picks it up great I'd move on, if not well you really need specialist hardware. I suppose you could try the freezer trick and if it works be really fast.
I'd boot using a Linux based liveCD, something specifically designed for data recovery or forensics. There are quite a lot but the following come to mind.

DEFT (http://www.deftlinux.net/)
FCCU (http://www.lnx4n6.be/)
Penguin Sleuth (http://www.linux-forensics.com/)


I'd run some tools and scans, see if the partition/file/data table still existed. If it did, it makes my life a little easier but its not a major concern.
I'd mount the entire drive or individual partition as read only. Depending on how happy I was with the stability I might use something like DD to get a bitstream copy (its a terabyte drive so used/slackspace bitstream copy might be more practical - I'd only do this if I was paranoid). Then I'd try to copy the files, run some data recovery and file carver tools.
If there was a major problem or things didn't look right I'd reboot with the Spinrite LiveCD (http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm) its... ah, um pay for product if you catch my meaning. Anyway I'd run one of its diagnostic/recovery which can take up to 24 hours depending on the situation, then basically try again.

There are other methods and this is just a broadstrokes overview like I said.

$Standard_backup_lecture

EDIT: Regarding price. In can vary, some charge based on data recovered, HD type or HD size etc. £150-£200 excluding VAT is an average starting number, but as with anything else you pay for quality. Google for "data recovery prices|price list|price range" to see for yourself.

[kara]

Thanks RecQuery & Bobinovich
i have found someone to fix it for me
Thanks :Razz

[RecQuery]

Well I was kind of recommending Bobinovich, based on the posts I've read. Anyway let us know how it turns out.

[kara]

I'd be willing to try - I'd remove the drive from the external casing (going on the assumption it could be the USB interface which is the problem) and connect it directly to a PC to see if it's being recognised. If not then I'd not go any further.

However if it is recognised by the BIOS and in Windows then it's possible that the drive itself is not damaged - it may just be the interface which is dead. In which case it may be possible to transplant the drive into another external USB interface, without having to back up the files on the drive.

Let me know by PM if you'd like me to give it a go?

just to let you know thats what he tryed and nothing ....
oh well its going back to the makers get replaced so will be more carefull with the next one :-(

[lazytown]

yeah, after removing the drive from the caddy, I plugged it into one of my sata ports, turned on the pc and it would not get past the POST screen. The noise coming from the HD sounded like the drive was unable to spin properly.

I am quite dissapointed as it is the first drive I have been unable to recover data from:( thats including more complex RAID setups.

Maybe coincidenceafter removing the drive from my pc, my existing 1tb Sata HD decided to tell me that it was only 32MB in size:eek: and would not boot into windows. Thankfully I managed to sort that one and get it reporting the 1tb it should be with no data loss.