Seagate USB HDD Dead, need to get corrupted data off the hard drive. How would I do that without going to pro recovery place?

[ccateninew]

Yeah, my usb HDD is dead, and i need to get corrupted data off it to recover. Its very important because the video are archived memories for my family and other saves for applications. What should I do?

 

[CountMike]

It depends on how it's dead. One way would be to take it out of USB enclosure and connect straight to a desktop computer if possible as many times only USB interface goes bad.
If it works like that there are many programs you can attempt to retrieve (some, most all) data with many programs for that: http://www.majorgeeks.com/mg/sortname/data_recovery_233b.html

 

[DSzymborski]

Yup, it's software-based solution or bust. After that, it's professional or nothing, really. It's a tough lesson, but the basic truth is that hard drives inevitably fail and any data that you'd fret about losing ought to be backed up, preferably in multiple locations/formats.

 

[ccateninew]

Ok, so the USB isn't the problem. As it does give windows a connection and does show up on some recovery tools. I'm trying them now, hopefully it works.

 

[ccateninew]

Both give a connection, still no luck recovering. Will bring to computer store if it doesn't work out.

 

[DSzymborski]

Both give a connection, still no luck recovering. Will bring to computer store if it doesn't work out.

At this point, if software doesn't recover, it's a professional data recovery firm with specialized technicians and clean room environments or bust. Letting a computer store tinker with the hard drive just increases the probability that nobody will ever be able to recover the data.

And yes, a data recovery firm can be expensive, into four figures depending on how difficult the task is. Hopefully it won't come to this and software will work for you, but the reality of the situation is that the inexpensive solution was to back up your important files and it appears you decided not to go that route.

 

[RolandJS]

Take or send it to a data recovery company / specialist today if not yesterday. The more DIY attempts, the more computer hardware / software technician attempts -- the less likely even DR specialist can recover much, let alone most of your data.