How can I get my files off failed drive?

[zylander]

Win 2k8 server in basement has 4 HDs;

80GB OS drive

and three storage drives;
Seagate 750GB 7200.11
Seagate 1.5TB 7200.11
Samsung 750GB Spinpoint F1


Last night everything was working fine, this morning the 750GB Seagate drive took a dump. It is still listed in device manager but not in my computer. When I go into disk management it says that the drive is not initialized. Here are my questions;

First off, how can I get my fiels off the drive? My first idea is to throw in Bart PE and see if I can access the drive with that. I have had good success with accessing failed drives using Bart PE in the past, I just dont want to have to go unplug the server and bring it upstairs to do all this. Is there a program I can use that can be run in Windows that can access drives like this?

Secondly, what should I do with the drive after I get my files off? Its still covered by warranty;
Should I replace it?
Do I need to?
What could cause a drive to fail like this?
Would reinitializing it be fine or is this just likely to happen again?

 

[specialk90]

First off, you should be using Raid 1, 10 or 5 so you won't have to go thru this next time a drive dies.

2) EASEUS Data Recovery software is the best I have used. It was the only inexpensive program that could recover a similar problem of mine that caused the drive to be missing kind of like yours. I tried all the free programs I could find but none worked. And this program works within Windows. Cleaning up my drives last night I came across the BartPE and several other programs I had downloaded when I had this problem. There is also Seagate File Recovery 4 Windows, which is free.

Replace/RMA it. Do not reinitialize just yet because I think this deletes the partition data. What could cause a failure like this: I think I adequately answer this below.

Good Luck.

PS If your server is on 24/7 and experiences more than moderate usage, you should really look into ES.2 drives. These 7200.11 "desktop" drives are not designed to run 24/7. There is a reason why enterprise class drives cost so much more- they are designed for 24/7 use and heavy usage in addition to 15-20% higher IOP. HDDs are extremely sensitive pieces of hardware. Imagine your car running at 7200rpm 24/7 with no maintenance. Another important aspect of desktop vs enterprise-class is vibration, which doesn't place nice with HDDs. Enterprise-class drives have anti-vibration mechanisms to counteract the slight vibration they experience, which can be extremely harmful on drives running 24/7. Desktop drives have no such mechanisms.
Also, I just had a Raptor die a few weeks ago but it was in a Raid 10 so I didn't lose any data or have any downtime.

 

[RebateMonger]

You'll want to check the System Event log and see if there's any information on Disk errors. Also, run one or two disk maker's diagnostics programs and see what they say. If there are bad sectors, replace the disk. If the disk is making any odd noises, replace it. If it's giving weird information to the BIOS, replace it.

Edit: I neglected to mention: Don't do ANY unnecessary scanning until you've rescued all the files you can. Start with the very most important files and work your way down the list. Disk dagnostics come AFTER the data recovery.

Seagate 7200.11 drives are having a lot of problems, including those where the disk appears to have no data.

 

[Blain]

File Scavenger has done a good job for me in the past.

 

[zylander]

Well, Seagate file recovery and File scavenger both failed, going to lug the server upstairs and try Bart PE tomorrow but its not looking good. Of all the drives in the server, this one has been used for the shortest amount of time, about 2 months.

Thanks for the help, I'm looking at RE3 and ES.2 drives now and will definitely start using those. I was thinking about setting up a RAID as the motherboard has an onboard raid controller, but after research I decided that would not be a good idea and for what I use this server for, its not worth it to drop a bunch of money on a quality RAID controller card.

 

[techmanc]

If the files are there and can be recovered meaning your dont have a drive failure that keeping them from being retrived I had great success using GetData Back which is sold for the filesystem your using e.g. FAT vs NTFS. You can download the trial at link to see if it will help prior to purchasing it and you will need a additional hard drive with enough free space to recover your data to.

Link here

http://www.runtime.org/data-recovery-software.htm

 

[zylander]

Bart PE didnt work, tried EASEUS Data Recovery and that was a no go either. Oh well, live and learn.

 

[Glenn]

stick the drive in the freezer overnight and try it in the morning. I've had this work about 1 out of 3 times with hundreds of drives over the past 10-15 years. Be ready with where you want to put the files and get them quick. it usually only lasts about an hour before they go kupoot for good.

 

[zylander]

Ya Ive heard of the freezer trick and was going to use it as a last resort, looks like its that time.

 

[specialk90]

From your research, what caused you to think that Raid would not be a good idea/not worth it?

 

[Elixer]

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk Is a great (&free) program to try.

 

[zylander]

Originally posted by: specialk90
From your research, what caused you to think that Raid would not be a good idea/not worth it?

I decided that setting up a RAID using the motherboards onboard controller would be a bad idea. I would like liked to setup a proper RAID with a good PCI controller card but did not want to spend the money on such a card.

 

[zylander]

Freezer trick failed as well, I'm just going to accept the fact that this drive is toast. There may be more professional and more expensive solutions out there, but the files on the drive are not worth any more time or money. Im jsut going to get the drive replaced, sell it and then pick up an RS3. Thanks everyone.