Yep. I could just shove someone's face in

[AceFireForce117]

Hi everyone..

I wasn't sure where to post since it doesn't directly concern mixing so i'm sorry if this is misplaced.
Still it's pretty much a fear and a nightmare come true.

I've been working on this ep for one of my bands for months now and finally approaching the end, i wanted to make backup files just this very morning.
But wait. Where is the hard drive partition ?

Apparently the hard drive containing ALL the ep related files decided it was a good time to stop working.
So i'm left with nothing.
I've tried changing the sata cable, power cable, plugged it in another pc, used recovery softwares (they don't work for shit..) tried looking into the bios. It's simply not detected anymore, not even as an unknown device or whatever.

the worst thing is that i'm still hoping for a solution when i think i just need someone to answer this question :

Am i fucked ?

 

[thefalloftheheretic]

Am i fucked ?

Aside from using a professional recovery service which may or may not give you adequate results for $500-1000, unfortunately it looks like it's gone.

Sorry bud!

 

[Pharaoh's Curse]

Some good information here on recovering data. Even if the HD is dead: http://lifehacker.com/5982339/diy-data-recovery-tricks-for-when-your-hard-drive-goes-belly-up

 

[cfh11]

ugh sorry dude that sucks. this is why it is a good idea to have automatic scheduled backups of EVERYTHING. you never know when/where technology will bite you in the ass.

 

[Trevoire520]

Have you tried taking the drive out of the enclosure and putting it in another? Could just be that the enclosure is fucked but the drive is ok?

 

[Plendakor]

Sucks... happened to me once. Now I have 5 HDDs to double-backup.
I use G-parted when dealing with HDDs and partitioning. I use to make hidden partitions, which really only is a setting. I would just hide it when I left for a week so that it would never show up if my computer would have got stolen. http://gparted.org/

edit: wait, do you have a Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ? If so, I'll have your solution.. same thing you described happened to me and my HDD was undetectable for like 3 years.

 

[AceFireForce117]

I have read similar cases that were linked to a pcb problem but not the drive itself, so technically the data is still there and untouched. I've handed the drive to a friend who works with computers all the time. We'll see where that goes...

It's not a seagate it's a maxtor 500go, i can't remember the specs. Let me guess... Is it Seatools ?

Have you tried taking the drive out of the enclosure and putting it in another? Could just be that the enclosure is fucked but the drive is ok?

I have thought of that and my friend will certainly try this, thanks

Anyway that'll teach me to not do backups sooner

 

[Plendakor]

No wasn't Seatool, I had to buy a cellphone usb cable for the chip and wire it to the harddrive and use Telnet on Windows XP to write an instruction to unlock the PCB so that it would appear in the bios. I would have sent you the hardware needed for free if that would have been the same issue/same HDD.

 

[~BURNY~]

A few HDD died on me in the past 15 years and every one of them was a Maxtor, so I stopped buying them.

 

[AceFireForce117]

well nothing we can do about it i'm afraid... Except get it done by a professional but the cost is like 300/400€ so...
I've only got old exported songs already "home mastered" and mixed but they need vocal parts on them...

 

[userchanged1]

is it ticking if you plug it in?

if so - and bear with me on this one - you could try putting it in the freezer for a couple of hours.
I am totally serious here. Put it in an airtight bag (plastic bag with ducttape against condensation) and let it sit in a freezer overnight. Take it out and plug it in while it's cold.
Worked for me 2 or 3 times already, but maybe i got lucky. Just be fast to copy everything important as fast as possible when it gets warmer it will probably fail again and this isn't the type of thing you can keep trying over and over. its worth trying if all else fails.

if the disk is dead as in doesn't even start spinning when plugged in, it could be its the actual disk or the enclosure for that you should ask a recovery company. Anyhow, if it doesn't spin that's a hardware problem, and software will NEVER be able to recover anything.

good luck

 

[azistenostora]

you could try putting it in the freezer for a couple of hours.

This sounds like a horrible idea. Only do this if you're absolutely certain that nothing else will work as this will probably destroy your disk forever.

 

[userchanged1]

Hard drives work sort of like old records, except rather than one record and needle, hard drives have several small platters spinning really fast that are accessed by a read/write head. In theory, I believe, this would work with hard drives with slightly warped platters; unfrozen, your busted drive is grinding the head against the platters as a result. By freezing the hard drive, you're hopefully shrinking the platters enough that they're no longer rubbing up against the head—temporarily, at least. Update: Reader bobeltomate offers a better theory. Keep in mind that it's not always a sure thing, but if you're desperate, it's worth a try.

A lot of people claim it to be an urban myth. All I can say is it worked for me (and people in my surroundings to which I advised this method) more than you would expect.
I'm not saying it has a high probability of success, and yes it is a last resort, but if all else fails, why not try it?

 

[Nebulous]

Have you tried taking the drive out of the enclosure and putting it in another? Could just be that the enclosure is fucked but the drive is ok?

+1
I had a HD die on me once in a PC. I installed it into a portable drive enclosure and was able to recover what I needed.

 

[FIXXXER]

you should definitively try out one of these internal HDD to external HDD docking station things...

 

[AceFireForce117]

a friend of mine did that and still could not recover some data. Thank you everyone for your help but we've moved on now. We still have some exported versions of our songs so it's not all bad