External HDD can be detected but does not appear in Explorer (after fall to ground)

[sevenegg]

Basically after my external HDD fall to the ground, when I plugged it into my computer, it is detected but does not show the autoplay option as usual. I also cannot find the drive in explorer but it does appear in device manager/disk management. As soon as disk management loads, it give me a message to initialize the drive, with 2 options, MBR or GPT. I have attempted both, and i received "request failed due to fatal device hardware error" message. So does it mean there is some hardware spoiled due to the fall? Is it possible to keep the data inside if I send it for repair?

Please help. Thank you.

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[t53186]

Chances are the drive has suffered a catastrophic hardware failure, Highly unlikely you will want to pay for recovering the info and it's possible it cannot be recovered at all. You may find someone who will disassemble the external drive assembly and attempt to hook it up and verify it has failed.

 

[sevenegg]

Chances are the drive has suffered a catastrophic hardware failure, Highly unlikely you will want to pay for recovering the info and it's possible it cannot be recovered at all. You may find someone who will disassemble the external drive assembly and attempt to hook it up and verify it has failed.

if there is some severe damages due to the fall, doesn't it shouldn't be detected at all (totally dead)? I mean if it can be detected, perhaps there is a chance to recover it back?

 

[DR_Luke]

The drive has physical issues as a result of the physical drop. It could be a single head that is no longer reading, it could be physical media damage on the surface, it could be bad sectors in the firmware areas and a few other issues. If you value your data, you should seek professional data recovery assistance. I cannot speak for other data recovery labs, but I know that mine is usually able to recover the data from these drives at the base rate of $350 CAD.

At the very least, don't continue to power the drive on any more, as it is likely only making the things worse...definitely not better.

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there sevenegg,

I would agree with the other guys. If you need the data stored on the drive, you will need to contact a data recovery company.

It would really not hurt to contact the manufacturer on that. Most of the manufacturers offer their own data recovery services or have some trusted partners.

Cheers,
D_Know_WD

 

[sevenegg]

The drive has physical issues as a result of the physical drop. It could be a single head that is no longer reading, it could be physical media damage on the surface, it could be bad sectors in the firmware areas and a few other issues. If you value your data, you should seek professional data recovery assistance. I cannot speak for other data recovery labs, but I know that mine is usually able to recover the data from these drives at the base rate of $350 CAD.

At the very least, don't continue to power the drive on any more, as it is likely only making the things worse...definitely not better.

gosh it sounds terrible, definitely seems like no other way than seeking professional's help? standard procedure for initializing/partitioning/formatting cannot perform at all under this kind of circumstance?

 

[D_Know_WD]

Well, at that point, it seems that these won't work. Also, all of these are data destructive processes. So, if you need the data, just disconnect the drive from your computer.

D_Know_WD

 

[sevenegg]

Well, at that point, it seems that these won't work. Also, all of these are data destructive processes. So, if you need the data, just disconnect the drive from your computer.

D_Know_WD

okay, got it. thanks for everyone's help and opinion! cheers