CHiLL Posted January 14, 2016 Posted January 14, 2016 Hello, We have had a distraught member of staff who is learning the hard way the lessons of multiple backup locations. She has a Buffalo HD-PNTU3 drive which is appearing as a virtual CD drive in any computers. The drive is making audible beeps, suggesting that it has failed or is failing. I have tried a replacement USB 3.0 cable, but it still doesn't work. I have removed the drive from the casing and it is a Western Digital WD5000BPVT drive. I have connected this to my PC directly, however it is now appearing as an 'Unknow not initialised disk' in Disk Management. I have tried Western Digital Lifeguard and Seagate's SeaTools, but neither will recognised the disk correctly. I have also used 'MiniTool Partition Wizard Free' which I came across from a quick Google search, but that also did not work Is there any way that I could get the data from this drive, or is it a lost cause at this point...and should I brace myself breaking the news to the member of staff? Thanks.
dry Posted January 14, 2016 Posted January 14, 2016 You might want to have a look at PhotoRec, which has proved very valuable in the past: PhotoRec - Digital Picture and File Recovery Although I'd also be considering at this point whether to refer said member of staff to a data recovery company or not. The more you attempt to recover the data from the drive, the more difficult (and expensive) it could potentially be for a data recovery company to deal with, if it gets to that point.
LeMarchand Posted January 14, 2016 Posted January 14, 2016 Brace for impact! If the beeping is coming from the casing, it doesn't sound good. Some people swear by the "bung it in the freezer overnight" trick, but I've never had any joy with it. Plus what @dry said.
difinity Posted January 14, 2016 Posted January 14, 2016 (edited) Couple things to try. Powered off remove the PCB give the contacts a clean with an eraser. If you have a multi meter you can check the two TVS diodes. Contacts on the left have been cleaned, the ones on the right haven't. These two things will not hamper a professional recovery unlike the freezer trick that is only good for stuck motors which are rare. Edited January 14, 2016 by difinity
difinity Posted January 14, 2016 Posted January 14, 2016 Have a look at post 3 here. disk 1 is unknown, not initialized, unallocated - Windows 7 Help Forums
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