Dropped external HD... professional recovery software needed...

[eking]

Hi! I dropped a Western Digital external hard drive while it was operating some months back. I put it in another case and after initializing it my computer recognized it. It seems to be running perfectly and no funny sounds etc. I bought some apparently crap recovery software at my local store. I ran the software 3 times and after numerous hours the process stopped about half way through, always at the same point in the process and each time it recognized the same 5 files out of what was initially countless files = 800gigs if information.

What software could I use to test the physical integrity of the drive? I'll try the Western Digital one listed in the thread ""List of hard drive diagnostic utilities to test your drive.""

Is my problem software related and maybe a more professional recovery suite would work better or is it a physical issue?

What's a good professional level, possibly free software for doing a recovery? I'll gladly pay if I know its professional level but I cant afford to buy 3 different ones and experiment in that way.

I'm confident that with some diligence and advice from friends I can avoid sending the HD off to a recovery service.

Thanks for your advice!! :good:

 

[FuryRosewood]

Software is not going to solve a hardware problem, your likely going to have to send it out for data recovery if it was of any worth to you, do not power it on if you can help it and just send it out, the less time its on the better. Might be some data recovery places near you, i know theres one next to the microcenter down in the denver tech center near me.

 

[eking]

Software is not going to solve a hardware problem, your likely going to have to send it out for data recovery if it was of any worth to you, do not power it on if you can help it and just send it out, the less time its on the better. Might be some data recovery places near you, i know theres one next to the microcenter down in the denver tech center near me.

Thanks! I was under the impression that the problem was software related as my computer recognizes it as a 1TB drive with no data. It can be written to and read from but my original 800gigs is not appearing. As the HD is still functioning I would think that data is still there.

 

[EBD444]

FuryRosewood is correct, if you dropped it there is going to be a physical problem inside the harddrive and it will need to be opened up in a clean room. Try The Data Rescue Center, they wont charge you for a quote and are reasonably priced compared to some of the main competitors. You can expect to pay $800 and up for anything that needs to be opened up in a clean room, but most of all stop your attempts at recovery for you could be causeing more damage. Try contacting The Data Rescue Center here: http://www.thedatarescuecenter.com/contact_us.html