- Oct 3, 2015
- 2
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- 4,510
About two weeks ago, my Dell XPS 14z (running Windows 7) abruptly went blue-screen-of-death and was unable to boot. I was able to save my files by removing the HDD, putting it into an external case, and transferring the files onto a separate external HDD. I then replaced the HDD in the laptop and re-installed the OS onto the system. The computer now works fine. However, the USB drive that had been plugged into the computer at the time of its error suddenly stopped working three days ago.
The USB went from working perfectly well on the computer (I was able to open, edit, and save files onto it) to suddenly not showing up under My Computer, and although it showed up under Disk Management, it wouldn't let me view its partitions or any of its files. I sent the USB to a tech company and they said they could either do data retrieval for about $1500 (which I do not, in any way, have) or do a re-scan and re-format, which they said MAY erase my data.
The files on this USB are about 2 years of work on various artistic projects. (Yes, I should have backed them up online, used some kind of cloud service, yadda yadda, I've already heard this from everyone on Facebook, it doesn't help.) Suffice to say, short of ruining myself financially, I would like to do everything in my power to retrieve these files.
TL;DR: In the case of a flash drive with damaged or lost partitions, what's the most reliable way to recover the data on it? There's a lot of software available online, but before I spend $50 on something that doesn't work, I'd like to get a second opinion on what options I have, either through a tech company or by my own means.
The USB went from working perfectly well on the computer (I was able to open, edit, and save files onto it) to suddenly not showing up under My Computer, and although it showed up under Disk Management, it wouldn't let me view its partitions or any of its files. I sent the USB to a tech company and they said they could either do data retrieval for about $1500 (which I do not, in any way, have) or do a re-scan and re-format, which they said MAY erase my data.
The files on this USB are about 2 years of work on various artistic projects. (Yes, I should have backed them up online, used some kind of cloud service, yadda yadda, I've already heard this from everyone on Facebook, it doesn't help.) Suffice to say, short of ruining myself financially, I would like to do everything in my power to retrieve these files.
TL;DR: In the case of a flash drive with damaged or lost partitions, what's the most reliable way to recover the data on it? There's a lot of software available online, but before I spend $50 on something that doesn't work, I'd like to get a second opinion on what options I have, either through a tech company or by my own means.
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