I found this out the hard way when an external hard drive crashed last year and after several futile attempts to revive it my only choices were to send it off to a data retrieval company at an exorbitant cost or toss it. I chose to hang on to it and find another option.
I have heard countless times to "back up my files and all computer work" and more often than not I do that.
My main computer is linked to Carbonite which is an inexpensive way to have certain files on your main hard drive continuously backed up to an off premise server from which you can retrieve the files from any computer. This service costs me @ $57.00 a year per computer. They have recently offered premium services which will also back up an external drive or do a mirror back up of your entire hard drive to an external drive you provide them. ( I have no financial interest in this company)
I also have 2-3 external drives to which I back up a copy of all images I load into my computer after a shoot and any editing I do to them. I then burn a CD of the images I select from the shoot as the most usable and then any finished images from that shoot.
I have 2 Western Digital My Books and 1 Passport which travels with me. My Western Digital WD 25001032 stopped working last January 2011 when I was performing a cleanup of all my hard drives for the new year. It would power up but would not boot up and instead made a whirring start up sound then a clicking sound then a whirring shut down sound. My main computer would not recognize it via the desktop shortcut or in the hardware tab in the (C) drive properties menu.
While updating my services and images for 2012 I realized a folder of some exquisite document restoration I had done in 2009 was missing. I had no back up CD of them nor did they exist anywhere on my main (c)drive or backup drives. To lose these forever would be tragic and my last resort was that the folder may exist on the dead hard drive. Once again, this costs anywhere from $350-$1000+ depending on who you talk to. Several Google searches revealed many problems associated with this particular drive and based on these I formulated a plan to get back this data.
First, I had to get to the hard drive ensconced in the plastic housing. I unplugged it, of course, and located the tabs in the vents that can be depressed to allow the clam shell to separate. There is a screw painted over in black in one of the several round depressions located on the outside of the case.
Once opened several more screws and brackets and a few boards had to come off and I had in my hands an internal hard drive WD 2500JB. (WD Caviar SE)
Some Google searches suggested removing the hard drive from my main tower and replacing it with the faulty drive. There are many reason not to do this and I suggest you just don't attempt this.
I suggest going to TigerDirect which is a wonderful site full of computer parts, components and cables at very reasonable prices and the shipping is quick.(I have no financial interest in this company)
I found at this link Item # C184-30504 (Cables To Go-USB 2.0 to IDE or Serial ATA Drive Adapter Black)
This kit costs $ 24.99 + $2.29 s/h for a total of $27.28. I chose the Econo (4-9 days) rate and received it 2 days later.
I was sent an email with the shipping date so 24 hours prior to receiving the kit I placed the hard drive in a seal able freezer bag and then in the freezer. The platters and arm in the drive were not aligning properly and freezing the drive may compress them enough to be viable for a very short time measured in minutes so once you pull it out of the freezer work quickly!
I opened the kit and plugged in the power supply. I removed the drive from the freezer and the bag and connected the 4 pin power plug to the drive. Then I connected the IDE multi pin plug to the drive and then the USB connector on the opposite end into my tower. I switched on the power switch located on the power supply and the drive came to life. However, after a few attempts at booting up it went back to the clicking sound previously noted. Patiently, I powered off the power switch and powered it back on and the drive booted up and the computer recognized it and claimed it was ready to go. I opened the drive and there was the folder I had lost and I quickly moved it off the drive onto my desktop where Carbonite began to back it up. I saved several other folders and then powered off the drive. I placed it in a bag and put it away just in case. I also burned a CD of the folder as an added precaution.
Will this work for you? I cannot guarantee it but for $27.28 it was worth the chance. Even though the drive contained the folder I needed there were no assurances it was even on there and it was not worth several hundreds of dollars to find out.
Also, this USB cable kit can now be used to power up an internal drive which I can use as if it's an external drive. I can purchase more memory at a lesser cost than I would buying an external drive with less memory.
I can guarantee you can avoid the issues I had when you:
- Back up your files always and not just to an external drive or CD. These are great short term solutions but drives fail and CDs last for a limited amount of time. A service like Carbonite is worth the yearly expense.
-Have a routine for frequently clearing off files and folders from your external drives. This not only saves space but you will be more aware of what is on the drive and you can be proactive in saving files and folders you may have missed that are important before they are lost.
-Keep your CDs in a dry safe place preferably off premise like a fire proof safe or as I do in a Safety Deposit Box at my bank. This costs $60.00 a year and is worth it.
None of this works if you don't back up the data in the first place and the document pictured below is worth some vigilance.
I hope this post will be helpful to others and I welcome comments and questions. I will respond to you.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment