HDD USB file recovery. Failing Drive! Please help..

[jvjakesta]

I have an hdd that someone brought to me that was once in a laptop. It is barely clinging on to life.
The files are there, however whenever I try to access the drive, it goes extremely slow. Practically to a crawl.
what would be the best way to retrieve the data on this hard drive at this point?

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there jvjakesta,

I guess the drive is in a really poor condition.

In case the data is extremely important, keep in mind that your safest bet would be to look for some professional help.(data recovery company)

Apart from that, you can try to access the drive under Ubuntu. You will need a flash drive or a CD you can boot(don't install it) from: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/267999-32-recover-data-mode

Hope this will help,
D_Know_WD

 

[jvjakesta]

Should I boot Ubuntu on my own computer or on their laptop?
Also, how does this help me access the drive? I guess my question is what is the difference of booting with Ubuntu? I've seen it suggested elsewhere but I'm looking to give it a shot.

 

[D_Know_WD]

It doesn't really matter. You can do it form the laptop if you want to. It serves as a data recovery tool for DOS mode.(you don't really need a OS installed, as you boot from the flash drive)

In many cases, Ubuntu handles failing drives(most probably with multiple bad sectors in your case) better, compared to other OSes.

So, you just: make a bootable flash drive with Ubuntu -> plug it in a computer(no matter which one) -> you may need to adjust the boot order in BIOS, so the computer will boot from the USB flash drive first -> navigate to the drive and see whether it is more responsive(you can move around files and transfer them).

Apart from all this, there are other data recovery tools for DOS mode as well. There are some threads on that. You can take a look at those.

Let me know in case you have some more questions,
D_Know_WD