External HD

[Dalo Harkin]

I agree. There are 3 possibilities I can think of.

 

1) External drive partition table is trashed.

 

2) The USB to hard drive electronics are faulty.

 

3) The drive itself is faulty.

 

Backtogeek - can you think of any more ?

 

Try Knoppix first if you can, its probably the easiest solution.

 

To rule out 2 and 3 - put the HDD in a tower PC and see if you get any joy.

[Dalo Harkin]

I agree. There are 3 possibilities I can think of.

 

1) External drive partition table is trashed.

 

2) The USB to hard drive electronics are faulty.

 

3) The drive itself is faulty.

 

Backtogeek - can you think of any more ?

 

Try Knoppix first if you can, its probably the easiest solution.

 

To rule out 2 and 3 - put the HDD in a tower PC and see if you get any joy.

[Dalo Harkin]

I agree. There are 3 possibilities I can think of.

 

1) External drive partition table is trashed.

 

2) The USB to hard drive electronics are faulty.

 

3) The drive itself is faulty.

 

Backtogeek - can you think of any more ?

 

Try Knoppix first if you can, its probably the easiest solution.

 

To rule out 2 and 3 - put the HDD in a tower PC and see if you get any joy.

[Goku]

That appears to be a common problem with Vista. And there are some very weird solutions that claim to resolve it. One of them is to boot with the drive plugged in and then try accessing it in Windows Explorer. Another more logical and practical solution is to uninstall the device in Device Manager and let Windows re-detect it. If that doesn't help, then I don't think we will be able to recover your data before today's deadline. :(

 

-- Goku

[Goku]

That appears to be a common problem with Vista. And there are some very weird solutions that claim to resolve it. One of them is to boot with the drive plugged in and then try accessing it in Windows Explorer. Another more logical and practical solution is to uninstall the device in Device Manager and let Windows re-detect it. If that doesn't help, then I don't think we will be able to recover your data before today's deadline. :(

 

-- Goku

[Goku]

That appears to be a common problem with Vista. And there are some very weird solutions that claim to resolve it. One of them is to boot with the drive plugged in and then try accessing it in Windows Explorer. Another more logical and practical solution is to uninstall the device in Device Manager and let Windows re-detect it. If that doesn't help, then I don't think we will be able to recover your data before today's deadline. :(

 

-- Goku

[Trikomo1]

Hi all thank you so much for your assistance. I could not retrive anything myself. I have an extension until next monday from college so hopefully i will retrive it in time. i have taken the drive to a reputable pc repair shop. and they have instrcted me that it is a 3 day process and so far they have managed to retrive 40% of my files. I have been told that "the drive was coocked" whatever this may mean.

[Trikomo1]

Hi all thank you so much for your assistance. I could not retrive anything myself. I have an extension until next monday from college so hopefully i will retrive it in time. i have taken the drive to a reputable pc repair shop. and they have instrcted me that it is a 3 day process and so far they have managed to retrive 40% of my files. I have been told that "the drive was coocked" whatever this may mean.

[Trikomo1]

Hi all thank you so much for your assistance. I could not retrive anything myself. I have an extension until next monday from college so hopefully i will retrive it in time. i have taken the drive to a reputable pc repair shop. and they have instrcted me that it is a 3 day process and so far they have managed to retrive 40% of my files. I have been told that "the drive was coocked" whatever this may mean.

[Tootech]

That's excellent news - hope you get back all the files you need.

[Tootech]

That's excellent news - hope you get back all the files you need.

[Tootech]

That's excellent news - hope you get back all the files you need.

[BeeCeeBee]

I guess it means physically damaged and in need of replacement.

[BeeCeeBee]

I guess it means physically damaged and in need of replacement.

[BeeCeeBee]

I guess it means physically damaged and in need of replacement.

[backtogeek]

Glad you are getting your files back, however I really hate to say this after you say reputable (I really do) but it is not a 3 day process, I used to offer data recovery as a service when I ran a solutions company a few years back and it took about 2 hours per 100gig.

 

cooked is a bit of a loose term to use, it does not specify hardware or software, so all I am suggesting here as you seem like a nice guy and I have seen people get ripped off in the past is to check the dates on the files when you get them back to see how long it actually took.

 

obviously if they just do it on the last day its gonna be hard to tell but if the dates on the files are today something is off.

 

Also if you get the drive back and you can format it and use it then it has been a corrupt allocation table and has been purely a software fault.

 

I know the main thing in your mind is getting your work back and rightly so, but it makes me wary if they say its a 3 day job.

 

Just to show my genuine concern I would be prepared to show you just how its done first hand via remote assistance on my own computer if you are interested and once you have your data back etc, either you viewing my computer or me viewing yours and talking you through it, obviously this is just an offer and I understand if you just simply want your files back and then want to forget the whole thing.

 

Kinda reminds me of when my GCSE wood work project went missing at school :)

[backtogeek]

Glad you are getting your files back, however I really hate to say this after you say reputable (I really do) but it is not a 3 day process, I used to offer data recovery as a service when I ran a solutions company a few years back and it took about 2 hours per 100gig.

 

cooked is a bit of a loose term to use, it does not specify hardware or software, so all I am suggesting here as you seem like a nice guy and I have seen people get ripped off in the past is to check the dates on the files when you get them back to see how long it actually took.

 

obviously if they just do it on the last day its gonna be hard to tell but if the dates on the files are today something is off.

 

Also if you get the drive back and you can format it and use it then it has been a corrupt allocation table and has been purely a software fault.

 

I know the main thing in your mind is getting your work back and rightly so, but it makes me wary if they say its a 3 day job.

 

Just to show my genuine concern I would be prepared to show you just how its done first hand via remote assistance on my own computer if you are interested and once you have your data back etc, either you viewing my computer or me viewing yours and talking you through it, obviously this is just an offer and I understand if you just simply want your files back and then want to forget the whole thing.

 

Kinda reminds me of when my GCSE wood work project went missing at school :)

[backtogeek]

Glad you are getting your files back, however I really hate to say this after you say reputable (I really do) but it is not a 3 day process, I used to offer data recovery as a service when I ran a solutions company a few years back and it took about 2 hours per 100gig.

 

cooked is a bit of a loose term to use, it does not specify hardware or software, so all I am suggesting here as you seem like a nice guy and I have seen people get ripped off in the past is to check the dates on the files when you get them back to see how long it actually took.

 

obviously if they just do it on the last day its gonna be hard to tell but if the dates on the files are today something is off.

 

Also if you get the drive back and you can format it and use it then it has been a corrupt allocation table and has been purely a software fault.

 

I know the main thing in your mind is getting your work back and rightly so, but it makes me wary if they say its a 3 day job.

 

Just to show my genuine concern I would be prepared to show you just how its done first hand via remote assistance on my own computer if you are interested and once you have your data back etc, either you viewing my computer or me viewing yours and talking you through it, obviously this is just an offer and I understand if you just simply want your files back and then want to forget the whole thing.

 

Kinda reminds me of when my GCSE wood work project went missing at school :)

[Tootech]

I wondered if the shop was using something like dd_rescue.

 

Assuming the drive was not reading correctly, it could take a long while to image.

 

Did the shop give you a price for the recovery?

[Tootech]

I wondered if the shop was using something like dd_rescue.

 

Assuming the drive was not reading correctly, it could take a long while to image.

 

Did the shop give you a price for the recovery?

[Tootech]

I wondered if the shop was using something like dd_rescue.

 

Assuming the drive was not reading correctly, it could take a long while to image.

 

Did the shop give you a price for the recovery?

[Dalo Harkin]

Hi all thank you so much for your assistance. I could not retrive anything myself. I have an extension until next monday from college so hopefully i will retrive it in time. i have taken the drive to a reputable pc repair shop. and they have instrcted me that it is a 3 day process and so far they have managed to retrive 40% of my files. I have been told that "the drive was coocked" whatever this may mean.

 

Drive was knackered and please dont say you took it to PC World

[Dalo Harkin]

Hi all thank you so much for your assistance. I could not retrive anything myself. I have an extension until next monday from college so hopefully i will retrive it in time. i have taken the drive to a reputable pc repair shop. and they have instrcted me that it is a 3 day process and so far they have managed to retrive 40% of my files. I have been told that "the drive was coocked" whatever this may mean.

 

Drive was knackered and please dont say you took it to PC World

[Dalo Harkin]

Hi all thank you so much for your assistance. I could not retrive anything myself. I have an extension until next monday from college so hopefully i will retrive it in time. i have taken the drive to a reputable pc repair shop. and they have instrcted me that it is a 3 day process and so far they have managed to retrive 40% of my files. I have been told that "the drive was coocked" whatever this may mean.

 

Drive was knackered and please dont say you took it to PC World

[Trikomo1]

Hi Everyone. Just a final update... My External HD was recovred 100% I have all my info back and a new hard drive to put it on. Total cost = £220. forgot to ask how he did it. (it wasnt pc world) at the local family run store.

 

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO CONTRIBUTED.....

THIS FORUM RULES!!!!!

 

CIAO FOR NOW.