# Data Recovery



## EFMax (Jun 25, 2018)

I have a situation with 2x external H/D that has suddenly gone down on me. Both were used for different types of backup, mainly images and audio design files.. One is a 1Tb drive the other is a 128Gb drive (which I am less worried about).

On the 1Tb drive, when plugged in, the blue light comes on and you can hear the PC beep on connection but it does not show up in the file directory as before.. when I listen to the unit I can hear a constant clicking noise like it is trying to engage but is going nowhere.

Any suggestions.. my previous exposure to Data Recovery Companies has been very, very negative whereby I lost a lot of money and got less than zero back in return despite them analysing the drive and telling me they could recover from it.

Any feedback appreciated.


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## naiku (May 28, 2008)

Try using AOMEI back up, I had a failing 5TB drive that was doing the same thing, just click click click... I had tried various tools, but ultimately resigned myself to the fact the drive was lost. 

Figured I would give AOMEI a try, started it on a Friday and after about 7 hours checked to see it had copied all of 300MB. However, since the transfer speed was not at zero, I figured I'll just leave it running while not expecting much. Forgot about it until Sunday morning, went to check and 100% copied. Checked a few files and nothing was missing at all, I guess at some point the transfer speed jumped again for it to copy. It's free to use, I think I used the clone option, was very simple to follow the instructions. 

With all the data copied I tried to see if I could find any errors with it, but Windows fails to even read the drive much less format it. Oddly enough I plugged it into a Linux desktop and it seemed to read it for a minute, but then started clicking again. Opened it up to see if any of the platters were stuck and physically everything looks fine, but it's clearly trash. 

Good luck.


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## EFMax (Jun 25, 2018)

Appreciate that.. 

At the moment though, the problem drive is not showing up in the file directory so it is not possible to select it when you search and thus no recovery can be done.


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## naiku (May 28, 2008)

Try AOMEI anyway, the drive I ran it on would only show up about 50% of the time and then just disappear entirely. Unless, you are saying you already tried AOMEI and it did not even show up in there.


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## EFMax (Jun 25, 2018)

yeah.. I downloaded it and hooked it up but it is not recognising that drive.. I shall have a go again later as I might get lucky..


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## crackinhedz (May 5, 2013)

Does your drive show up in Disk Management?


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## crackinhedz (May 5, 2013)

Also, are you using the correct power adapter for that particular drive?

Having many various drives myself in the past, accidently using an adapter for a different drive, Ive had the drive turn on but not connecting. Once I realized and used the correct adapter it was fine.

I honestly don't know why a drive would turn on (spin) and not actually connect via usb just because of a power adapter, but it did.


Probably not the issue, but it can happen.


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## EFMax (Jun 25, 2018)

As soon as you plug the USB cable in, you get that familiar Windows "der dar dah" tone and the light on the H/D lights up as before when switched on.

The drive is Bitlocked but set to be recognised on this computer.

In Disk Management - it says the disk is not initialised and says disk error - the only other info I can see is the following - (means nothing to me but might make sense to someone).

Log Name: Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-PnP/Configuration
Source: Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-PnP
Date: 18/06/2020 12:48:42
Event ID: 410
Task Category: None
Level: Information
Keywords: 
User: SYSTEM
Computer: EF-MAX
Description:
Device USBSTOR\Disk&Ven_HGST&Prod_&Rev_0000\21001301220B00004302&0 was started.

Driver Name: disk.inf
Class Guid: {4d36e967-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}
Service: disk
Lower Filters:
Upper Filters:
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-PnP" Guid="{9c205a39-1250-487d-abd7-e831c6290539}" />
<EventID>410</EventID>
<Version>0</Version>
<Level>4</Level>
<Task>0</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x4000000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2020-06-18T11:48:42.9503036Z" />
<EventRecordID>646</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID="4" ThreadID="18496" />
<Channel>Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-PnP/Configuration</Channel>
<Computer>EF-MAX</Computer>
<Security UserID="S-1-5-18" />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data Name="DeviceInstanceId">USBSTOR\Disk&amp;Ven_HGST&amp;Prod_&amp;Rev_0000\21001301220B00004302&amp;0</Data>
<Data Name="DriverName">disk.inf</Data>
<Data Name="ClassGuid">{4d36e967-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}</Data>
<Data Name="ServiceName">disk</Data>
<Data Name="LowerFilters">
</Data>
<Data Name="UpperFilters">
</Data>
<Data Name="Problem">0x0</Data>
<Data Name="Status">0x0</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>


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## crackinhedz (May 5, 2013)

Can you screen shot the disk management?

Also, may be a good sign it is showing up at least.


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## EFMax (Jun 25, 2018)




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## EFMax (Jun 25, 2018)

yeah.... weird as it sounds but yes, it is a good sign that it is showing up... it seems like it is pointing towards the MBR being corrupt - The laptop has two anti-virus and malware running on it (one freebie and one subscription) but something may have slipped through.. my laptop tends to be on 24/7 and I am not in the habit of just unplugging things without going through the normal dismount procedure.. but it is strange that it has happened to two out of my three external backup drives..


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## frankarmes (Apr 8, 2020)

Hey, these problems are pretty common to Windows devices, I had nearly the same problem on my Lenovo, and I had to spend a lot of time till finding a good solution and fixing it. Even these days my computer started to slow down like it was running on a Pentium 2, not on Intel i5. I had searched through all internet to find out that this happened because of a lot of junk files that occupied my entire memory card. Fortunately, I found some best pc optimization software and now my computer is running like it is new.


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## WASD123 (Sep 28, 2019)

If you have the latest version of windows (Windows 10 version 2004) you can give this a shot- Get Windows File Recovery - Microsoft Store

Otherwise I recommend "GetDataBack" I've used it a lot over the years, probably as far back as Windows 2000. https://www.runtime.org/data-recovery-software.htm


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## Robert32 (Jan 3, 2021)

Sorry for my late reply to this thread. I think you need to use data recovery software. There are lots of software available on as far as I know. You should download them and start using. Anyway, if you need any kind of help with your windows driver recovery you can try windowsmaximizer. There are lots of drivers for free. Enjoy!


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## magmun (Feb 17, 2021)

Gparted has an option to rescue data. I ve never used it, and I don t know it s capabilities but all you need is a linux os to try it.


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## teador (10 mo ago)

I always get problems with my hard drives and have 5 of them, that’s how paranoid I’ve become. I am a photographer, and if something happens with my work, I am not just losing money. My photographs are memories for people that can easily get erased and never relived. A year ago, I used salvagedata.com and retrieved some of my work, but I don’t want to experience the same emotions again. I hope you find a way to get all your data back. I constantly think to start printing my photos and never get the time to do it. I can suggest buying some online storage for at least some of your files- additional security besides having hard drives.


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## Atrinocospia (10 mo ago)

Thank you for sharing! It helped me to recover the lost data on my PC. I had a lot of important photos on it


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