Maxtor 200GB 8MB failed, data recovery? lost all my college essays, help!

[Goosemaster]

Since no one wants to help...

1. Get into XP and go to Control panel> Administrative tools>Computer management

Once you are in go to Storage>disk management and tell me if you se your dive listed(you mayhave to scroll down)

-tell us what it says, or if it even recognizes it.



If you DID have HD failure, a utility called "Get it Back" is something you should look into


From what I hear your drive isn't necessarily dead

 

[fumbduck]

i'll pay someone who knows what the heck they are doin 50$ to have a go at it..

 

[rudder]

Originally posted by: fumbduck
i'll pay someone who knows what the heck they are doin 50$ to have a go at it..

For $50 bucks they will tell you its toast and try to sell you a new one. There are data recovery services, it just depends on how much you want to spend.

You can also try your own surgery which I have done before. Get the same model drive and swap out the circuit boards. I had a fujitsu IDE drive and a seagate SCSI drive that I have done this successfully on. Both cases the drives would be recognized in BIOS but beyond that they did not work. Can't guaruntee this would work for you since I am not familiar with that model drive.

 

[Need4Speed]

Originally posted by: prosaic
I'll make the mandatory post asking why the devil you didn't have the data backed up in the first place. I'm not talking about the MP3s. I'm talking about the Web development work and your essays. Now you're hurting, and your clients may be hurting. Doesn't take much effort, time, or money to back up stuff like that. Learn the lesson for future application. I've said it before, and I'll say it again (and again) -- there are two types of data on your hard drive: data that is lost, and data that is going to be lost.

BINGO!!!! who the hell does work for other people and then doesn't back the work up? geez..a CDR costs like 2 cents now days. Good luck fella!

 

[RanDum72]

You can also try your own surgery which I have done before. Get the same model drive and swap out the circuit boards. I had a fujitsu IDE drive and a seagate SCSI drive that I have done this successfully on. Both cases the drives would be recognized in BIOS but beyond that they did not work. Can't guaruntee this would work for you since I am not familiar with that model drive.

But...dang... sacrifice another perfectly good 200gig drive to save another? And they aren't cheap...It all boils down to how much the files are worth. Just get a ballpark figure from those data recovery guys. But one thing for sure is they're not cheap either.
Anyway, that sucks. All you important stuff in there locked away for good. Did you loose all your good pr0n too?:Q

 

[spanky]

did u try thorin's or goosemaster's advice? i've done the hd cannibalizing (swapping circuit boards) and it worked once... didn't another time. are u using ntfs? maybe try booting to a floppy and see if u can see ur drive at a command prompt.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Listen, here's what I did...

I had FOUR Maxtor HDs crap on me in the past two months. I keep getting replacement drives that are - guess what? - also defective.

MAXTOR LEFT ME IN THE COLD WITH THEIR "WE CAN'T BE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR DATA - GO TO A $300/HOUR RECOVERY SERVICE" ATTITUDE.

At some point, I was locked out of one of them completely, and nothing I could do would allow me to access it. Yes, it was seen by the BIOS when I powered up the computer. But no Windows would see it. I faced of prospect of paying an obscene amount of money or resign to losing 80 GBs of data - from music to video files, plus a series of documents I've been gathering over the years.

Mind you, I'm using Windows 2000 Pro, so it was all NTFS.

After spending several days in a row on the internet - I didn't post my woes here precisely because lately I've noticed people just ignore pleas for help, and because some advices are jokes :disgust: , I downloaded all the data recovery utilities I could find - without bothering about ethics. I must've rounded up six applications (I didn't find SpinRite, so I can't say how good it is)

The ONLY data recovery program that was able to access and save EVERYTHING I had on that HD was Easy Recovery Professional, by Ontrack. It's so good, I wrote a letter of thanks to the company - it was the least I could do.

I hope this helps. I can't tell you more about where to get the program without incurring the wrath of the mods.

 

[prosaic]

After spending several days in a row on the internet - I didn't post my woes here precisely because lately I've noticed people just ignore pleas for help, and because some advices are jokes , I downloaded all the data recovery utilities I could find - without bothering about ethics. I must've rounded up six applications (I didn't find SpinRite, so I can't say how good it is)

The ONLY data recovery program that was able to access and save EVERYTHING I had on that HD was Easy Recovery Professional, by Ontrack. It's so good, I wrote a letter of thanks to the company - it was the least I could do.

I hope this helps. I can't tell you more about where to get the program without incurring the wrath of the mods.

How would you incur the wrath of the mods for telling someone where to find the Ontrack utility?

Oh, do you mean for telling where to find it illegally? Surely that doesn't mean that you never paid for Easy Recovery Pro yourself, does it? Or that you're suggesting that fumbduck might want to get an illegitimate copy? Not after it recovered your data for you? When you had been careless enough to not back up data you had been collecting for a long period of time?

Oh, you wrote a letter of thanks to the company because it was the least you could do. Well, that's okay, I guess. Actually, some people might figure that the least you could do would be to pay for the product you used. And to link to a place where it can be obtained legitimately.

I certainly hope that I misunderstood you. And I suppose the mods hope so, too.

- prosaic

 

[Ben50]

If you are a college student, you might want to check with your university's computer department. They might have a partnership with a data recovery company in order to help students regain lost data cheaply.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

wow, prosaic, that was deep.

Listen, I actually PAID for an utility which didn't help. So I searched for something that would work, before throwing more money away. You are definitely misreading my post. Didn't I write that it was the FOURTH HD in a row that died on me? How the heck am I supposed to back that data up, except for getting a replacement? And where's my fault that all the replacements I received from Maxtor were crap?

The only way I see out of such troubles is try as many applications that you hear are working for other people in this situation. I was happy EasyRecovery worked - and I hope I won't ever have to use it again. I thanked Ontrack for succeeding where others failed, and I speak about my experience with it whenever I can, because it's the least I could do. I hope that will get them more satisfied customers.

I can't guarantee Ontrack will help fumbduck - it just worked for me in a similar situation. That's all the disclaimer I can provide.

 

[Booster]

Also you could try Maxtor disk recovery software if it would be detected.
Next time get a Seagate drive, from my experience they never fail and have the lowest RMA rate.

 

[PurePeon]

Geez...If it was so important...Back up it up...never trust hard drives. They can go anytime. Also if it was clients stuff, back it up...if I was the client I would get someone more reliable to be doing my work now.

 

[Yossarian]

Originally posted by: AnitaPeterson
After spending several days in a row on the internet - I didn't post my woes here precisely because lately I've noticed people just ignore pleas for help, and because some advices are jokes :disgust: , I downloaded all the data recovery utilities I could find - without bothering about ethics. I must've rounded up six applications (I didn't find SpinRite, so I can't say how good it is)

The ONLY data recovery program that was able to access and save EVERYTHING I had on that HD was Easy Recovery Professional, by Ontrack. It's so good, I wrote a letter of thanks to the company - it was the least I could do.

You wrote to tell them how much you like their software which you stole? That should encourage them to continue development

Sounds like you are the fumbduck. The "least you could do" is buy it if it saved your ass.

 

[Yossarian]

Originally posted by: fumbduck
I had no expectations that this drive would fail.

All I can say to that is [nelson voice]HA HA.

 

[Codewiz]

Originally posted by: Ben50
If you are a college student, you might want to check with your university's computer department. They might have a partnership with a data recovery company in order to help students regain lost data cheaply.

That is laughable. I worked for a university and we saw people have drives fail with important thesis and research on them. We would basically tell them to pay the big bucks and have it recovered by some company.

Only in one situation did we try to make a recovery. We had the EXACT same drive sitting around and the failure was due to the heads on the drive going bad. We swapped the platters in the drive in a clean room. Got the data off and both drives were then useless. The only thing that saved us was the fact that we had a clean room and the exact same drive sitting around.

 

[prosaic]

Originally posted by: AnitaPeterson
wow, prosaic, that was deep.

Not deep at all. Just a combination of common sense and a little consideration of ethics thrown in.

Listen, I actually PAID for an utility which didn't help. So I searched for something that would work, before throwing more money away. You are definitely misreading my post. Didn't I write that it was the FOURTH HD in a row that died on me? How the heck am I supposed to back that data up, except for getting a replacement? And where's my fault that all the replacements I received from Maxtor were crap?

If the data is important it gets backed up every time there is a significant change in it. Those of us who are serious about our data back it up as an ongoing process. Backup, BTW, has nothing to do with copying data to another hard drive. You use external media, and even external locations for the physical storage of same.

The only way I see out of such troubles is try as many applications that you hear are working for other people in this situation. I was happy EasyRecovery worked - and I hope I won't ever have to use it again. I thanked Ontrack for succeeding where others failed, and I speak about my experience with it whenever I can, because it's the least I could do. I hope that will get them more satisfied customers.

Yes, I'm sure they'll be very happy with the satisfied non-paying customers you send them.

Thanks for playing.

- prosaic

Edit: Oh yeah, I meant to comment about the unhelpful people who give joke advice here -- some of us tell you how to avoid the pitfall of data loss in the first place. That's actually useful advice, not just so much tongue-clucking. Backup is how you prevent data loss. Easy Recovery (and others of its ilk) and data recovery services are what you use when you've been stupid. Or what you use to help someone else when they've been stupid. The unhelpful people here are just trying to help people not be stupid. Okay?

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Pip Boy,

You and people like you are the precise reason why I don't like to post here anymore. It's righteous little ****** like you who are becoming a nuisance. You are a troll in this thread. I'm not saying what I do is right or wrong, but at least I admit it, AND I gave him a solution. Get lost!

prosaic,

thanks for your valuable input, too. Please observe I'm not telling people to pirate Ontrack products. But that's too fine a detail, perhaps.

BTW, this thread is supposed to help the guy fix his HD, not turn into a shouting match. Give him some good and useful advice or start your own thread!

 

[prosaic]

I gave good advice, as I've already pointed out. I didn't get into name calling, nor did I start a shouting match, nor was I self-righteous. Products that save your butt when you've screwed up are worth supporting. If you don't wish to purchase the software that saved your butt you pay someone else who does have a legitimate license to do the data recovery for you. If you don't do one or the other of those you either lose your data, or you steal from someone. I wouldn't consider either of those a happy outcome.

I pointed out some salient features of reality vis-a-vis hard drives, data, and the process of not losing one to the other. I also gave a proper link to a location where the software could be obtained legitimately. What part of all of that did you fail to grasp?

- prosaic

 

[Ben50]

Originally posted by: Codewiz

Originally posted by: Ben50
If you are a college student, you might want to check with your university's computer department. They might have a partnership with a data recovery company in order to help students regain lost data cheaply.

That is laughable. I worked for a university and we saw people have drives fail with important thesis and research on them. We would basically tell them to pay the big bucks and have it recovered by some company.

Only in one situation did we try to make a recovery. We had the EXACT same drive sitting around and the failure was due to the heads on the drive going bad. We swapped the platters in the drive in a clean room. Got the data off and both drives were then useless. The only thing that saved us was the fact that we had a clean room and the exact same drive sitting around.

I don't know why it is laughable. My university has a partnership with a data recovery company so we get cheaper rates that normal businesses or people. I never suggested that the college would try to recover the data itself although I suppose that is a possibility too.

 

[Yossarian]

Originally posted by: AnitaPeterson
Pip Boy,

You and people like you are the precise reason why I don't like to post here anymore.

Apparently it isn't since you're still writing. I just thought writing to the company you stole from was a particularly nice touch.

 

[prosaic]

Originally posted by: PipBoy

Originally posted by: AnitaPeterson
Pip Boy,

You and people like you are the precise reason why I don't like to post here anymore.

Apparently it isn't since you're still writing. I just thought writing to the company you stole from was a particularly nice touch.

Yeah. It was "the least" she could do!

- prosaic

 

[Markfw]

Contructive advice given on another thread: (from me)

Before this happens again, here is what you need for 30 gb of backup.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2304789316&category=3756

I got one. They do 20 gig per hour, and you can find the tapes (35-70 gig each, I only get 38) on ebay for $10-$50 each. They do run hot, so if you can find the external one I recommend that. I took and old 486 case with an AT PSU,. and converted it into an external case. Keeps the main computer cool, and works when I want it.

 

[JackBurton]

AnitaPeterson, don't worry about these self-righteous people. Ignore 'em and do what you need to do.

 

[prosaic]

Originally posted by: JackBurton
AnitaPeterson, don't worry about these self-righteous people. Ignore 'em and do what you need to do.

That's extremely good advice. Let's see, what do people who value their data need to do?

I can think of two types of "self-righteousness".

The self-righteousness of someone who thinks s/he's better than other people is really the same whether it's someone who goes by the book just because it's the book, and the self-righteousness of the person who ignores the book because s/he has excuses for behaving in a manner that s/he wouldn't accept from another if the roles were reversed. In both of those cases the perpetrator thinks of himself or herself as being above the rules s/he would like others to abide by. That's not really self-righteousness. It's hypocracy.

The other self-righteousness is the willingness to argue for some kind of intelligent balance in the approach to the concept of what's due to whom. For instance, if someone has worked dilligently to produce software that saves me from the folly of my own ignorance or of my willfull neglect of the taking of intelligent and reasonable precautions with my possessions (like data), then I compensate the authors of my salvation for their efforts. Otherwise, like an adult and egalitarian human being who doesn't expect to be able to raise her/himself above all others, I bite the bullet and accept the consequences of my stupidity. That's actually not self-righteousness, either. It's called responsible adulthood -- or just plain old righteousness.

There's really no such thing as self-righteousness. The term is an oxymoron. Righteousness cannot proceed from self alone any more than it can proceed from external authority alone. It exists solely among those who seek reasonable balance of their own interests with the interests of others. It doesn't exist among those who take it upon themselves to be the sole arbiters in any contract. Social and legal contracts are constructs that exist between parties, not rules made by only one party which other parties must abide by.

- prosaic

 

[JackBurton]

Prosaic, let me tell you what you are accomplishing...nothing! Have a good time listening to yourself speak (or write in this case), because I could care less what you have to say or what stance you take on certain topics. You just concentrate on what you're doing, and don't worry about others.