Hard Drive recovery

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

thinking I am going to do some backing up right now.  it will always hit you when you least expect it

[jarrotto 78]

Is there not a reliable auto backup utility for Windows.  My Mac has time machine built in and it constantly does automatic backups all through out the day.

 

I also manually backup to a portable drive every month or so in case i loose my main backup, that way i would not loose all of my files.

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

not sure on auto back up - I know about 10-12 years ago in the gis shop we paid for a high dollar back up system and it was  PIA to extract the data back from that system so I do mine manually now.

[busterbay 326]

For what it's worth when you get your files back, this NAS unit https://www.synology.com/en-us/products/DS114 was the best $300 I ever spent. ( I have the ds111) . Just simply attach to the network and forget it.

 

I backup to it's internal drive and a tethered usb drive once a week. Well worth the piece of mind. 

[dkipp 14]

I'm actually very familiar with this situation, like some have said if it stops spinning versus just corrupt you're most likely sol. However, you might try this adapter.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Drive-Adapter-Converter-Optical-External/dp/B001OORMVQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1413721139&sr=8-1&keywords=external+hard+drive+cable+sata

 

I use it all the time for recovery in corrupt situations, it's less then $10.00. Plug your HD in like an external and pull of your data.

 

Backup is vital, you would not beleive how many people I deal with that have very valuable data/research on their machine and they don't back it up. No joke, I've had people crying, grown adults, because they lost years of data/pictures and such.

I have auto backup running daily, but I also do it manually weekly.

 

Good Luck, If I can help let me know.

[Sue2 920]

thinking I am going to do some backing up right now.  it will always hit you when you least expect it

 

Me too, me too!!

 

I also have a 1TB Seagate drive onsite that auto backs up files every night.....

along with the Carbonite in the cloud that is a continual back-up.

 

BUT, there are older ARCHIVE & CLIPART files stored on the Seagate

that don't get backed up regularily.....and those I would not want to lose! 

So I back them up manually to a portable drive...whenever I think about it....

like NOW!

 

ALSO,  copy your thumb & flash dirves frequently.....they can fail, get lost

or fall into the toilet or other nasty places.  

 

Sue2

[jaybyrd 3,770]

Tried the cables already. Pulled the Cove and the arm was bound now it spins but the pc isn't recognizing it's there. Last Fitch I spent 100 dollars and ordered the exact same drive off ebay and will try a circuit board swap and then a platter swap as a last ditch. I bought a 500 gig external Saturday and instead of using it as my primary storage like I was I set it to auto backup every hour. Lesson learned.

[darcshadow 1,626]

One thing you might try before tearing apart the drive. If you have an extra computer, install LYNIX on it and see if you can get it to see the drive. Lynix is really good at detecting drives and reading the raw data when a windows PC can't.

[jarrotto 78]

One thing you might try before tearing apart the drive. If you have an extra computer, install LYNIX on it and see if you can get it to see the drive. Lynix is really good at detecting drives and reading the raw data when a windows PC can't.

 

 

Thats a good idea!  You can burn Ubuntu (free) to a disc and boot into it from your CD Drive without having to install it.

 

How to burn to a disc: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/burn-a-dvd-on-windows

[Monkey 252]

Im in the same boat. recently had an external go belly up (PG Version) and has a ton of pictures and house plans from when I was a residential architect. I tried and tried to recover it with different programs and was only able to recover bits and pieces. You can try a free program called "Recuva" it got me some of my stuff. I still have the HD sitting on my desk in false hopes Ill figure out how to recover everything off it some day. I have another one already but buying a 2nd to just make a back up of the one. Figure its cheaper to have 2 then the stress and cost of losing everything again.

[jaybyrd 3,770]

Had a quote in California for 499 up to 1100. Cheapest so far.

[pshawny 410]

This topic is making me upgrade my file backup solution. I have hard drive clone files from a few months back on an external drive, but I don't always remember to update it. I now have a 3TB WD My Cloud on the way, along with a new wireless N router to speed transfer rates up from wireless G. This should keep all three computers backed up. I'm also going to look into having it save a copy to my online server for extra protection.

[jaybyrd 3,770]

For everyone who backed up their stuff after reading this I'm taking donations

[pshawny 410]

For everyone who backed up their stuff after reading this I'm taking donations

 

I donated a like

[SeeJaysPlace 476]

For what it's worth when you get your files back, this NAS unit https://www.synology.com/en-us/products/DS114 was the best $300 I ever spent. ( I have the ds111) . Just simply attach to the network and forget it.

 

I backup to it's internal drive and a tethered usb drive once a week. Well worth the piece of mind. 

I have thought about getting one of these ..

i just might have to save up and get me one!

[SeeJaysPlace 476]

I have a 2 TB External Drive, Is there a way i can get a program to auto back up for me ?

[busterbay 326]

I have a 2 TB External Drive, Is there a way i can get a program to auto back up for me ?

 

You may already have it

 

Not sure what operating system you are running but in windows 8 in the search type in "backup" or in your control panel look for file history or paste this into any file explorer link: Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\File History

 

Just follow the prompts.

[Sue2 920]

Along these same lines....

NEVER allow a friend/customer or other person to use your 

graphics computer for even a minute....

 

A few years back I was lax and allowed this....

a day later, I noticed two Older Archive Folders were missing.....

they were on an external storage drive and had disappeared.

I don't even know for sure that this person had accidently done this.....

but the time frame was right.  

 

So, policy now is NO ONE but myself works on that graphics computer.

Then I KNOW who to blame for mess-ups!  And at least now I can

retrieve most of what is missing.

Never did find those two folders....and this is why I began making global

back-ups.

 

Sue2

[jaybyrd 3,770]

Along these same lines....

NEVER allow a friend/customer or other person to use your 

graphics computer for even a minute....

 

A few years back I was lax and allowed this....

a day later, I noticed two Older Archive Folders were missing.....

they were on an external storage drive and had disappeared.

I don't even know for sure that this person had accidently done this.....

but the time frame was right.  

 

So, policy now is NO ONE but myself works on that graphics computer.

Then I KNOW who to blame for mess-ups!  And at least now I can

retrieve most of what is missing.

Never did find those two folders....and this is why I began making global

back-ups.

 

Sue2

My sister used mine once and a couple folders got moved inside other folders. Of course she didn't do it though.

[jaybyrd 3,770]

I have a 2 TB External Drive, Is there a way i can get a program to auto back up for me ?

This is what came with my new external drive. It automatically backs up from pc to external at preset times. http://www.nticorp.com/en/us/store/nti-backup-now-ez-4-estore.asp?type=full

[Sue2 920]

My sister used mine once and a couple folders got moved inside other folders. Of course she didn't do it though.

 

I wasn't that lucky...I searched everywhere!

 

Sue2

[dkipp 14]

Also something I would suggest is after backing up your data, leave your external hard drive unplugged from your system when not in use. I had a person last week who got their system "held ransom", luckily it was a new system and she had not yet transferred over her files, in her case it paid to procrastinate..

 

If you seach computer ransom it seems to be getting more common. The FBI actualy came to her home and took her machine for an "investigation" and returned it to her in a week reformatted.

[Go-C Graphics 856]

Also something I would suggest is after backing up your data, leave your external hard drive unplugged from your system when not in use. I had a person last week who got their system "held ransom", luckily it was a new system and she had not yet transferred over her files, in her case it paid to procrastinate..

 

If you seach computer ransom it seems to be getting more common. The FBI actualy came to her home and took her machine for an "investigation" and returned it to her in a week reformatted.

 

How did the FBI know?

I've never heard of anyone reporting a computer virus to the FBI.

[MZ SKEETER 4,708]

Also something I would suggest is after backing up your data, leave your external hard drive unplugged from your system when not in use. I had a person last week who got their system "held ransom", luckily it was a new system and she had not yet transferred over her files, in her case it paid to procrastinate..

 

If you seach computer ransom it seems to be getting more common. The FBI actualy came to her home and took her machine for an "investigation" and returned it to her in a week reformatted.

LOL..  I just saw that  being done, a few weeks back on the TV show "THE GOOD WIFE"   Held all computers on the network ransom in the law firm, 

[Wildgoose 4,200]

Internet crimes fall into the federal jurisdiction. We had a purchase from a fraudulent ebay seller and the FBi was notified (By us at ebay's recommendation) Luckily we got our money back from ebays buyer protection but there were several of us buying flat screen monitors that were not in actual existence.