HELP! i just broke my girlfirends extrenal harddrive!

[Simplesimon101]

hi,

i just knocked my girlfriends external hard drive on to the floor while she was working on files on it!

it wasn't too bad for a while... she could access all the files except the one she was working on. but then it wouldn't let her access any files... and now the disk wont even mount on the desktop! (although disk utilities can still see it)

what can i do? (please help... i'm not very popular at the moment!)

thanks

 

[scaredpoet]

If the drive is declining in condition like that, I have to say it doesn't look good

Can Disk Utility still read the volume label on the drive? What happens if you ask it to Verify the disk volume?

If at any point you gain access to that drive again, you need to start copying those files off to another drive RIGHT AWAY.

There is software like Tech Tool Pro that can do drive diagnostics. Whether it can recover the data on that drive depends on how much damage has been done. A Minor head crash might not be so bad, but the way your describing how the drive is acting indicates that maybe the read/write heads themselves are damaged, and is causing even more damage the more you use the drive.

The costliest solution is to get a data recovery service to look at the hard drive (just search google for "hard drive data recovery").

In any case, you probably owe her a new hard drive. Or, maybe an ultra rugged flash drive is in order...

 

[Simplesimon101]

oh dear... that doesn't look good then.

it's got lots of her uni work on it & photos from the last few years (the only copies! - which i know isn't that wise but it's probably safer not to point that out to her at the moment)

...i think i may be paying for some data recovery then!

 

[velocityg4]

First off with a drive failing like that stop fiddling with it. You will likely make it worse if it is indeed failing.

Then download and purchase a data recovery program. Many forum members prefer Disk Warrior. Personally I have had good luck with Data Rescue II. If the data is still accessible then either of these programs should work fine, I am sure Disk Warrior is just fine but I have not used it.

I would not bother with a diagnostics program like TechTool since you will just be putting undo strain on the hard drive.

Now if the recovery program is able to find files on the hard drive. Copy over the important ones first; school work, correspondence, pictures. Then copy over the less important stuff.