hdd help

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redsmufc

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Hi,

I am fairly new to the industry. I am trying to recover a customers itunes library from their failed 2.5 sata hdd. I have tried recovery disks etc, I have also tried using my usb sata adapter, and my system see the drive but will not read it. Tried running a chkdsk and a virus scan. But I'm unable to perform any tasks on this disk.

Am I correct in thinking its dead and my customer can kiss goodbye to all their music and films that are stored on here. Or is there something I'm missing.

Like I say this is one of my first jobs and I'm pretty sure that the hdd has died, it is also making a noise like a frog, and the laptop its self has a broken hinge and broken casing I'm assuming dropped from a great height or thrown.

all help appreciated:)
 
redsmufc said:
Hi,

I am fairly new to the industry. I am trying to recover a customers itunes library from their failed 2.5 sata hdd. I have tried recovery disks etc, I have also tried using my usb sata adapter, and my system see the drive but will not read it. Tried running a chkdsk and a virus scan. But I'm unable to perform any tasks on this disk.

Am I correct in thinking its dead and my customer can kiss goodbye to all their music and films that are stored on here. Or is there something I'm missing.

Like I say this is one of my first jobs and I'm pretty sure that the hdd has died, it is also making a noise like a frog, and the laptop its self has a broken hinge and broken casing I'm assuming dropped from a great height or thrown.

all help appreciated:)
Click to expand...

You could try spinwrite, but you would have to purchase the program. If not do you see the drive in disk management?
 
thanks for the reply. Yes I can see the drive in disk managment and the partitions but it keeps freezing or not responding when I try to do anything with the disk.
 
redsmufc said:
thanks for the reply. Yes I can see the drive in disk managment and the partitions but it keeps freezing or not responding when I try to do anything with the disk.
Click to expand...

Your best option right now is to stop trying to get data for now. Call your customer, letting them know that the more you try the worse the drive may become, and that if the data is super important it should be sent to a recovery specialist. If the data is something they can live without, but would still like it, then continue trying.
 
redsmufc said:
thanks for the reply. Yes I can see the drive in disk managment and the partitions but it keeps freezing or not responding when I try to do anything with the disk.
Click to expand...

Did you try opening CMD and typing chkdsk [drive letter:] /f /r
 
14049752 said:
Your best option right now is to stop trying to get data for now. Call your customer, letting them know that the more you try the worse the drive may become, and that if the data is super important it should be sent to a recovery specialist. If the data is something they can live without, but would still like it, then continue trying.
Click to expand...

+1 I couldn't agree more, Wise words!!

I realise you are wanting to learn, but learning at the expense of the customers data is not the way to go, or the way to build a good reputation. Running chkdsk can cause more harm than good when a drive is failing as it is very intensive.

If the data isn't critical, have a search of the TN forum for data recovery, and data recovery software. There has been numerous threads on the topic that will point you in the right direction.

I personally use GetDataBack from Runtime Software for NTFS and FAT.
 
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thanks i'll just explain the hdd is dead, as I don't think the data is that important just music and videos i think.
 
redsmufc said:
thanks i'll just explain the hdd is dead, as I don't think the data is that important just music and videos i think.
Click to expand...
Is that yours to decide? Your customer deserves to the courtesy of you calling them and letting them make that call. You can emphasize the high expense of data recovery experts and, for examply, you'll only charge them if successful (never charge a customer when you have to learn the task).

I've had great success with HDD Regenerator but, as said, there is a chance that, based on the type of HD damage, it could make things worse.


Oh, and from the first post: If you knew it was a "failing hard drive", why in the world would you waste time with a virus scan? That's a whole lot of residual HD life span lost when it could be spent recovering.

Anytime you suspect a failing HD, always always always prioritize an image or recovery.
 
eHousecalls.ca said:
Is that yours to decide? Your customer deserves to the courtesy of you calling them and letting them make that call.

Oh, and from the first post: If you knew it was a "failing hard drive", why in the world would you waste time with a virus scan? That's a whole lot of residual HD life span lost when it could be spent recovering.

Anytime you suspect a failing HD, always always always prioritize an image or recovery.
Click to expand...

I have contacted the customer first. I would not do make that decision off my own back, the decision is not mine to make.

And also as explained in my first post I am fairly new to the industry, we all have to start somewhere. Lesson learned and thanks for the advice..
 
Data recover, takes a lot of experience and talent and unless your confident of your abilities you could only damage the drive further by attempting procedures that your are not sure.

My advice offer your customer the option to send the drive out and have it recovered from a reputable third party.
 
FWIW, you can also cover this sort of thing upon intake by covering the "what if" with the customer.

"While it sounds like the problem may be a corrupted profile, there's a small chance that it could be the hard drive. Now, after testing, if it turns out the hard drive is the cause ...."
 
I understand that you would like to collect all of the data from the drive, but if what you are concerned for most is the music...

His account should still have access to the songs to download onto another PC once you authorize it. I would email Apple about this and they should let you download it all again for free. At the very least he probably has most of it on his iPod/iPhone and he can transfer purchases from his phone to the new PC.

This won't save any of his other data, but it will take care of his music and movies.

EDIT: I reread the first post, and I realise it doesn't say anything about iTunes. I'm sure another company he purchased the music from would probably have the same policy. If he burned it from CD's then it won't cost him anything to do it again, and you could offer to do it if you feel like you have failed him.
 
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The other option is that it was music not paid for... but it took a period of time to collect.

When we come across a hard drive that is going bad, our first response it to clone the drive to a good drive. (I guess I can use this excuse as to why I have over 60 good hard drives sitting around):)
 
thanks for all the advice, i have spoken to the customer and they have decided against sending the hd away, as the data on it is not important, they just hoped i could save them the time consuming task of putting all their music on their new system. I have not charged them either didn't see it fair to do so.
 
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