How do I get stuff off of my external hard drive?
June 30, 2018 7:36 AM Subscribe
I have an external hard drive that I seem to have broken by...unplugging without hitting eject? It was working perfectly but now just sort of makes a whirring noise but doesn't seem to connect. The light flashes so it seems to be powering up. I tried buying a new cable to connect it, but that didn't make a difference. It's a WD My Passport drive, and I'm using a Macbook Air. All of my pictures are on the drive, so hoping I can recover them!
In my long experience (as a user, not some kind of magical engineering super-geek) when an inexpensive consumer hard drive is audibly distressed and will not mount, it is toast.
Searching “data recovery services” may offer a ray of hope / punch in the wallet. It isn’t cheap for most services to make a recovery attempt, usually without any guarantee of success. But this avenue can yield real results.
If you can’t find a reasonable data recovery offer in your geographic region, it may be time to hold a wake for your lost photos. :~(
All I can say is this: Every time I lose data, my data hygiene practices improve. I’ve learned that inexpensive consumer hard drives are a gamble the odds of which worsen with time. If you must use cheap drives, buy two (from different manufacturers) for files important to you.
I’m sorry for your loss, if it truly turns out to be irrecoverable.
posted by Construction Concern at 9:10 AM on June 30, 2018
Searching “data recovery services” may offer a ray of hope / punch in the wallet. It isn’t cheap for most services to make a recovery attempt, usually without any guarantee of success. But this avenue can yield real results.
If you can’t find a reasonable data recovery offer in your geographic region, it may be time to hold a wake for your lost photos. :~(
All I can say is this: Every time I lose data, my data hygiene practices improve. I’ve learned that inexpensive consumer hard drives are a gamble the odds of which worsen with time. If you must use cheap drives, buy two (from different manufacturers) for files important to you.
I’m sorry for your loss, if it truly turns out to be irrecoverable.
posted by Construction Concern at 9:10 AM on June 30, 2018
Western Digital consumer level drives apparently fail often enough that Western Digital has a page devoted to third party data recovery services.
At least, that is why I would suspect they provide the list.
Search for "WD Passport data recovery". You might find, among the many pleas of help, some further suggestions. But it sounds like hardware failure given your description of the problem.
posted by blob at 9:32 AM on June 30, 2018
At least, that is why I would suspect they provide the list.
Search for "WD Passport data recovery". You might find, among the many pleas of help, some further suggestions. But it sounds like hardware failure given your description of the problem.
posted by blob at 9:32 AM on June 30, 2018
Have you tried using Disk Utility? At least once DU could see one of my drives when it wasn’t showing up in the Finder. It didn’t actually manage to resolve the problem in my case, but it might be worth a try.
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 9:36 AM on June 30, 2018
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 9:36 AM on June 30, 2018
From your description, it is not clear what the "whirring noise" means. Is it just a soft noise, like the drive spinning, or is it more erratic, like the drive is vibrating a lot more than usual?
My experience, a sound of clanging or clicking is very bad, but a whirring noise may just be the normal drive motor/rotation noise. Simply unplugging a modern drive usually won't damage it, but it may cause the file system to be corrupted. If it's the latter, try the following:
1. plug in the drive normally and leave it for a while (say 5 minutes) before step 2
2. start the application "Disk Utility" (found in /Applications/Utilities)
3. look for the disk in the list of external drives in the left-hand side
4. if the disk shows up in the list, run "First Aid" on that disk
If your disk does not show up in the left-hand list, it is more likely that there is a hardware problem of some kind. If that's the case, unless you have a lot more expertise with low-level disk utilities, I would seek out a disk recovery service.
If Disk Utility finds it and you can run First Aid, if the result is that it repairs it, great! If it says it's unrepairable, again, it would be time to seek out a disk recovery service.
In the past, I had to take a physically damaged disk (one that made a sound somewhat like a banshee being put in a vice) to a shop. They charged $1500 but they were able to extract some (though not all) files from the drive. It doesn't sound like your drive is quite that badly damaged, so I image the cost of recovery will be less, if it comes to that.
posted by StrawberryPie at 9:41 AM on June 30, 2018
My experience, a sound of clanging or clicking is very bad, but a whirring noise may just be the normal drive motor/rotation noise. Simply unplugging a modern drive usually won't damage it, but it may cause the file system to be corrupted. If it's the latter, try the following:
1. plug in the drive normally and leave it for a while (say 5 minutes) before step 2
2. start the application "Disk Utility" (found in /Applications/Utilities)
3. look for the disk in the list of external drives in the left-hand side
4. if the disk shows up in the list, run "First Aid" on that disk
If your disk does not show up in the left-hand list, it is more likely that there is a hardware problem of some kind. If that's the case, unless you have a lot more expertise with low-level disk utilities, I would seek out a disk recovery service.
If Disk Utility finds it and you can run First Aid, if the result is that it repairs it, great! If it says it's unrepairable, again, it would be time to seek out a disk recovery service.
In the past, I had to take a physically damaged disk (one that made a sound somewhat like a banshee being put in a vice) to a shop. They charged $1500 but they were able to extract some (though not all) files from the drive. It doesn't sound like your drive is quite that badly damaged, so I image the cost of recovery will be less, if it comes to that.
posted by StrawberryPie at 9:41 AM on June 30, 2018
Drive Savers saved me a number of years ago when I had a backup drive fail followed by my computer drive failing (and I hadn’t yet replaced the backup drive). It cost a boatload of money, but I really needed the data. (I’m still grateful, and this must’ve been 12 years ago now.)
posted by leahwrenn at 11:08 AM on June 30, 2018
posted by leahwrenn at 11:08 AM on June 30, 2018
I wouldn't be too quick to blame this on any particular model of HD, all drives fail at some point. Just buy a new drive and restore a backup, you do have a backup right? If not, well this is where you learn the hard lesson about always having a backup.
posted by Lanark at 12:08 PM on June 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Lanark at 12:08 PM on June 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
Yes, you can't guarantee reliability by choosing the right brand or by spending more. Any drive can fail, and regular backups are a requirement for data that you care about.
posted by floppyroofing at 6:01 PM on June 30, 2018
posted by floppyroofing at 6:01 PM on June 30, 2018
Response by poster: Thank you for the responses. Doesn't seem that Disk Utility finds the drive. Unfortunately not sure that $1500 is in the budget for photo recovery--especially disappointing as had lots of old documents and music on there as well. Thanks for the suggestions and will make sure to have double back-ups in the future.
Follow-up question for anyone still reading: why would a drive suddenly fail? It was working fine one day and just didn't connect the next. I assumed it was the not-ejecting but perhaps just a worn out piece of equipment?
posted by stillmoving at 8:23 AM on July 1, 2018
Follow-up question for anyone still reading: why would a drive suddenly fail? It was working fine one day and just didn't connect the next. I assumed it was the not-ejecting but perhaps just a worn out piece of equipment?
posted by stillmoving at 8:23 AM on July 1, 2018
why would a drive suddenly fail?
They are mechanical devices that involve small spinning disks and rotors which track across the surface. An LP record revolves at 33 RPM, a hard drive revolves at about 6000 RPM or 100 Revolutions per Second - really it s a minor miracle that most of them don't self destruct the day you buy them.
posted by Lanark at 9:42 AM on July 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
They are mechanical devices that involve small spinning disks and rotors which track across the surface. An LP record revolves at 33 RPM, a hard drive revolves at about 6000 RPM or 100 Revolutions per Second - really it s a minor miracle that most of them don't self destruct the day you buy them.
posted by Lanark at 9:42 AM on July 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thank you! Oh and by the way, the whirring noise is just the same
noise it always makes when it turns on, nothing new or clunky/clicky/etc.
posted by stillmoving at 11:04 AM on July 1, 2018
noise it always makes when it turns on, nothing new or clunky/clicky/etc.
posted by stillmoving at 11:04 AM on July 1, 2018
Just to clarify: $1500 is a worst-case scenario cost. Yours is very likely to cost a lot less, if there's no physical damage to the drive platters. It sounds like the drive itself is okay, if the noise is just a normal whirring noise, which is very hopeful.
The recovery places will usually give you an estimate, so it might be worth inquiring, even if you still decide not to use it.
(And if you can't afford it now, I suggest you don't throw the drive away: store it in a good place, in case that sometime in the future you have enough funds to pay for recovery.)
posted by StrawberryPie at 2:16 PM on July 1, 2018
The recovery places will usually give you an estimate, so it might be worth inquiring, even if you still decide not to use it.
(And if you can't afford it now, I suggest you don't throw the drive away: store it in a good place, in case that sometime in the future you have enough funds to pay for recovery.)
posted by StrawberryPie at 2:16 PM on July 1, 2018
You have a hard drive in a case, the case has the interface to the drive. Before you give up make sure it's not just the case that's dead. You can open the case and connect the drive to a computer with a dock, another case, etc.
posted by bongo_x at 12:05 AM on July 2, 2018
posted by bongo_x at 12:05 AM on July 2, 2018
I don't think they can, WD My Passport can't be taken apart easily. Seconding trying it in another computer, regardless.
posted by Bangaioh at 12:52 AM on July 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Bangaioh at 12:52 AM on July 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
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posted by Freedomboy at 8:26 AM on June 30, 2018