Another dead hard drive.

[Raduque]

Ugh, dammit. Lost one of my backup drives today. Didn't have another copy of some of the data on it (about 35gb of random stuff). Can't get any piece of software to see any partitions on the drive, it just reports 0 bytes.

Lame. I hate computers sometimes.

 

[lxskllr]

Try the testdisk suite. I haven't used it in your particular circumstance, but if the heads can read, it can pull data off the drives, even if the partition tables are hosed.

 

[Sonikku]

This is what happens when you buy green drives.


Don't be Liberal, people. Don't go green.

 

[BUTCH1]

<------Memory and storage..

 

[Raduque]

Try the testdisk suite. I haven't used it in your particular circumstance, but if the heads can read, it can pull data off the drives, even if the partition tables are hosed.

Drive clicks 5 times and sorta spins down, seems like it's spinning and half-speed.

<------Memory and storage..

I'm not asking for help, i'm just bitching. Vent threads belong here.

 

[FelixDeCat]

I feel your pain. I was losing HDs on a regular basis including backups before I moved to SSD and TWO redundant HDs with BLURAY archival.

NEVER AGAIN!!

The 2009 was the hardest as I lost almost 20 years worth of data. :'(

I have found the biggest mistake is to let HDs come in contact with a carpet. They used to be able to take lots of abuse. Now they are so sensitive to electrostatic contact, they are easily destroyed.

 

[D1gger]

Ugh, dammit. Lost one of my backup drives today. Didn't have another copy of some of the data on it (about 35gb of random stuff). Can't get any piece of software to see any partitions on the drive, it just reports 0 bytes.

Lame. I hate computers sometimes.

It obviously wasn't a backup drive. Sorry for your loss.

 

[DesiPower]

with the cheap prices of HDD, there is no reason for not having mirror raid... mirror raid NAS is even better, make the investment people...

 

[HydroSqueegee]

i have old drives that are still going strong. ive only lost a couple drives in the past few years, but it seems like a lot more than in the previous 10. I have a hard time trusting my 1TB+ drives.

 

[Meractik]

Try the testdisk suite. I haven't used it in your particular circumstance, but if the heads can read, it can pull data off the drives, even if the partition tables are hosed.

Remember GetDataBack? there was a version for NTFS and FAT, how does this testdisk suite compare to that utility.... IIRC getdataback has helped me recover many of files from formatted hd's etc..

that is assuming you didn't do the hardcore (7-8 overwrites) reformats of Darik's Boot-n-Nuke cd....

 

[Juddog]

Use a RAID array next time; one drive goes down, you just buy a new one and you're back up and running.

 

[Puppies04]

The 2009 was the hardest as I lost almost 20 years worth of porn.

FTFY .

On a serious note though, I too have noticed how fragile HDDs seem to be. Never had any problems a few years ago and I have lost 2 in a year now.

 

[MiniDoom]

Use a RAID array next time; one drive goes down, you just buy a new one and you're back up and running.

until your data is corrupted. you still need a backup solution.

 

[Juddog]

OP for a last ditch effort, you could always try the "fridge trick".

On the assumption that you have an external hard drive reader, what you do is place the hard drive into a static proof bag, making sure that you have some dessicants (they soak up the moisture that appears inside the bag) inside. Leave it in the fridge overnight.

In the morning, mount the drive onto a system that won't try to scan for antivirus protection, etc. (e.g. a backtrack live CD or other Linux utility works great). As soon as you plug in the drive and mount it, immediately start searching for data and go straight to the section(s) that you need. Sometimes if the drive lives long enough, it gives you a last few minutes before dying again to grab that data.

It's worked for me in the past, but like I said it's a last-ditch effort and there is no guarantee (I've had about a 50-50 success rate with it, going on the assumption that the drive isn't encrypted).

 

[Juddog]

until your data is corrupted. you still need a backup solution.

The RAID-array is for the backup solution, so your backups don't get lost accidentally. I wouldn't expect anybody to have a RAIDed laptop, for example.

 

[lxskllr]

Remember GetDataBack? there was a version for NTFS and FAT, how does this testdisk suite compare to that utility.... IIRC getdataback has helped me recover many of files from formatted hd's etc..

that is assuming you didn't do the hardcore (7-8 overwrites) reformats of Darik's Boot-n-Nuke cd....

I'm aware of GetDataBack, but never used it. I suspect testdisk isn't as user friendly, but it's libre software, and it works. I was successfully able to recover data from a hd I repartitioned, and formatted from NTFS to EXT4. All my file names were hosed, but I did get the data back, though it wasn't 100%.

It comes on this boot cd(as well as many other places), but I HIGHLY recommend this disk for everyone's toolbox...

http://partedmagic.com/doku.php

Some documentation regarding testdisk...

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

It would be better to read through it before you need it. It isn't a one click recovery.

 

[MiniDoom]

The RAID-array is for the backup solution, so your backups don't get lost accidentally. I wouldn't expect anybody to have a RAIDed laptop, for example.

what? RAID is high-availability, not a backup solution. What if the house burns down or floods or data is corrupted or accidentally deleted? RAID doesn't do jack shit for that.

 

[Juddog]

what? RAID is high-availability, not a backup solution. What if the house burns down or floods or data is corrupted or accidentally deleted? RAID doesn't do jack shit for that.

A RAID array would have compensated for a hard drive that died. Which is what happened to the OP. I never claimed that magically RAID solves the world's problems and puts your data in the cloud or keeps your data alive when a tornado hits your house. What it does do is protect against a failed drive, and it's cheap to use, since almost every modern motherboard comes with RAID capabilities.

 

[nageov3t]

I've used GetDataBack successfully before.

that said, it depends on the nature of the failure... if your drive isn't spinning/powering up whatsoever, you may need to engage professional data recovery services who can crack open the physical disk.

 

[MiniDoom]

A RAID array would have compensated for a hard drive that died. Which is what happened to the OP. I never claimed that magically RAID solves the world's problems and puts your data in the cloud or keeps your data alive when a tornado hits your house. What it does do is protect against a failed drive, and it's cheap to use, since almost every modern motherboard comes with RAID capabilities.

so would sync it to an external drive. then you can take it somewhere else and have a real backup solution, that protects data from being lost due to anything. Not just a disk failing. RAID has never been and will never be a backup solution.

 

[nageov3t]

so would sync it to an external drive. then you can take it somewhere else and have a real backup solution, that protects data from being lost due to anything. Not just a disk failing. RAID has never been and will never be a backup solution.

it's not a backup solution, but I'd say it should probably be part of one.

I wouldn't sleep well at night if there wasn't any disk redundancy for my backup drives, and RAID accomplishes that.

 

[MiniDoom]

it's not a backup solution, but I'd say it should probably be part of one.

I wouldn't sleep well at night if there wasn't any disk redundancy for my backup drives, and RAID accomplishes that.

I didn't say RAID was a bad thing, it just doesn't replace backup. High availability and data protection are two separate things. Stop trying to say they are one.

 

[Juddog]

I didn't say RAID was a bad thing, it just doesn't replace backup. High availability and data protection are two separate things. Stop trying to say they are one.

Are you off your meds again?

Let me copypasta the original post, since you seem to have forgotten what the thread was about:

Ugh, dammit. Lost one of my backup drives today. Didn't have another copy of some of the data on it (about 35gb of random stuff). Can't get any piece of software to see any partitions on the drive, it just reports 0 bytes.

Lame. I hate computers sometimes.

Scenario 1:
Several backup drives. One dies, in a RAID array, array is rebuilt and data is safe.

Scenario 2:
Several backup drives, non-RAIDed. One drive dies, all data on that drive is gone.

It's pretty simple, I'm not sure why you're having such a hard time understanding it. Nobody ever said that RAID'ing your backup drives will be the equivalent of storing your data on the cloud, or sending your data on a USB stick via carrier pigeon to a secret mountain hideout. What it will do is ensure that if a disk fails, in your backup system, that you can recover it. That's it, nothing more, nothing less.

 

[MiniDoom]

Are you off your meds again?

Let me copypasta the original post, since you seem to have forgotten what the thread was about:



Scenario 1:
Several backup drives. One dies, in a RAID array, array is rebuilt and data is safe.

Scenario 2:
Several backup drives, non-RAIDed. One drive dies, all data on that drive is gone.

It's pretty simple, I'm not sure why you're having such a hard time understanding it. Nobody ever said that RAID'ing your backup drives will be the equivalent of storing your data on the cloud, or sending your data on a USB stick via carrier pigeon to a secret mountain hideout. What it will do is ensure that if a disk fails, in your backup system, that you can recover it. That's it, nothing more, nothing less.

yeah, I was with you until,

The RAID-array is for the backup solution, so your backups don't get lost accidentally.

and I said "You still need a backup solution."
This kind of speak gives people a false sense of security about RAID. What you didn't cover in your scenarios is:

Scenario 3: Computer get virus, all data is corrupted and lost.

Scenario 4: House gets broken into and computer get stolen.

Scenario 5: House burns down.

Scenario 6: User accidentally deletes files.

Scenario 7: RAID controller fails.

Scenario 8: Multiple disk failure.

see where I'm going with this. i don't want op to get the wrong idea. RAID can be great for high availability or performance gains, but you still need a backup.

 

[Itchrelief]

yeah, I was with you until,



and I said "You still need a backup solution."
This kind of speak gives people a false sense of security about RAID. What you didn't cover in your scenarios is:

Scenario 3: Computer get virus, all data is corrupted and lost.

Scenario 4: House gets broken into and computer get stolen.

Scenario 5: House burns down.

Scenario 6: User accidentally deletes files.

Scenario 7: RAID controller fails.

Scenario 8: Multiple disk failure.

see where I'm going with this. i don't want op to get the wrong idea. RAID can be great for high availability or performance gains, but you still need a backup.

I don't see why you're giving him such a hard time. He said to RAID the BACKUP, not to USE RAID INSTEAD OF A BACKUP. Sheesh.

Sometimes people get carried away with the backup nonsense. If you don't have redundant copies of daily backups on each of the different continents in fireproof, waterproof safes, then obviously YOUR DATA ISN'T SAFE!!!!11 The OP just didn't actually have a backup, period.