Urgent!! Help needed to recover lost data

[SusanHC]

quick note as I am not too welll, to say how much I appreciate the help I am being given. I am going to type up a report of events leading up to catestrophy which I will post

So for now - big thanks alll !!

Susan

 

[rsvr85]

Get well soon Susan, we eagerly await your report

 

[Win7User512]

Was it a Western Digital MyBook, by any chance?

 

[SusanHC]

Hello all

Here as promised - my report

its rather long - sorry!

Thanks for your patience


Susan

 

[Win7User512]

Sorry to hear about your situation. Dropping it not only once but twice certainly doesn't help the drive work. That could be the cause of the issue. It's difficult to say for sure, but sorry to hear you can't get your data back.

 

[gregrocker]

Even if dropped, the manufacturer can recover the data.

The drive has another 2-3 months of tech support warranty. If it is not visibly damaged then they should even replace it under hardware warranty. At the minimum they need to help you recover the data.

I would consider RMA'ing it with the expressed understanding that they will recover your data to the replacement drive and return it to you.

There are a whole lot of potential Fujitsu customers watching here and hitting this post on Google search results, witnessing how you are treated.

 

[SusanHC]

Even if dropped, the manufacturer can recover the data.

The drive has another 2-3 months of tech support warranty. If it is not visibly damaged then they should even replace it under hardware warranty. At the minimum they need to help you recover the data.

I would consider RMA'ing it with the expressed understanding that they will recover your data to the replacement drive and return it to you.

There are a whole lot of potential Fujitsu customers watching here and hitting this post on Google search results, witnessing how you are treated.

thank you. your encouragement really spurs me on

 

[SusanHC]

Toshiba took over Fujitsu hard drive support in Oct
You will be interested to read Toshiba's reply to my desperate email:

my email:

I AM DISABLED AND THE DATA ON THE HARD DRIVE IS VITAL TO ME PLEASE DO SOMETHING FOR ME

toshiba's reply:

I am totally sorry, but Toshiba does not provide any data recovery service.
[SIZE=+0]If you are in urgent need of the data on your defective HDD, please contact specialized data recovery companies like Ontrack, Convar, Vogon or others BEFORE sending the drive for repair.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=+0][/SIZE]
[SIZE=+0]

Mit freundlichen Gruessen - Best regards - Yoroshiku onegai shimasu
​

[/SIZE]​

 

[SusanHC]

I wrote to Fujitsu :


"Do you have a diagnostic Tool to try and find out what is wrong with my Handydrive

I AM DESPERATE TO RECOVER DATA. THE HANDYDRIVE IS LESS THAN A YEAR OLD!

PLEASE HELP!!"


To which they replied

"To our regret, we do not have software for which the diagnosis is useful in your situation."

Helpful aren't they!!

 

[SusanHC]

These are known as Tamper Proof Torx. They require a special driver to operate.

Can you post some images showing the external drive clearly from all angles.

We have sent for some Tamper Proof Torx which should arrive today. We shall then see if we can open it and put drve into laptop and attempt recovery.

Tips or help on carrying this out would be much appreciated!

THANKS

Susan

 

[SusanHC]

Any tips or hints on attempting recovery by putting drive from its enclosure into laptop would be much appreciated!

 

[gregrocker]

Fortunately there are some diagrams on the web.

So it only needs to be carefully removed, and put into the laptop's HD bay exactly replacing the existing HD.

This is the closest HD replacement diagram to your model. Look familar at all?
http://support.powerbrixx.com/acer/3610_hard_drive.htm

Steps 3-5 here for removing/replacing laptop HD:
http://computershopper.com/laptops/howto/replace-your-laptop-s-hard-drive

http://support.powerbrixx.com/acer/3610_hard_drive.htm

 

[SusanHC]

Well it should have the same connection that will plug a 2.5" laptop HD cable, I believe.

So it only needs to be carefully removed, and put into the laptop's HD bay exactly replacing the existing HD.

Apparently a 4 pin power connector used in external is not needed in laptop: External enclosure compatibility to laptop HD - Hard-Disks - Storage

thanks for that

 

[gregrocker]

^^Edited above post with Acer HD replacement diagram links^^

 

[SusanHC]

This is an update on my attempts to recover data from my external HDD.
The casing has been opened and there are no signs of any damage inside. A whirring and sort of scratching noise is heard from the drive on start up - if that has any significance. When plugged into the Laptop with USB lead - still nothing is recognised.
The manufacturer’s say they don’t do data recovery and have not really been very helpful at all (Fujitsu/Toshiba) so I may well have to pay someone for this service. Of course the reality is that it would appear I need hardware recovery before I can do anymore about data recovery.

I did actually back up a considerable amount of the data onto the D drives of my two laptops but I keep remembering files that I didn’t get round to backing up!
Two files which I am devastated to have lost are recordings done, using the Chrystal eye webcam on the laptop in September, of conversations with relatives. One of these relatives has since passed away, and so this has really upset me.
I don’t know if the original files still exist somewhere in my laptop as I had restored the Acer back to factory settings just prior to clean installation of Windows 7, but, with the help of data recovery software, I am attempting to find them. It is difficult though since it has such a large hard drive and I am not really sure where to look.
(Any suggestions?)
The moral of the story is of course:-

Always keep your work fully backed up - you just don’t know what’s around the corner!


SUSAN

 

[gregrocker]

Susan you say 'when plugged into laptop with USB lead" still not recognized, how about plugging into the laptop using the connector in the hard drive bay?

The problem seems to be the drive is not recognized via USB controllers. The HD has different controllers and a much more direct connection.

If external HD cannot be placed into HD bay, then there is an adapter cable that can plug it into the motherboard of any computer, which I would bet most repair shops have - ready to plug from their test machine into your external's HD>

 

[SomeITGuy]

I don't think this is a matter of lost data I think it is just a matter of Windows not seeing the drive. Connect the external drive to another computer and see if your data is still on the drive.

If it is see the instructions below:

There may be a simple fix for this plug your external drive in and once Windows recognizes that it is connected Right click on My Computer.
Then click Manage.
Thsn Disk Management.
It might take a minute to show all of the drives that are attached to your computer USB, SATA, IDE, Optical, etc.
If you see it there it may have the same drive letter as something else right click on the 500GB drive.
aThen click on Change drive letter and change it to something that you don't have all ready lik "Z" for instance.
Then click OK and close out of Computer management and My computer. Reopen My computer and see if the drive shows up with all of your data again.

If none of that worked and you verified that the files are still on the external drive reinstall windows on your machine without the any extra drives connected to it, external or card readers just the hard drive and optical DVD, CD roms.

 

[SusanHC]

Susan you say 'when plugged into laptop with USB lead" still not recognized, how about plugging into the laptop using the connector in the hard drive bay?

The problem seems to be the drive is not recognized via USB controllers. The HD has different controllers and a much more direct connection.

If external HD cannot be placed into HD bay, then there is an adapter cable that can plug it into the motherboard of any computer, which I would bet most repair shops have - ready to plug from their test machine into your external's HD>

Thanks I'll try that!

 

[SusanHC]

I don't think this is a matter of lost data I think it is just a matter of Windows not seeing the drive. Connect the external drive to another computer and see if your data is still on the drive.

If it is see the instructions below:

There may be a simple fix for this plug your external drive in and once Windows recognizes that it is connected Right click on My Computer.
Then click Manage.
Thsn Disk Management.
It might take a minute to show all of the drives that are attached to your computer USB, SATA, IDE, Optical, etc.
If you see it there it may have the same drive letter as something else right click on the 500GB drive.
aThen click on Change drive letter and change it to something that you don't have all ready lik "Z" for instance.
Then click OK and close out of Computer management and My computer. Reopen My computer and see if the drive shows up with all of your data again.

If none of that worked and you verified that the files are still on the external drive reinstall windows on your machine without the any extra drives connected to it, external or card readers just the hard drive and optical DVD, CD roms.

Thanks for reply. unfortunately the external drive does not show on three other computers we have tried - with Vista, XP or Windows 7. I tried your suggestion of
disk management but it is not showing there either. Device Manager shows it as unknown device.

 

[rsvr85]

When you plug the drive in, does Windows make the "dum-dum" sound (new hardware found)?