hard drive crashed. whats the best way to recover data from it?

[Spongo]

thanks!

 

[Pirotech]

A lot of computer users use DBAN for wiping drives. Personally I use a tool called Privacy Expert

 

[Spongo]

sorry, i meant that i need to recover data from it.

 

[EpOxY]

got any additional information? like what happened to crash it? what happens when you try to access it? does it spin? does it beep at you?

 

[Laputa]

Depending on how your drive crashed. Perhaps more info would help your self and help us answer your question.

- Stop and think what you can afford to lose and what you can not afford to loose.
- If you know what you are doing and for sure the problem is not physical/mechanical, the guys here will be able to provide you a solution and just go after the critical files and then the non-critical files afterward.
- If the problem is physical/electrical/mechanical, you are likely in need of professional service. Do not attempt the platter disc swap unless you have no other options due to a serious stuck motor! The likely hood of a dual platter swap success rate is extremely low even if you don't drink coffee.
- If your drive is a laptop and it clicks, get professional service now. Everytime you try anything incorrectly, you lower your chance of getting the data back. You have about couple seconds for each attempt and the results can go either way depending on the method you choose.

 

[Spongo]

thanks guys.

the drive was a slave drive and it just stopped being recognized by windows. i don't think it ever made any clicking noises. i took the drive out and put it in another one of my PCs. The new PC recognizes the drive and wants to format it. so it seems to me that there is no physical damage at all.

 

[Pirotech]

Oh, I see

Then several suggestions:

1) Can you read the drive on the other PC? If so, may you back it up or image the drive using any backup software like True Image? It would be great because it means that your drive has no any physical damage.

2) As for you computer exactly, it seems something is wrong in partition table. You may try to recover your drive using drive utilities like Partition Doctor or Disk Director. They will allow you to view your partition if the drive isn't damage by itself. But this work needs great care: don't agree to format the drive and try to read it only first of all. The best way is to have a reserve backup copy if you can create it.

By the way, if you are able to create the exact image of your drive and you are not able to recover the partition using disk tools for some reasons, you may just restore your drive from the image using the same True Image.

 

[Laputa]

Google free data recovery programs