Question Clickfree software

[markinwales]

Hi, My partner has a 'Clickfree' external HDD, model HD325 which she has some old family photos on. The laptop she used to use with this recently updated to Win 10 and now the software will no longer run. When plugged into any laptop the message "Location is not available - D:\ is not accessible - Incorrect function" appears. I know nothing about Clickfree backups but assume they encrypt data which is why it is no longer accessible. I have searched online for new software but it appears the company no longer exists.

Does anyone know:

a: If there a somewhere to download Clickfree software for Win 10
b: have a copy of Clickfree Win 10 software they can share
or c: If I cut open the casing and remove the HDD and put it in a normal caddy will I be able to retrieve the data or will it still be encrypted on the HDD (assuming Clickfree HDDs are encrypted)

Thanks in advance,

Mark in Wales

 

[gmagdna]

Do you see the drive in Disk Management? If Yes, does it have a drive letter assigned? If it's there but no drive letter can you assign one?

Access Disk Management: Run>diskmgmt.msc, or Win key + X, then press the K key (opens Disk Management)

Assign Drive Letter in Disk Management

1. Right click the drive
2. select "Change Drive Letter and Paths"
3. select "Change"
4. choose a letter and click OK

then try to access the drive.

I also ran across the following buried in another forum, posted in 2012. Seems it works from some people to access the data.

First, you need to have hidden files showing in Windows Explorer: Tools / Folder Options / View “Show Hidden Files and Folders”

Then find the ClickFree Storage Drive (not the ClickFree System drive), you should see a hidden folder simply labeled 's' Double-click on that and you'll see another s. I have 5 nested s folders before I get to a folder called ClickFree Backup. Open ClickFree Backup and I see folders 1,2,3,4 & 5. These represent the 5 computers that we are backing up using ClickFree. I don't know how to tell which is which here other than opening and taking a look. I finally find my actual files at this path: G:\s\s\s\s\s\Clickfree Backup\3\C\Users\Chris\Documents


I don't find any info on shucking a clickfree drive and all links their v2.0 software link direclty to their site and the page is now all about to track people via SMS.

 

[markinwales]

Gmagdna.... Thanks for all the info and ideas.

Yes the drive is assigned a letter
Yes the "show hidden files" is on

Yet still the disk is inaccessible.

In file explorer I have opened 'properties' and it shows the drive.

When I attempt to 'check' the drive I get the message "can't access the disk".

When I open 'hardware' and click 'check', it tells me both the Clickfree USB device and the Samsung disk "This device is working properly." See attachments

Any other ideas welcome.

Thanks again

 

[markinwales]

Sorry was unable to upload screenshots from my laptop, any help to do that appreciated too

 

[gmagdna]

Not sure what screenshot you are trying to upload but maybe it would help, so what problem are you having uploading? You don't have a place online to store it so can't link to it? If Yes, create an imgur account, upload it and then copy and paste the URL into your reply here.

Again, not sure it will help sort out your issue. I'm as at a loss for what else to try without the 2.0 software.

 

[markinwales]

It was just an image of the 'properties' boxes showing both the Clickfree hardware and Samsung disk were working ok. Quite annoying now that the laptop that originally had the software on has now decided to cease functioning so looks like a strip down there too. So would you know if the data has been encrypted on these drives?

If anyone has got a copy of the Clickfree 2.0 software that they can send that would be great.

 

[gmagdna]

I don't find any documentation of encryption for those drives and backups.

You could try one of the fee data recovery utilities like Recuva or Recoverit and see if they can access the drive. The issue you may then have is that the clickfree backups are in some proprietary format (I don't know that to be true, just a possibility).

EDIT - just found an old post on another forum where a user states clickfree backup was a straight copy with no propriety format or compression and no encryption. There's a couple of YouTube videos on shucking the drive so it is an option, then you'd need a cradle for it but that's readily available. Assumes you could then access data but not sure that's the case since you can't do it from Explorer.

 

[fzabkar]

I'm watching a thread at a professional data recovery forum involving a Clickfree drive containing a 1TB Samsung HDD. The drive was found to be encrypted.

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/datarecoverycertification/t7TF1wZy_JY

This appears to be the user manual:
https://www.qvc.com/footers/E166231_manual.pdf

AIUI, there is no need for external software. The Clickfree storage device incorporates a virtual CDROM (VCD) which appears in Windows Explorer when the drive is attached to a USB port. If Windows is configured to autorun, then it launches a Clickfree EXE file from this VCD. Otherwise, if autorun is disabled, then the user needs to launch this EXE file manually.

My reading of the manual suggests that all access to the data is via a menu system in the EXE rather than via Windows Explorer. This begs the question, is the EXE compatible with Windows 10? Also, the manual talks about administrator privileges.

@markinwales, if you are still watching this thread, can you tell us how the drive behaves when you power it up with the USB cable unplugged? Does it spin up, wait 3 seconds, and then spin down again?

Here is a review of the Clickfree HD325:
https://au.pcmag.com/storage-devices/38212/clickfree-hd325

The author writes that " the Clickfree method is totally worth the price even for technical users, since you don't have to install anything on your PC or Mac, and the Clickfree takes care of finding all your files."

So this would tend to confirm that there is no external Clickfree software, just what is built into the VCD within the drive.


Edit:

Clickfree Model/Product Compatibility Matrix:
http://web.archive.org/web/20160116.../clickfree-model-product-compatibility-matrix

Retrieving Files Manually From Clickfree:
http://web.archive.org/web/20161116.../102/retrieving-files-manually-from-clickfree

Transferring Data to Windows 10:
http://web.archive.org/web/20160201...scussion/2187/transferring-data-to-windows-10

 

[markinwales]

I'm watching a thread at a professional data recovery forum involving a Clickfree drive containing a 1TB Samsung HDD. The drive was found to be encrypted.

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/datarecoverycertification/t7TF1wZy_JY

This appears to be the user manual:
https://www.qvc.com/footers/E166231_manual.pdf

AIUI, there is no need for external software. The Clickfree storage device incorporates a virtual CDROM (VCD) which appears in Windows Explorer when the drive is attached to a USB port. If Windows is configured to autorun, then it launches a Clickfree EXE file from this VCD. Otherwise, if autorun is disabled, then the user needs to launch this EXE file manually.

My reading of the manual suggests that all access to the data is via a menu system in the EXE rather than via Windows Explorer. This begs the question, is the EXE compatible with Windows 10? Also, the manual talks about administrator privileges.

@markinwales, if you are still watching this thread, can you tell us how the drive behaves when you power it up with the USB cable unplugged? Does it spin up, wait 3 seconds, and then spin down again?

Here is a review of the Clickfree HD325:
https://au.pcmag.com/storage-devices/38212/clickfree-hd325

The author writes that " the Clickfree method is totally worth the price even for technical users, since you don't have to install anything on your PC or Mac, and the Clickfree takes care of finding all your files."

So this would tend to confirm that there is no external Clickfree software, just what is built into the VCD within the drive.


Edit:

Clickfree Model/Product Compatibility Matrix:
http://web.archive.org/web/20160116.../clickfree-model-product-compatibility-matrix

Retrieving Files Manually From Clickfree:
http://web.archive.org/web/20161116.../102/retrieving-files-manually-from-clickfree

Transferring Data to Windows 10:
http://web.archive.org/web/20160201...scussion/2187/transferring-data-to-windows-10

Hi Zabcar,

This HDD is the Clickfree HD325, I can't work out how to power the HDD up without being connected so am unable to attempt that ans as for the 'virtual CD drive' and as for the 'administrator privileges' this is above my knowledge.

I have made some conclusions which I have written below

Thanks again,

Mark

 

[fzabkar]

Sorry, I see that yours is a 2.5" drive. This means that it is powered from the USB port rather than an AC adapter. Therefore my question is irrelevant.

 

[markinwales]

Many thanks to all of you for your help and ideas and research to sort this problem.

I have tried one or 2 things and come to a (potentially) correct conclusion of the problem.

Firstly I removed the HDD from the Clickfree caddy and put it in a standard backup caddy, attached it to the PC with the same results, it shows the caddy plugged in but no drive letter.

I then put a known working HDD into the Clickfree caddy which when plugged into the PC worked fine and I could see all files as you would from a standard caddy

My conclusion therefore is the the HDD from the Clcikfree caddy is ***....

This is not a conclusive conclusion and there may be other variables that I am unaware of for the reason the HDD will not run but if that is the case it is way beyond my ken.

Thank you all once again,

Mark

 

[markinwales]

Sorry, I see that yours is a 2.5" drive. This means that it is powered from the USB port rather than an AC adapter. Therefore my question is irrelevant.

There is in actual fact a power socket on the caddy but I don't have a 5v adaptor to power it up.

Thanks again Fzabkar

 

[fzabkar]

Can you retrieve the SMART report from your HDD in either caddy? You could use a tool such as CrystalDiskInfo for this.

 

[popatim]

So we don't know if the drive even spins up?