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Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 20th Apr 2015 at 1:25 AM
chance of getting data off external HD
I have a WD external Hardrive it is approx 8 years old. i have all my pics music and sims 2 and 3 files on it.
Plus some papers i wrote for a class.

The other night i kept hearing a click but all seemed fine.
Now when i went to look on my computer to install files into game from my F drive which is what drive the external is. It is there one minute and then gone the next.
It keeps asking if i wish to scan the drive and when i say yes it closes down and disappears again

Is there any chance that i can get the many GB's of files off here? Is it something that i can use some software to save the files?

I am going to go buy a new external tomorrow they have WD and Toshiba any preferences or experiences with these brands are welcome too.

i Hope i can get these files back i have so many pictures of my kids my parrots from my rescue ad tons of music and Sims 2 files from as far back as when it was released So any of the sites are LONG gone now.

Thank you
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Née whiterider
retired moderator
#2 Old 20th Apr 2015 at 2:08 AM
The first thing I would do is replace the leads. Hopefully you have a spare USB cable around which you can use with the external; a spare power cord might be trickier. Try it with different leads and see if it has the same problem. If not, you'll probably still want to pull your files off it, just in case - but at least you'll be able to do that.

Also, turn it off when you're not messing with it. If the hardware is failing then you want it doing as little work as possible.

What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact.
Mad Poster
#3 Old 20th Apr 2015 at 2:21 AM
Keep off it until you've got a new one. If it dies on you before that, you'll go completely into panic mode, and that doesn't help at all, particularly if getting new cables for it don't work.

You might also want to answer "no" to the question about scanning the next time, if your computer has decided it doesn't like the drive. If that doesn't help, you might have a problem. Also try a different USB port. I've had a few go useless or at best working 25% of the times, so that's another possible problem.

When you do have a new one, you might want to take the harddrive to someplace where they actually know what to do to retrieve data, or at best tell you what's wrong and know how to fix it. The more you fiddle around on your own, and the less you know on the subject on how to do it, the safer it is to handle it over to a pro.

As for experience, I'd say keep your important files - as in those you don't want to lose, ever - in at least two places, preferably more. Having everything on only one harddrive is about the worst thing you can do. Anything electronic can and probably will crash on you when you least expect it, usually at the worst possible moment, and in particular when you don't have a second backup.

8 years is a lot for an external harddrive, particularly if you use it a lot. They're not exactly that much more long-lasting than computers. Could be anything from dust to a fried internal part. I'm paranoid about my external harddrives, and I'll even wrap them up in their box between each use. Not much dust going on there (although my computers are probably another matter - my oldest laptop probably had more dust than the average vacuum cleaner bag).
 
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