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quick tips- failing hard disk data recovery

Syntaxvgm
By Syntaxvgm
in Guides and Tutorials
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I'm imaging a failing disk right now, so I thought I'd give a few quick tips while I'm doing it. No tutorial or anything exhaustive. 

 

If you have a hard drive that's failing (I had 2 give flags, the first is failing now) and you are recovering data from it, I have a few recommendations. 

 

First, use a hot swappable connection. 

Like a hot swap bay, or preferably USB. You need to be able to restart the drive without restarting the machine. If the drive works intermittently, this allows you to still get the data. If you have access or know someone that has access to a Deepspar or Atola machine, it would be in your benefit to take advantage of that, obviously. 

 

Second, Flip the drive upside down and place a fan on top.

KYvmnsm.png

Yes, it looks stupid

Now, I really don't know how much flipping it helps if any. I was told about this from a few different people, and it does seem to help a bit in some cases. It doesn't hurt. 

The main reason for flipping it is cooling it. Placing a fan on it for me has helped keep failing drives running for longer bursts, and some from stoping at all. 

I have a 140mm fan on this drive, and the temp doesn't go above 25c during a long image vs like 45 or more on some failing drives. 

This doesn't always improve your chances, but it doesn't hurt. I can tell you that when someone gave me this tip, this tip of flipping it and cooling it, allowed me to recover data from a drive that would not read for more than a few seconds before. 

 

 

Third, ddrescue

(not to be confused with dd_rescue, completely different thing.)

This is what I use on hard drives with more serious problems, and even one I did a head swap on. 

Professionals usually use a hardware solution like Deepspar or Atola, but in place of not having that very expensive crap, your next best option is ddrescue. 

 

 

That's all. Good luck to anyone in the same situation.

muh specs 

Gaming and HTPC (reparations)- ASUS 1080, MSI X99A SLI Plus, 5820k- 4.5GHz @ 1.25v, asetek based 360mm AIO, RM 1000x, 16GB memory, 750D with front USB 2.0 replaced with 3.0  ports, 2 250GB 850 EVOs in Raid 0 (why not, only has games on it), some hard drives

Screens- Acer preditor XB241H (1080p, 144Hz Gsync), LG 1080p ultrawide, (all mounted) directly wired to TV in other room

Stuff- k70 with reds, steel series rival, g13, full desk covering mouse mat

All parts black

Workstation(desk)- 3770k, 970 reference, 16GB of some crucial memory, a motherboard of some kind I don't remember, Micomsoft SC-512N1-L/DVI, CM Storm Trooper (It's got a handle, can you handle that?), 240mm Asetek based AIO, Crucial M550 256GB (upgrade soon), some hard drives, disc drives, and hot swap bays

Screens- 3  ASUS VN248H-P IPS 1080p screens mounted on a stand, some old tv on the wall above it. 

Stuff- Epicgear defiant (solderless swappable switches), g600, moutned mic and other stuff. 

Laptop docking area- 2 1440p korean monitors mounted, one AHVA matte, one samsung PLS gloss (very annoying, yes). Trashy Razer blackwidow chroma...I mean like the J key doesn't click anymore. I got a model M i use on it to, but its time for a new keyboard. Some edgy Utechsmart mouse similar to g600. Hooked to laptop dock for both of my dell precision laptops. (not only docking area)

Shelf- i7-2600 non-k (has vt-d), 380t, some ASUS sandy itx board, intel quad nic. Currently hosts shared files, setting up as pfsense box in VM. Also acts as spare gaming PC with a 580 or whatever someone brings. Hooked into laptop dock area via usb switch

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Posted

-snip-

 

Did one of the ones you mentioned earlier finally give out?

My arsenal: i7-9700k Gaming Rig, an iPhone, and Stupidity.

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Did one of the ones you mentioned earlier finally give out?

The one I showed in that thread seems to be ok so far, but the one a week or week and half or whatever ago (main drive in desktop) was having serious issues. That's the one I'm imaging.

muh specs 

Gaming and HTPC (reparations)- ASUS 1080, MSI X99A SLI Plus, 5820k- 4.5GHz @ 1.25v, asetek based 360mm AIO, RM 1000x, 16GB memory, 750D with front USB 2.0 replaced with 3.0  ports, 2 250GB 850 EVOs in Raid 0 (why not, only has games on it), some hard drives

Screens- Acer preditor XB241H (1080p, 144Hz Gsync), LG 1080p ultrawide, (all mounted) directly wired to TV in other room

Stuff- k70 with reds, steel series rival, g13, full desk covering mouse mat

All parts black

Workstation(desk)- 3770k, 970 reference, 16GB of some crucial memory, a motherboard of some kind I don't remember, Micomsoft SC-512N1-L/DVI, CM Storm Trooper (It's got a handle, can you handle that?), 240mm Asetek based AIO, Crucial M550 256GB (upgrade soon), some hard drives, disc drives, and hot swap bays

Screens- 3  ASUS VN248H-P IPS 1080p screens mounted on a stand, some old tv on the wall above it. 

Stuff- Epicgear defiant (solderless swappable switches), g600, moutned mic and other stuff. 

Laptop docking area- 2 1440p korean monitors mounted, one AHVA matte, one samsung PLS gloss (very annoying, yes). Trashy Razer blackwidow chroma...I mean like the J key doesn't click anymore. I got a model M i use on it to, but its time for a new keyboard. Some edgy Utechsmart mouse similar to g600. Hooked to laptop dock for both of my dell precision laptops. (not only docking area)

Shelf- i7-2600 non-k (has vt-d), 380t, some ASUS sandy itx board, intel quad nic. Currently hosts shared files, setting up as pfsense box in VM. Also acts as spare gaming PC with a 580 or whatever someone brings. Hooked into laptop dock area via usb switch

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Posted

 

I happen to have a look like a dead drive to me situation here

 

when it plugged to the PC, it lags the whole system and disk mangement and Recuver will just hang when they were trying to scan for drives.

 

not sure if i can save my videos in it thou

Budget? Uses? Currency? Location? Operating System? Peripherals? Monitor? Use PCPartPicker wherever possible. 

Quote whom you're replying to, and set option to follow your topics. Or Else we can't see your reply.

 

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