[KESTDAWG]

I have an external hard drive that has all of my photos videos and other important datat on it. I am now unable to access it and getting an I/O error . Is there a way to get into it to get my stuff back or am i royally screwed? please help. thanks in advance

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Can the drive be removed or is it a contained unit? IF you can take it out and put it into the computer you could try that and maybe use something like Getdataback from run time systems to recover your data.... Another option would be a professional data recovery place like Ontrack ( this is very expensive however ) Unfortunately I haven't seen any software that can recover data unless the computer at least detects that a drive is there....

Also as an after thought have you tried hooking it up to another computer.... maybe it is something with your computer....

[shard92]

Can the drive be removed or is it a contained unit? IF you can take it out and put it into the computer you could try that and maybe use something like Getdataback from run time systems to recover your data.... Another option would be a professional data recovery place like Ontrack ( this is very expensive however ) Unfortunately I haven't seen any software that can recover data unless the computer at least detects that a drive is there....

Also as an after thought have you tried hooking it up to another computer.... maybe it is something with your computer....

[KESTDAWG]

It is in an external enclosure and when I did hook it up to my other computer it said device needs to be formatted. On my other computer it said device cannot be read due to an i/o error so it is detecting the device it just doesn't seem to be able to read anything on it

[shard92]

Not sure if getdataback will work with an external drive but you could try.... you can download and run the software to see if/what it can recover before you buy it... it's available here:

http://www.runtime.org/

Be sure to look through the versions and get the one right for you ( fat or ntfs ) there are other softwares like this out there but I've used this before on internal drives and it worked well....

If this can find anything then again you'd be back to On-track or other service company...

good luck

[Abydos]

Hi KESTDAWG

A remedy that usually work with I/O errors, is running the
CHKDSK utility.

Goto START, then click RUN, type CMD

In the Command-prompt, type the following:

CHKDSK Volume: /F (Space between : and / )

Replace Volume with the drive letter.

It will run 5 test on each pass. Run the tool till you
get Zero errors, and then run it once more to be sure.

It will take time.

Regards Abydos

[KESTDAWG]

What will this chkdsk do? I am running it now and am curious as to what my next step will be?

[KESTDAWG]

I ran a program called recover my files but it ran for nine hours then not responded and got zero files back for me. Im really desperate to get my photos back.

[Abydos]

What will this chkdsk do? I am running it now and am curious as to what my next step will be?

Hi KESTDAWG

Heres some info on the CHKDSK command.

Did it report any errors or messages that it attempted to correct
error?

Do note, that a single run of the command won't do if it found errors.

Run the tool till you
get Zero errors, and then run it once more to be sure.

Regards Abydos

[happyrock]

if chkdsk doesn't help ...try puppy linux...
these instructions were written to get data off a non bootable hard drive and move it to a usb hard drive or usb flash drive...in your case you will get it off the usb drive and copy to your hard drive...adjust as necessary
puppy will load and run totally in ram...

get puppy linux...Get puppy-2.16-seamonkey-fulldrivers.iso download it and burn it to cd ...if you don't have a burning program that will burn .ISO files go here and get burncdcc ..a small FAST no frills iso burning program...

NOTE...do not put a blank cd in until burncdcc opens the tray for you
1. Start BurnCDCC
2. Browse to the ISO file you want to burn on cd/dvd ......in this case its puppy linux
3. Select the ISO file
4. Suggestion ==> Check the option "Fix close"
5. Click on "Start"

make sure in the bios the cd drive is the first boot device....put the cd in the cd drive..boot your computer....puppy will boot and run totally in ram...if your hardware is is good working order you will know...
after you get it running and your at the desktop...you take the puppy linux cd out and then you can use the burner to copy all yor data to cd/dvds
you can also use it to backup your data to a external usb harddrive..just have it hooked to the computer when you boot up with puppy...
==========================
quick guide for saving data...music..files on a system that will not boot using puppy Linux..


after you get to puppy desktop..
click on the drives icon...looks like a flash drive...top row..it will list all the drives connected to

your computer...

click on the red icon for the drive you want to mount...in this case its a flash drive ...puppy will

mount the drive..the drive icon turns green when its mounted...
minimize the drives mounter window..you will need it again in a few minutes..
drag the right edge of it sideways to shrink it to its narrowest size...then drag the window to the
right edge of the screen...

now click on the icon that looks like a filing cabinet (kind of yellow) on the main drive...it should
already be green..
you will see a list of all the folders on the main drive Usually your C: drive..shrink that window to

the narrowest you can..drag that window to the left side of the screen...
at this point you should have 2 windows open on your desktop..the flash drive on the right side..
go back to the folders on the C: drive...click on the documents and settings folder...then your user
name or all users..find the folders that has your data..
drag and drop the folder with the data you want to make copies of to the flash drive window...

your options are to move ..copy ect...JUST COPY..if its to big you will have to open the folder and
drag and drop individual files until the flash drive is full...(I have a 120 GB external USB drive for
big data recovery jobs and a 4 GB flash drive for the smaller jobs)..after you get the files copied to
the flash drive...
Click on the drives mounter you minimized earlier
UNMOUNT THE FLASH DRIVE by clicking on the green icon..you will once in awhile get error messages when
unmounting the drive..ignore them..when the flash drive icon turns red again its safe to remove the
flash drive..trot on over (stroll if you want to look cool) to another computer and plug in the flash

drive and copy all the data files ( I drag and drop) to the other computer..
make sure the other computer can read them...

now delete the data on the flash drive...take it back to the misbehaving computer and plug it in

again..click on the drives icon again and repeat until you have all your data transferred to the working
system..

Edited by happyrck, 20 June 2008 - 05:25 PM.

[KESTDAWG]

I will try this puppy thing. CHKDSK HAS BEEN RUNNING FOR ABOUT TEN HOURS I DONT KNOW IF THIS IS NORMAL. SHould I stop it? Its been stuck on "deleting orphan file 8688 for about two hours?

[happyrock]

sorry I didn't get back to you sooner...did chkdsk ever complete...you can always try puppy linux to get your data

[KESTDAWG]

THANK GOD FOR THIS SITE!!!!!! puppy helped me get back into the hard drive when nothing else worked. Got all my photos back and am no longer in fear of getting killed by my wife for losing Wedding and baby photos. I will definately back up on more than one drive from now on. Thanks to all that helped me with this problem>>>>>

[happyrock]

your welcome...

in addition to backing up your data to another drive...burn it all onto dvd's and store them away from where your at..the more important the data ...the more copies you should have