Western Digital drive does not show up/mount, Need to recover data

[Super Stinger]

I have been designated to recover data off a friends WD external HDD that had stopped functioning. It does not show up when connected.

When I plug it into the USB port, it does power on with a light and windows signals that a device has been connected. I look inside device manager and under harddrives, it shows the hard drive as 'WD' and thats it. It shows quite minimal information when I go into its properties.

I downloaded the Western Digital data LifeGuard Diagnostic Tool and it passes the quick test. However, it fails the Extended test and indicates that there are bad sectors on the drive, thus offering to fix. I didnt do it because I may lose the data.

Im not sure what else to do. Im trying to avoid having to send it to a data recovery specialist as it will cost a fair amount. What else should I attempt before sending it off?

Other infomation is that he is using a Mac Laptop, not sure what version. I think I heard something about a particular Mac OS fussing with WD drives.

Many Thanks,
SuperStinger

 

[popatim]

If you are on a windows pc you are probably not going to be able to read the drive at all without special software. Windows uses NTFS, exFat, FAT32, and FAT formats whereas Macs use HSF+ natively with support for exFat and Fat32. Unless he formatted the drive as exfat or fat32 you will need a 3rd party utility to read the drive. You can download HSF Explorer.

The first thing I would do is to image the drive exactly the way it is now. The run recovery attempts on the image. the only problem is I'm not a Mac guy and don't really know a dedicated utility. I use testdisk by cgsecurity for the few I do work on.

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there Super Stinger,

Unless the drive has a format that is readable by both Windows and Mac, I would advise you to try to recover the data on a Mac. This way you will avoid some possible complications related to file formats.
Apart from that, what popatim suggested is a good way to start. Image the drive and run some recovery software for Mac(I can't really recommend one). Work only with the image. Also, do not try to save anything on that drive. The recovered data should be saved on another location.

Cheers,
D_Know_WD

 

[fzabkar]

If possible, examine the SMART report using a tool such as CrystalDiskInfo.

http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskInfo/index-e.html

Look for reallocated, pending, or uncorrectable sectors.

If the drive has an internal fault, then there are possible DIY methods, but they will require some perseverence and skill on your part.