external HD failure

[Bedig_]

I'm using a WD elements. Yesterday I was trying to move some files from the hdd to my computer and the transfer rates were unusually low at around 88kB/s. When I tried to unzip a rar file inside it, it gave me a cyclic redundancy check error. I downloaded acronis and My hard drive's health is at 16%. My laptop has 70 gb free storage and Im using 500 gb on my hard drive. Please help I think my hard drive is dying.

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Hey there, Bedig_

I'm really sorry to hear about the issues you're experiencing with your drive.

Since you do need to recover data from that drive, I'd recommend that you refrain from running any other scans or tests. First you should try the drive with a different computer and a different USB cable to see if the same thing happens. If you're still getting bad performance, I'd suggest that you find a drive where you can store your important data, just to be on the safe side and start backing up your files. Do that no matter how long it takes.

If the drive stops being recognized by the computer, you could try out Ubuntu Live USB/DVD, to see if you can access it, or data recovery software: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-1644496/lost-data-recovery.html & http://pcsupport.about.com/od/filerecovery/tp/free-file-recovery-programs.htm.

Please keep me updated and let me know if you have any questions whatsoever.
Boogieman_WD