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Question

Corrupted external HDD help

Aug 5, 2016 2:33PM PDT

Hi,
I have what I believe to be a corrupted 1Tb Seagate hard drive. If attempted to be opened in My Computer the window lags out and becomes unresponsive. ChkDsk accepts the command to scan the bad sectors but stalls beyond that and doesn't give any status on the scan or allow for any further input. I cannot format and wipe the drive as it is unopenable and it lags out whenever I try. I tried using both Sandisk and Seagate programs to fix the drive but no avail.

Does anyone have any idea as to how I might proceed with this, preferably whilst retaining the files on the drive and also whilst avoiding paying massive amounts to a recovery service to get it fixed?
Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Discussion is locked

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Clarification Request
You have to tell a little more.
Aug 5, 2016 2:41PM PDT

If the drive has no files to be saved I just remove all partitions and start fresh.

If there are files to be saved I try RECUVA (which is noted in this forums top welcome post called "Lost and Found.")


Seagates have a bad rep. Be sure you don't trust any drive to have your last copy.

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Answer
External
Aug 5, 2016 6:22PM PDT

Open the enclosure and reseat the hdd.

Try the unit on another machine.

Try the hdd in another enclosure.

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To expand on that...
Aug 6, 2016 7:40AM PDT

..if you have a desktop with a spare SATA connection, take the disk out of the enclosure and plug it directly into the desktop.

Another 'off the wall" suggestion, boot your machine from a live Linux CD (Knoppix or the like). Sometimes they will read what Windows can't.

Are you seeing a drive letter for the disk or its volume name if it has one? That would suggest you are getting to the controller at least. Is the motor spinning? are there any noises coming from the enclosure?

You might want to try Testdisk (google it) - if it can't make sense of it, it doesn't look good.

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Coincidentally with Linux:
Aug 7, 2016 4:45AM PDT
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Answer
Corrupted external HDD help
Aug 8, 2016 11:23PM PDT

If you are unable to do anything on drive, then I would say try to recover it through (software anyone mentioned above). It is sometimes difficult to get back when windows lags. If you have important data, then try to run software.

You have mentioned you don’t want to spend on recovery services. A friend of mine faced almost similar situation but nothing works not even a single software. The only way back was data recovery services. If things are precious, then go for recovery services you will surely get guidance on each step. Good luck.