Problems accessing old internal Hard drive

[Baldo]

I have a HDD that I used as one of my back drives but I can no longer read it.
This is when it is connected as an internal drive. The drive letter just doe snot appear or if if does Windows can not access it.

I cant even run chkdsk to repair the drive. Although the system does try to repair it on boot up.

I have tried to connect it to a SATA to USB adapter to see if I can access it that way but that does not seem to work either.

Any suggestions on how I Can copy the data from this drive? Should I try accessing it via a Linux boot up?

Its a 1.5TB drive so there is a fair amount of data on it.

Many thanks.

[adamburgess]

If it's clicking… try not to keep powering it. Won't have much life left, so any time is important.

Do you know an IT geek who could maybe run some recovery software on it?
Software that will run slow as hell, but probably your best change of recovery!

[Baldo]

I can hear some clicking when I power it with the SATA to USB cable, but nothing happens.

I dont really know an IT geek to run software on this. I am the IT Geek!!!.

Can you recommend any software recovery tools?

[muzines]

If the drive is dead or dying, and it's a backup drive (so it's a backup of data that exists elsewhere), you might just want to abandon it, and rebackup that data onto a new, working drive...

If you want software to try and fix it, try Spinrite...

[sonics]

I have a HDD that I used as one of my back drives but I can no longer read it.

(EDIT: As muzines said above...)
At first I thought that if your back-up drive has failed, just replace it. But are you saying that this drive is not a back-up, but the only copy?

Anyway, don't use an external adapter. Connect the drive directly to the motherboard. Check the power supply to the drive (are voltages good?), and what does Disk Management tell you? Is the disk visible? I think you're saying it is. You could then try something like Ontrack EasyRecovery.

[Wonks]

Some older/bigger HDDs draw too much power to run just from a USB adapter without an external power supply.

Is the drive showing up (when connected internally) in This PC/manage/computer management /disk management?

[OneWorld]

I too found that some USB adapters won't power all drives, you have to use a powered adapter.

I was about to ditch a perfectly good 1TB drive, which as it happens contained the files I thought I had lost.

In a last ditch attempt I got a drive caddy with power, the drive opened up to reveal the lost files

I later discovered the adapter I had would only work with those small SATA drives that go in laptops (2.5" ?)

[Baldo]

It is a back up drive, so it contains back ups of files.

The SATA to USB adapter has an external power connector as well, that connects to the mains.

I will try connecting to the mobo directly again.

[N i g e l]

if you right click windows start >> disk management, what does that report ?

[merlyn]

adamburgess got it right. Shut the PC down and disconnect the drive. Only re-connect it when you're ready to do data recovery. Powering it up could make it worse. Also, running a file system check/repair could make it worse. This drive sounds like it has I/O errors -- that means the drive itself is failing. That can't be fixed. All you can do now is recover the data.

Windows can't do data recovery as it doesn't allow direct access to the hardware. I imagine the "Windows" data recovery tools re-boot into MS-DOS to get direct access to the drives.

I've recovered a drive with ddrescue on Linux. Maybe a bit of a learning curve if you're new to Linux. One point -- the 'mapfile' is essential. The mapfile keeps track of what's been recovered, so the recovery can be paused and re-started.

To do this you need another drive the same size or bigger than the drive to be recovered. ddrescue is then run with the damaged drive as the infile, and the good drive as the outfile. If the drive is really knackered it's possible to use another two drives. Doing a file system check on a drive that hasn't been fully recovered (say 99%) means you can't try any further recovery. So it's possible to copy what's been recovered from the first drive onto another drive, then do a file system check on the second drive. This means the recovery can be resumed if the file system check isn't getting back all the files you want.

[muzines]

Windows can't do data recovery as it doesn't allow direct access to the hardware. I imagine the "Windows" data recovery tools re-boot into MS-DOS to get direct access to the drives.

Spinrite has it's own freedos environment where it does this, and it can fix drives that are dying in various ways. If that's the class of problems the OP is having, it's worth a try, especially as being a backup drive, the data isn't precious, as it would be if it was an archive drive, and contained the only copy of that data.

[merlyn]

Spinrite, a snip at $70. They're going to say that, aren't they? Let's say miraculously some more life was squeezed from this drive. The first thing to do would be to copy it onto a good drive. So you may as well start doing that immediately before the drive truly does die.

[muzines]

Spinrite, a snip at $70. They're going to say that, aren't they? Let's say miraculously some more life was squeezed from this drive. The first thing to do would be to copy it onto a good drive. So you may as well start doing that immediately before the drive truly does die.

Sure. And if the OP can read from the drive, they don't need to use or buy any recovery tools at all.

But if they can't read from the drive with any freely available tools, Spinrite has a bunch of tech to smartly try and extract those sectors. I'm not saying it's the only tool available, but it's one I know about, and have been following the development and how it works under the hood for a while. And I'm also waiting for a Mac version, because it's a tool I'd like to be able to more easily use on drives, as I no longer have any PC's around for that purpose. To my understanding, it doesn't many unique things that other tools don't do, and has successfully recovered many drives that other tools couldn't.

But it's just a recommendation, ymmv. The OP was asking for suggestions, those were mine.

[merlyn]

... And if the OP can read from the drive, they don't need to use or buy any recovery tools at all.

I don't know what you're getting at there as the OP can't. Windows doesn't even see this drive. It's knackered. For me the priority would be getting the data off, not trying to repair it.

[BWC]

I can hear some clicking when I power it...

I'm a proud owner of a Spinrite license, and a long time fan of Steve Gibson, but even Steve says if it's clicking it probably doesn't have enough life left for Spinrite to work its magic. It can be set to do little more than chkdsk does, or it can be set to absolutely hammer each sector until it gets the data, which a clicking drive likely wouldn't survive.

...that means the drive itself is failing. That can't be fixed.

At least, not without a cleanroom, the right parts & tools, and a fair bit of specialized knowledge.

Spinrite, a snip at $70. They're going to say that, aren't they?

And I'd agree. Steve is a very generous guy. Take a look at all he gives away for free. Spinrite is the only thing he sells, and the price is reasonable, and it doesn't tend to change (don't know if it ever has).

I'm also waiting for a Mac version...

I'm confused. As you already seem to know, it runs in its own freeDOS environment. Windows is only needed, once, to create the bootable media. I haven't checked in a while, but I'd be surprised to ever hear of a coming Mac version.

[merlyn]

I wouldn't say there is any magic involved. Software can't fix hardware. If a drive starts to go, get the data off it onto another good drive. That's it.

ddrescue maximises the amount of data that can be recovered by going for the good sectors first, and coming back to the problematic sectors later. Spinrite may have a similar mode. Still this involves transferring the contents of a bad drive onto a good drive.

There seems to be a misunderstanding in this thread that running some software can make a bad drive good. It might be able to produce a temporary improvement, but once a drive starts to show problems, it can't be relied on.

[BWC]

I wouldn't say there is any magic involved.

Neither would I, was just an expression. If I could still edit, I'd happily correct it to "do its work."

Software can't fix hardware. ...seems to be a misunderstanding in this thread...

Not from me, I'm agreeing with you. I'm also stating that Spinrite is an excellent product, made and sold by an individual that I like and respect, who does not make any false claims about his product and would likely be the first to say that software can't fix hardware. I meant it when I said "Take a look" I think you'd like what you'd find at grc, and his security related netcast is also full of good, reliable info.

I've seen numerous threads recently where people have been reminded to be careful to be fair in their comments about vendors / manufacturers. You didn't exactly say anything negative, but the "They're going to say that, aren't they?" bit, made me want to point out that there is no "they" in this case. It's just Steve, and he's a good guy. He does have two or three employees, I think, to help with day to day stuff, but he is the maker of Spinrite, and he's very honest about what it can and can't do. In fact, there's an old episode of his netcast where he goes into great detail about what it does and how it works, and it's not a sales pitch at all, more educational, like all Security Now! episodes. He, like you (and many here), is one of those trying to put some accurate, reliable, verifiable information out there instead of the usual mess. So if he said it, I'm confident that, to the best of his vast knowledge, it's true, and I'd agree with him that Spinrite is worth more than it's cost.

[merlyn]

I don't know if it is for the OP. How good value then is ddrescue at $0? These are not apps that a person really wants to be using if avoidable. When you need ddrescue or Spinrite the drive is already in the disaster zone.

Look at your SMART data! Checking up on the SMART data every now and then gives a person a heads-up on the state of a drive. One motherboard I had flashed up a warning that the SMART data wasn't good on the POST screen. Of course a lot of people never see that, as they have the manufacturer's splash screen instead.

[BWC]

This just tells me that you still haven't taken a close enough look at Spinrite, GRC, or the Security Now! episode I mentioned. Until you have, no point discussing it further. I'm sure ddrescue is great for what it is.

Totally agree about keeping an eye on SMART data (so does Steve https://www.grc.com/sr/smart.htm), and BIOS splash screens would annoy me even if they didn't hide all those helpful (or reassuring if all is well) POST results.