Dropped external hard drive while operating, is there any hope at recovery???

[anatta1]

I know there are several threads discussing external drops, but they haven't helped me thus far. I dropped a Buffalo 320gb USB external drive while it was operating.

When I reattached the drive it lights up and I can hear and feel the spinning for a moment, but it always goes to the message, "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" and offers "initialize, ignore, and eject" buttons.

Initialize brings up disk utility, and shows the drive as a 2.2Tb drive (not 320gb), without any of my partitions or data, and does not allow me to repair or verify the drive.

I have attempted to use the Data Rescue 3 app to recover my data, but it also shows the drive as being 2.2Tb and is unable to scan, read, or recover anything.

The same occurred when using the Stellar Phoenix Data Recovery program.

Can anyone offer any additional help? It would be much appreciated!

Also, I live in a very isolated area on the Thai-Burma border, with no tech repair shops for hours in any direction.

Thanks

 

[FourCandles]

If the disk size is being consistently misreported then just possibly a jumper has come loose inside? There are often jumper connectors in these casings which you set to tell the system what size of HDD is actually installed.

This would need someone to open the case and have a look at all the connectors.

 

[joaoferro99]

in SF, there is a very good data recovery company, cant remember the name though... it's recommended by apple.

 

[anatta1]

If the disk size is being consistently misreported then just possibly a jumper has come loose inside? There are often jumper connectors in these casings which you set to tell the system what size of HDD is actually installed.

This would need someone to open the case and have a look at all the connectors.

If that's the case, can the data be retrieved once the jumper is reconnected?

 

[FourCandles]

If that's the case, can the data be retrieved once the jumper is reconnected?

Provided there's no other damage. In fact, if a loose jumper is the only damage then there's a chance the drive will work normally once it's reconnected.

This could be your first thing to try, assuming you're OK with opening the drive case or finding someone to do it for you.

You'll need to know (from your manual or online) what setting the jumper needs to be set to in order to specify (in your case) a 320GB drive. The same manual will also tell you if there in fact is no jumper at all on that model, in which case then sorry but my suggestion won't apply of course.

 

[Kinaiahi]

I've just had this problem happen with my 500 Gig WD hard drive. Shows the same thing 2.2 TB. Taking it to a recovery center, hope they can get my data back for a reasonable price.