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Broken External Hard drive... how to recover data

N

NStocks

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Apr 3, 2008
1,569
18
England
Our old Toshiba External Hard drive has failed ( approximately 3 years old ). It powers on and the blue light comes on, but the fans don't spin and you can't see it in the finder or on my computer ( we tried on both PC and Mac ).

Any ideas as to how I can retrieve the data... without going to a specialist and pay £££, or would that be the only option

Thank You

NStocks
 
Does it show up in Disk Utility?

If not, and you dont hear anything from the drive, I think only a specialized company can help, but like you said - that is big money.
 
No, it doesn't show up anywhere. What exactly do the specialists do to get the info, remove the drive and take the actual disk out ?

NStocks
 
Did not crash on search.
However it did crash after idling for a few minutes on the main page.

Safari 3.2.1
10.4.11
J2SE 5.0
J2SE 1.4.2

Could be the ads / animation.
Go to the menu of Safari and send bug to apple.
 
Consultant said:
Did not crash on search.
However it did crash after idling for a few minutes on the main page.

Safari 3.2.1
10.4.11
J2SE 5.0
J2SE 1.4.2

Could be the ads / animation.
Go to the menu of Safari and send bug to apple.
Click to expand...

Wrong thread.
 
Have you tried connecting it to a Windows computer or a Windows partition under bootcamp?
Have you tried force mounting it, im not sure if there are any OS X force mount apps, but i know a few free Windows ones.
Which model of Toshiba external hard drive is it? It could just be a loose internal connection, i doubt the hard drive itself is damaged unless you dropped it, i'll try to find disassembly instructions for you.

If the toshiba caddy is broken you can just take the hard drive out and use an IDE or SATA to USB convertor to plug it into your Mac and use it as normal.
 
I will certinally give those options a try. I can't seem to find the models number, it's not even on the box ! but when I go to Toshiba's website and type in the info, this comes up : http://eu.computers.toshiba-europe.com/innovation/jsp/individualOptions.do?service=EU&ACTION=SHOW_ATTRIBUTES&OPTION_ID=119733&PRODUCT_ID=119733. Thats the same spec, just the design is different, also there are no visible screen that I can unscrew to get into the case. I think it's going to me a 'force to open' type of procedure !

NStocks
 
NStocks said:
Our old Toshiba External Hard drive has failed ( approximately 3 years old ). It powers on and the blue light comes on, but the fans don't spin and you can't see it in the finder or on my computer ( we tried on both PC and Mac ).

Any ideas as to how I can retrieve the data... without going to a specialist and pay £££, or would that be the only option

Thank You

NStocks
Click to expand...

You can always try to put it in a different drive case. You might hit it lucky and that it is not the drive.
 
Could very well be the interface, if it doesn't work on other computers/OSs, cracking the case open and retrieving the drive might work fine.

Have you tried a different power supply, if available ?
 
Horst said:
Could very well be the interface, if it doesn't work on other computers/OSs, cracking the case open and retrieving the drive might work fine.

Have you tried a different power supply, if available ?
Click to expand...

No, we haven't tried that because the one we're using works ( the blue LED light comes on suggesting that there is power). I think I will try to dismantle it today... A previous poster mentioned ' force mounting' it, where would I be able to do that i.e a link for a program ?

NStocks
 
Crack it opened & put the drive in a MacPro Bay if you have access to one, otherwise Frys sells a hd mounting cable that has a power transformer, & ide ata interface that plugs into the hd.
if the drive is readable it'll mount. Had much success with it.
it's only about 20.00
Good Luck.
 
What you described is physical damage to the drive. The part that reads the disks is very delicate and easily damaged it shocked or jared hard. So, when it fell, it damaged its ability to read anymore. This is not something which will go away or get better. You will need to find a recovery service to attempt to retrieve data from the disks by repairing the drive.
 
Holy thread necromancy, Batman!

I suspect the OP has fixed his disk or come to terms with his loss by now.

The best solution for a failed drive is A BACKUP!!!! Get one, or lose your stuff.
We still get posts here "My drive has failed and I've lost all my photos!"
 
I've used Wondershare Data Recovery for Mac, but only on 'healthy' drives with trashed files and had good results. However, you may want to purchase DiskWarrior - it's not really your 'last resort' as you can always contract with a data recovery service, but you may be able to DIY with DiskWarrior (I've never used it and so can't personally endorse it).

Good luck,

Clinton
 
You can do a few things yourself to determine how severe your problem is and even recover data from external hard drive by yourself.

One must determine if it's a easy self fix, a more complicated (but fixable by you or others) software problem or a hardware issue (you likely won't be able to fix yourself) and if it is the storage drive or not.

Try the drive on other machines, see if it shows up. Don't format the drive as even if it's not showing up, data can still be recovered if it's mechanically working.
 
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