Hard drive failure - disk reads some data, waits a long time, reads some more, repeat - GoFuckYourself.com

Myst · 05-17-2008, 05:36 PM

My hard drive is dying.. or maybe its dead already. It takes it forever to read a little amount of data, like an hour to read a few 100kb. I really need the stuff on it, but its 500gb. Any suggestions how I can recover my data?

Gerco · 05-17-2008, 05:43 PM

Any error messages? What OS? What type of drive, IDE Sata, Scsi Etc... How many drives in the system total? Is it master slaved, if so, which? Internal or external?

Myst · 05-17-2008, 05:47 PM

i took it out of my box cause it was causign so much problems
its in an enclosure right now. drive is a maxtor diamondmax 11, 6H500RO
SATA

using windows xp sp3
error messages when they appear are something along the lines of 'The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error.'

Ron Bennett · 05-17-2008, 05:48 PM

Your best bet is take the drive out, set it to "slave" (often involves moving a jumper) and put into another computer, and then try copying off your data.

The long delay you're experiencing now is likely due to your operating system (ie. Windows) and/or programs frequently accessing (especially during writes) the drive and hitting some bad sectors over and over.

If the drive was dead, it wouldn't read at all. So there's still time, but key is to limit data reads/writes during the recovery process before it dies completely, which it likely will very soon.

Ron

Myst · 05-17-2008, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ron Bennett

Your best bet is take the drive out, set it to "slave" (often involves moving a jumper) and put into another computer, and then try copying off your data.

The long delay you're experiencing now is likely due to your operating system (ie. Windows) and/or programs frequently accessing (especially during writes) the drive and hitting some bad sectors over and over.

If the drive was dead, it wouldn't read at all. So there's still time, but key is to limit data reads/writes during the recovery process before it dies completely, which it likely will very soon.

Ron

Is there a good utility that can i run before right after the BIOS?
Like right now i dont even hear it working anymore.. windows explorer just freezes when i open it

Myst · 05-17-2008, 06:59 PM

Is there a good utility that can i run before right after the BIOS?
Like right now i dont even hear it working anymore.. windows explorer just freezes when i open it

Yngwie · 05-17-2008, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Myst

Is there a good utility that can i run before right after the BIOS?
Like right now i dont even hear it working anymore.. windows explorer just freezes when i open it

Never heard of anything to recover stuff that will load right after the POST (could be something, but who knows)

If you can manage to get into windows with the hard drive set as slave DO NOT try to open it from explorer or any other way. Get software like Get Data Back by Runtime Software - http://www.runtime.org/. It's not expensive and works good to recover files.

I've used it a few times and it has always gotten all my shit back. The only time it didn't work is when the drive was not detected at all (bios and windows)

After you install it check if your bad hdd is listed and start the recovery.

Yngwie · 05-17-2008, 07:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yngwie

Never heard of anything to recover stuff that will load right after the POST (could be something, but who knows)

If you can manage to get into windows with the hard drive set as slave DO NOT try to open it from explorer or any other way. Get software like Get Data Back by Runtime Software - http://www.runtime.org/. It's not expensive and works good to recover files.

I've used it a few times and it has always gotten all my shit back. The only time it didn't work is when the drive was not detected at all (bios and windows)

After you install it check if your bad hdd is listed and start the recovery.

also, install the program on the working hard drive and not on the one that you want to recover.

MissMina · 05-17-2008, 09:43 PM

I just had the same issue with my 500 gig external. I did a search on google and found an update to install and fix the errors and it worked. I suggest that.

moneybiz · 05-18-2008, 01:18 AM

you can put the hd in the freezer over night. Then when you put it back into your pc sometimes you get enough time before the drive heats up to get your data back.

bobby666 · 05-18-2008, 04:18 AM

..the end is near.... i did it my wayyyyyyyyyyyyy

StuBradley · 05-18-2008, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moneybiz

you can put the hd in the freezer over night. Then when you put it back into your pc sometimes you get enough time before the drive heats up to get your data back.

I was just going to suggest that. I've done it before and it worked like a charm. I suggest putting it in a ziploc or wrapping it in saran wrap first though.

rowan · 05-18-2008, 01:02 PM

If it's heat related then make sure you have a big-ass fan pointing at it while you attempt to recover your data.

If your box supports a chassis fan in front of the hard drive then you should install one. All of mine have at least one chassis fan dedicated to cooling HDs.

rowan · 05-18-2008, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ron Bennett

The long delay you're experiencing now is likely due to your operating system (ie. Windows) and/or programs frequently accessing (especially during writes) the drive and hitting some bad sectors over and over.

If the drive was dead, it wouldn't read at all. So there's still time, but key is to limit data reads/writes during the recovery process before it dies completely, which it likely will very soon.

It could also be a servo positioning error which is probably more terminal, since the drive cannot reliably determine where it's supposed to position the head to read track X. I had a WD drive fail like this a week after I bought it. It's in a RAID system so I didn't bother trying to fix it.

rowan · 05-18-2008, 01:09 PM

Myst, both Seagate and WD have tools you can download to test their drives. Any generic tool will also do the trick, but the vendor specific ones may give you additional diagnostic modes or messages when matched to the same brand drive.

Seagate own Maxtor so Seatools appears to support that brand. I recommend you burn the DOS version to a CD, the Windows version may not be able to access the controllers/drives directly. You'll need to have the drive installed on a native SATA port.

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/sup...oads/seatools/

baddog · 05-18-2008, 01:58 PM

http://www.ontrackdatarecovery.com/
100% recovery
pricey - standard service level is sufficient

It is where the government goes.

05-17-2008, 05:36 PM	#1
Myst Confirmed User Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Alberta, Canada Posts: 4,707	Hard drive failure - disk reads some data, waits a long time, reads some more, repeat My hard drive is dying.. or maybe its dead already. It takes it forever to read a little amount of data, like an hour to read a few 100kb. I really need the stuff on it, but its 500gb. Any suggestions how I can recover my data? __________________ ICQ: 298-523-037

05-17-2008, 05:43 PM	#2
Gerco Confirmed User Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 2,052	Any error messages? What OS? What type of drive, IDE Sata, Scsi Etc... How many drives in the system total? Is it master slaved, if so, which? Internal or external? __________________ Http://www.extremehole.com ** CLOSED ** 400 HOURS of exclusive custom extreme content, already on external HD in Raw DV ready to encode. over 150,000 exclusive images and more.

05-17-2008, 05:47 PM	#3
Myst Confirmed User Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Alberta, Canada Posts: 4,707	i took it out of my box cause it was causign so much problems its in an enclosure right now. drive is a maxtor diamondmax 11, 6H500RO SATA using windows xp sp3 error messages when they appear are something along the lines of 'The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error.' __________________ ICQ: 298-523-037

05-17-2008, 05:48 PM	#4
Ron Bennett Confirmed User Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 1,653	Your best bet is take the drive out, set it to "slave" (often involves moving a jumper) and put into another computer, and then try copying off your data. The long delay you're experiencing now is likely due to your operating system (ie. Windows) and/or programs frequently accessing (especially during writes) the drive and hitting some bad sectors over and over. If the drive was dead, it wouldn't read at all. So there's still time, but key is to limit data reads/writes during the recovery process before it dies completely, which it likely will very soon. Ron __________________ Domagon - Website Management and Domain Name Sales

05-17-2008, 06:59 PM	#6
Myst Confirmed User Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Alberta, Canada Posts: 4,707	Is there a good utility that can i run before right after the BIOS? Like right now i dont even hear it working anymore.. windows explorer just freezes when i open it __________________ ICQ: 298-523-037

05-17-2008, 09:43 PM	#9
MissMina Confirmed User Industry Role: Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 2,478	I just had the same issue with my 500 gig external. I did a search on google and found an update to install and fix the errors and it worked. I suggest that.

05-18-2008, 01:18 AM	#10
moneybiz So Fucking Banned Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 1,391	you can put the hd in the freezer over night. Then when you put it back into your pc sometimes you get enough time before the drive heats up to get your data back.

05-18-2008, 04:18 AM	#11
bobby666 boots are my religion Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Heart of europe Posts: 21,765	..the end is near.... i did it my wayyyyyyyyyyyyy __________________

05-18-2008, 01:02 PM	#13
rowan Too lazy to set a custom title Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Australia Posts: 17,393	If it's heat related then make sure you have a big-ass fan pointing at it while you attempt to recover your data. If your box supports a chassis fan in front of the hard drive then you should install one. All of mine have at least one chassis fan dedicated to cooling HDs.

05-18-2008, 01:09 PM	#15
rowan Too lazy to set a custom title Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Australia Posts: 17,393	Myst, both Seagate and WD have tools you can download to test their drives. Any generic tool will also do the trick, but the vendor specific ones may give you additional diagnostic modes or messages when matched to the same brand drive. Seagate own Maxtor so Seatools appears to support that brand. I recommend you burn the DOS version to a CD, the Windows version may not be able to access the controllers/drives directly. You'll need to have the drive installed on a native SATA port. http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/sup...oads/seatools/

05-18-2008, 01:58 PM	#16
baddog So Fucking Banned Industry Role: Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: the beach, SoCal Posts: 107,089	http://www.ontrackdatarecovery.com/ 100% recovery pricey - standard service level is sufficient It is where the government goes.