[darthwalters]

I have two external hard drives both cross-platform Windows/Mac. I have both hooked up to my PC at the moment and was working as normal. I was attempting to move a file on one of the externals and had a typical system freeze. I wasn't able to get off this freeze and had to shut-down manually. When I restarted, check disk started on my external drive and froze up at 22%. When I let this run its course, it can up with multiple folders from the external that were "entirely unreadable". Windows did eventually load and explorer showed the drive letter representing the external, but would freeze up again if it access was attempted or any of my recovery programs were tried on the drive.

There were no rattling or spinning sounds. It still sounds as it always has. It even shows a green light. I also hooked it up to my Powerbook to see if I could read the files on that OS. The first time I turned it on, the drive popped up on the desktop, though if access was attempted it would hang again. I also tried booting with Data Rescue X. If I booted with the DVD and then turned on the external it would show up in volumes to recover, but when any type of scan was attempted it would hang up the system again.

I know this sounds bleak, and I do have most of my files backed up. However, with the amount of work I do, I don't have enough room even with four hard drives to backup everything. There are files on that drive I would very much like to try and save. Any suggestion other than to give up the fight or call a $500 recovery service?

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I went ahead and took a chance, by removing the damaged hard drive from its casing and trying it in another casing. It is recognized by the Mac when I boot up with Data Rescue and I'm running a system scan now. Now we just cross our fingers.

[darthwalters]

I went ahead and took a chance, by removing the damaged hard drive from its casing and trying it in another casing. It is recognized by the Mac when I boot up with Data Rescue and I'm running a system scan now. Now we just cross our fingers.