External hdd data recovery

[Poults]

Got a member of staff whos borked there external hdd, its taken a knock and i dont think its getting enough power to it becuase the soldering may have split from the usb tp board inside. Can anyone recommend and data recovery companies? I dont really want to play around with it as its got all her coursework on it and other stuff without backup

Thanks.

[tommej]

If you think it's just the soldering you can probably just take it out of the housing and plug it into a computer/laptop via sata.

[difinity]

Not the cheapest, but IMO there is no one else better.

Data Recovery – Manage, Recover, Restore, Erase Electronic Data - Kroll Ontrack

[Oaktech]

As far as software goes, we use reclaime to deal with anything that detects in windows even if it is damaged/formatted, for tougher stuff we use gparted live cd with christophe greenier's security essentials embedded into it.

[mac_shinobi]

Are you able to open it up and get the actual hard drive out of the case and determine

1. What data connector it uses ( IDE / SATA ) or is it a custom WD job
2. If Sata or IDE have you either got

A - A machine that has said data connector and relevant power cables - see if you can read the hard drive without any unusual sounds ie drive making clicking or clunking noises

B - you have a data recovery kit ie one that you can use to physically connect the hard drive exteranlly on a computer using a USB connector and possibly a mains powered bit of kit to power the drive if it requires extra power.

If any data recovery is required you could either try

1. Test Disk running on a working windows machine or you can get ultimate boot disc or the likes ( bart pe disc with the relevant test disk plugin ) to run test disk on the drive

2. The ubuntu remix disc with relevant instructions to recover data, there are other discs like Win PE / Bart / daRT

Obviously see how you get on with attaching the drive externally or to a machine with the relevant data connectors. If it's sata then connecting it to the sata port whilst the desktop is shutdown may be the easier option.

[Poults]

Think it's a bit beyond software, Windows does install drivers for it but it doesnt seem to be spinning up enough to access it as a drive. Tried on Mac aswell but it says the drive wont initalise. It doesnt click or anything and the light will flash occasionally which is why i suspect it may be a power issue. I did think about taking it apart but dont really want to be responsible incase something goes wrong and they end up losing everything.

[mac_shinobi]

Think it's a bit beyond software, Windows does install drivers for it but it doesnt seem to be spinning up enough to access it as a drive. Tried on Mac aswell but it says the drive wont initalise. It doesnt click or anything and the light will flash occasionally which is why i suspect it may be a power issue. I did think about taking it apart but dont really want to be responsible incase something goes wrong and they end up losing everything.

If the external drive is still under warranty ( it may be or may be not covered ) but even so they will just swap the drive and you will lose the data or they will format the drive possibly so I wouldn't trust doing that.

If the end user ( said teacher ) is ok with you taking the outer case apart to

1. Attempt to re solder the power connectors to the PCB

OR

2. Attach the actual hard drive to a computer ( not using the external hard drive case ) but using a different data kit or by physically attaching the drive to your computer then I don't see the issue aside from it may void the warranty assuming it is within the warranty period , but even so due to the drive being dropped and the pcb / power connectors being damaged am not sure it would be covered under warranty anyway ( could be wrong )

[Poults]

I haven't got a caddy but have got a molex to sata converter and a sata data lead so could i just plug that into my pc to see if the drive could be powered up like that?

[JMB]

You should be fine to connect it to your PC like that. Does it show up in computer management, or does the drive simply not present itself at all when you connect it? It should be pretty clear the moment power gets to it whether it's recoverable or not. Whirring good. Clicking not.

[mac_shinobi]

I haven't got a caddy but have got a molex to sata converter and a sata data lead so could i just plug that into my pc to see if the drive could be powered up like that?

I don't see any issues with doing it that way, I have done it this way on a few laptop hard drives and so far been ok although might be a good idea to check the power output of the sata connector and compare with the power requirements of the drive.

[difinity]

I haven't got a caddy but have got a molex to sata converter and a sata data lead so could i just plug that into my pc to see if the drive could be powered up like that?

Yes, i clone all my customers SATA hard drives that way. The drive should be earthed to reduce the chance of data loss i read somewhere, although i sometimes forget to, and i haven't lost any data yet.

[Poults]

Removed it from caddy but unfortunatly when i plugged it into my pc it doesnt spin up, just keeps "revving up" Thanks for everyones help though, an expensive lesson is about to be learnt.