OT: Logical disc failure - Recovery?

xberk wrote on 8/7/2010, 10:50 AM

I have an old Maxtor SATA drive that I cannot access. The bios detects the drive ok. Maxtor's disc utility says the drive is bad and to replace it. But can I recover the data using software? I don't hear any clicking sounds and the drive seems to be spinning ok .. just cannot access the drive via Windows or DOS or anything I've tried so far. Does this sound like a "logical disc" failure due to virus, file corruption or something like that? What software can anyone recommend (or freeware) to see if I can recover the data?

Paul

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 8/7/2010, 1:39 PM

GetDataBack from RuntimeSoftware.com

Excellent! It's saved my butt quite a few times. It may not save your hard drive, but there's a good chance it can mount the logical volume and allow you to copy it all elsewhere.

amendegw wrote on 8/7/2010, 2:55 PM

Sometimes Spinrite will recover the data: http://www.grc.com/sr/themovie.htm

It does cost $89, however.

Good Luck!
...Jerry

John_Cline wrote on 8/7/2010, 4:43 PM

Spinrite only recovers data by repairing bad clusters and attempting to recover data in those bad clusters. It is more likely that a program like the one Kelly suggested above will do the trick. It might also require both programs, Spinrite first.

xberk wrote on 8/7/2010, 7:56 PM

Thanks Kelly !! ... I did use GetDataBack and it worked! .. I downloaded the trial version and after running it for over an hour got most of the file folders and file names to show up .. The trial doesn't allow you to copy the files, so I had to pay for ($79) and register the software --- all of which I could do on-the-fly without having to run the whole process again .. I've copied most of the files over to a portable USB drive now and most of the data seems to be there. Mostly family jpg files. This drive belonged to a cousin of mine and I'm doing her the favor of data recovery. I thank you and she thanks you.

John --- I did think of using Spinrite as it is so well known -- but in this case I wanted to find out if the data was there prior to plucking any money down and I wasn't interested in actually fixing the drive (which I believe Spinrite can do). I do see a problem in using Spinrite first as it can take a long long time (like 20 hours) and the drive, which is likely flaky to start out with, can go completely bad while Spinrite is doing its thing. But if GetDataBack had not worked, Spinrite might have been worth a shot since it can do actual repair to the drive. What's nice is that the trial of GetDataBack should tell you if your files are still there and success is at hand without spending a dime. One more nice thing about GetDataBack (once registered) is that it can "image" the drive and you can then do recovery from the image without having to run the "wounded" drive for long periods.