Is My Portable HDD Dead? Can I Still Recover The Data?

sam buster on 29/01/2024 - 01:13

Hi all, earlier a portable HDD fell about two feet onto a hard floor. No visible damage though.

I plugged it into the USB3.0 port of my Windows 7 laptop and it seemed to work normally, but when I tried to sort a very large folder by 'date modified' the green bar progressed normally but then slowed down and seemed to hang almost completed.
It was not a problem when I tried a different folder on the drive.

Shortly afterwards, I plugged it into a Windows 11 laptop which prompted me to 'scan and fix' the drive. It often does this with the portable hard drive when the data was written by the Win7 Laptop, (and vice versa) so I was not concerned. But the progress bar hung about 15% into the scan - I had to go out and plugged in the laptop to continue the scan, but it was the same when I returned about an hour later. And the hard drive felt warm.

I disconnected the drive (unplugged it from the USB port) and reconnected it (I possibly restarted the laptop too). The scan started again and seemed to be progressing normally and quite quickly past the point where it had been stuck.
I went for my dinner and when I returned the 'scan & fix' window had gone so I assumed it had completed the task and closed.
Unfortunately the drive was not showing in the start menu or file explorer.

I tried connecting it to the Windows 7 laptop, but although the blue LED light comes on, it does not turn white or blink, and I can't see the drive anywhere. (So basically, when I connect the drive, the blue light turns on and nothing else happens).
But I can feel a vibration as though the disc is spinning.

What has gone wrong?
And is there anything I can do to find what files are on the drive (so I know exactly what I might have lost)?

Help appreciated, please.

If it helps,
it is a Seagate 3TB Expansion Portable HDD, dated 2019.

-I have tried a different USB cable, and I have tried plugging into a different USB port, but it is still the same.
-I have tried another (same type of) HDD and that works ok.

Computing Computer Peripheral Portable Hard Drive

Comments

  • freefall101 on 29/01/2024 - 01:19
    +4

    What has gone wrong?

    The drive took a two feet fall onto a hard floor and it broke. The internals of harddrives are extremely sensitive, if the data on the drive is important to you I’d stop plugging it in and find a recovery service. If the heads are touching the platter you’re probably just making it worse.

    • sam buster on 29/01/2024 - 01:32

      Thanks for the speedy reply. I had hoped it had survived physical damage when I could still access the contents immediately afterwards :(

      Do you have any suggestions for a recovery service (Inner West Sydney)? - I wouldn't know where to start nor who might be reliable. And how much might I expect to have to pay?

      Is this one of those 'shuckable' drives, that I might be able to remove myself?

      • freefall101 on 29/01/2024 - 01:43

        Sometimes a last effort to pull off data can work, but the growing errors and issues suggest it’s beyond that stage.

        It’s usually not that cheap to recover drives, a couple of hundred bucks. I have never had to pay for it myself, but you can get free quotes. Usually it works on the assumption the data is important enough to warrant the work.

        Shucking the drive won’t help. All an external drive is is a small pcb to send the signal to USB and supply power to the drive, otherwise it’s a normal hard drive inside that you can’t pull apart. Highly unlikely the electronics are the issue, they would either be broken or not, not have intermittent issues and detected errors.

        • sam buster on 29/01/2024 - 02:09

          Crikey! I just looked at one Data Recovery Specialist (which one reviewer claims charges half-the-price of others) and their website say, "Our rates start at $350 and go upwards from there.."!

          Problem is, this is one of a few HDD I have so I'm not sure exactly what I have stored on it - it seems I have 18 months-worth of photos and videos - but they are from 2020 (the year we had COVID lockdowns) - so how many photos and how worth recovering is really hard to guage.

          I know it isn't working now, but the signs weren't gradual. Whenever I plug a HDD into the other of the two laptops I use (if that makes sense) Windows Autoplay recommends a scan & fix. And everytime it reports no errors found.

          • OMGJL on 29/01/2024 - 09:40

            @sam buster: it's worth a try shuck the drive, if the USB to SATA controller have power issue/data issue, it would behave similar, though don't have high hopes.

            from bigger computer stores (Scorptec/Centrecom/Mwave/Umart) USB to SATA adapter is generally around $12-$20 ish.

            good luck.

    • bargaino on 31/01/2024 - 11:00
      +1

      The internals of harddrives are extremely sensitive,

      Not really, not for 2.5" when the heads are parked. They normally survive a typical fall, which only results in a few hundred G peak acceleration.
      If it is operating at the time, that is a different story, as heads can impact the disk. Some drives have drop detection, and try to park the heads before ground impact.

      • freefall101 on 31/01/2024 - 11:40

        Good point, although in this case the protections didn't seem to work.

  • scrimshaw on 29/01/2024 - 02:01

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/comment/13859787/redir
    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/comment/5232381/redir

    Ontrack data recovery seems to have pretty good feedback.

    Just an FYI, if you drop your hard drive and you think the impact was quite severe, AND you know whatever data on it is essential, resist the urge to power it on. Take it straight to data recovery and have them check out the damage first.

    Powering on and using a drive that's been dropped could run the risk of you damaging the moving components inside and can make data recovery more difficult or even impossible, especially if the surface of the platter gets scratched up by the read heads.

    If you aren't able to see what's on the drive, don't try and run the Windows Fix and Scan tool or any diagnostics tools — software tools can only fix software issues and not physical ones.

    • sam buster on 29/01/2024 - 02:22

      Thanks for the recommendation and advice.

      $500 seven years ago!
      Other link says quoted $1500 a few years ago!

      Gee, I think I might have to live without whatever might have been on the drive!

  • Mugsy on 29/01/2024 - 03:59

    As others have said, you've damaged the HDD and using a recovery service is your only option to save that data.

    Going forward though, I would consider a Microsoft 365 subscription which comes with OneDrive. Upload your photos etc there and you won't have to worry about HDD failures.

    If your photos are all taken on the phone, it becomes easier as you can set the phone to auto back up your camera roll to OneDrive over wifi (so as to not burn through mobile data).

    I do this for my wife. She has one MS365 account for her phones, and then another MS365 account for her iPad's camera roll (where she takes less photos/videos) and Windows laptop (so her assignments and work files are auto backed up to OneDrive). It saves me a lot of headaches with file recovery.

    I use to use DSLRs and Mirrorless cameras… these days, I take photos on my phone (recently got an S23 Ultra for the better camera) where the photos all back up without me having to worry about it.

    A MS 365 Family account can be had for a bit over $100/yr, and comes with 6 licenses. You can use a separate one on each laptop, and then a third one on your phone. Just save all your important files in the OneDrive folder and they'll automatically back up.

  • garetz on 29/01/2024 - 05:47

    Looks like the disk is a mechanical drive .

    If its mechanical it is very prone to dying from and is susceptible damage from physical shock, like what you described.

    as soon as you see scan and fix, that means your disk has created alot of bad sectors and is dead.

    next time back up your data.

    • kiitos on 29/01/2024 - 08:32
      +1

      I guess the drive ready the backup - but yes, multiple backups in multiple locations is best.

      • sam buster on 29/01/2024 - 10:21

        Yes, alas the original source is now gone, so regrettably the backup is the only remaining copy. The majority of what was on there (videos and music) I am not particularly bothered about, hence a proper back up was never made, but obviously family photos are still wanted.
        Music too, a lot of hard to find stuff.
        Not knowing exactly what was on there is going to be a big headache.

    • sam buster on 29/01/2024 - 09:59

      Re: Scan & Fix.
      I have a Windows 7 laptop which is hooked up to a telly and used mainly as a media centre. Most of the data on my multiple portable HDDs was written from this laptop.
      I don't leave the drives connected for long periods, generally only to search for and copy over a file. I never run a file directly from the HDD, so I would say the use is minimal and Scan & Fix doesn't pop up unless I have plugged the drive into another device.

      It's only recently I have used the HDDs with my Windows 11 laptop, and it seems whenever I connect one of these HDDs used with the Win7 it prompts me to run Scan & Fix, and every time it ultimately reports that No errors were found.
      If I then plug that HDD into the Win7 laptop I will be prompted to Scan & Fix again. - But it only occurs after I have used the HDD on the Win11 Laptop.

      Is this bad disks or is it a compatibility issue between operating systems?

  • Mechz on 29/01/2024 - 09:13
    +1

    It's quite possible that if you remove the drive from the enclosure and plug it into a PC via the SATA connection it will show up with all your data.

    I would try that before paying for recovery.

    • sam buster on 29/01/2024 - 10:24

      Thanks, have you any experience with these?
      The prices listed look more palatable - but they also say for 500GB. Hopefully 3TB wouldn't be six times the cost! Better still - hopefully they would let me pick and choose which data to be recovered (assuming any can).

      Oh - based in Victoria.

      • pharkurnell on 29/01/2024 - 15:12

        yes used him a few times… Never been a problem…. recovered data to another drive for me.

  • tritty on 29/01/2024 - 14:44

    As someone who works in data recovery I can give you some advice. Unfortunately there’s nothing further you can do to access the data from here, the drop has physically damaged components inside and from this point they will only get worse. Because the problem is physical, no software based solutions can address the problems. Running check disk won’t help.

    There are two things that could have happened physically, a problem with the reader heads (which are very fragile) or a problem with the disk, or a combination of both. When a drive begins to fail it can also develop problems with the firmware, which cause it to do things in the background which hinder the recovery.

    After a drop the heads may not totally fail, but can go into a degraded state and read slower or intermittently, and/or the disk can become damaged. In that case the cost for the recovery should be around $600-$900 depending on where you go.

    The other possibility is If the heads have totally failed and need replacing. In that case it needs to be opened in a cleanroom and to have the head assembly replaced. The cost for that on a 3tb will range from about $1,700 - $2,000 depending on where you go.

    • sam buster on 29/01/2024 - 15:01

      Crumbs! Thanks for the detailed reply. I could probably manage the lower margins but there's no way I'd be able to afford a replaced head assembly at those prices!
      How is it so expensive when a new drive costs ~$150? (question asked with respect).

      • tritty on 29/01/2024 - 16:37

        Hard drives are just incredibly complicated little machines, I’ve been working full time in data recovery for over 6 years and I probably understand less than 5% of the actual specifics of how they work. There are only 4 manufacturers left of conventional hard drives and they’ve all been around for decades so they’ve fined tuned the manufacturing process to keep their cost per unit low. But they have zero incentive to optimise the design of the drives for data recovery, their main goal is to keep their cost per unit low to compete with their competitors, and have most of them work just up until the warranty period expires. So they have no reason and no incentive to help in any way when it comes to data recovery, they leave that entirely to the totally separate data recovery industry. So it’s just a weird combination of factors that means the purchase cost is not really commensurate to what must go into resolving the wide range of complicated problems they can develop.

        • sam buster on 29/01/2024 - 20:56

          Thanks, I appreciate the reply.

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