Hard drive imaging after crash

[ChunkyPuding]

Hello

Recently i got a hard drive failure due to power loss.

The heads have stopped in the middle of a platter, I got the heads off the platter, now I need a way to get as much of the data off of the crushed hdd on to a new one.

The data is nothing important mostly game installs and other crap, there is no point for me to hire a professional data recovery.

What type of software i should use to recover this 2 Tb hdd?

[WereCatf]

10 minutes ago, Hefaistos said:

The heads have stopped in the middle of a platter, I got the heads off the platter

Wait, did you open the HDD up and physically touched the heads to move them?

[Lenovo1984]

25 minutes ago, Hefaistos said:

Hello

Recently i got a hard drive failure due to power loss.

The heads have stopped in the middle of a platter, I got the heads off the platter, now I need a way to get as much of the data off of the crushed hdd on to a new one.

The data is nothing important mostly game installs and other crap, there is no point for me to hire a professional data recovery.

What type of software i should use to recover this 2 Tb hdd?

Did you physically open the drive?

[ChunkyPuding]

Quote

Wait, did you open the HDD up and physically touched the heads to move them?

Not a first for me, previously when i had this type of hdd failure, i just needed to get a couple of important files off so i just copied them before junking the hdd.

And now i would like to get as much off the 2Tb as i can to lower the amount of downloading as possible.

the hdd is already screwd and i will not pay thousands to get games and such off of it.

Might as well try to get the data off of it if it does not work i wont cry.

So coming back from all the "I cant believe you opened a hard drive" people.

What type of software can i use to clone\recover as much of the hdd as possible.

Thanks

[WereCatf]

20 minutes ago, Hefaistos said:

What type of software can i use to clone\recover as much of the hdd as possible.

Well, you could use ddrescue under Linux to make an image of the drive and then mount that image and copy your files off of it. ddrescue is a tool that can handle read-errors.

[Zodiark1593]

If there exists the possibility of physical damage and you need data off the drive, this is Not a DIY job. Even turning the drive on presents additional risk of data loss.

 

If the data is not important or already backed up, I'd just say scrap it and move on so as to get back up ASAP. If you feel like dismantling it, go right on ahead.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

2 hours ago, WereCatf said:

Well, you could use ddrescue under Linux to make an image of the drive and then mount that image and copy your files off of it. ddrescue is a tool that can handle read-errors.

Not if he opened up the drive and messed around inside (I don't know how else he could determine the heads were parked on the platters and then move them off the platters).

2 hours ago, Hefaistos said:

So coming back from all the "I cant believe you opened a hard drive" people.

What type of software can i use to clone\recover as much of the hdd as possible.

It's highly unlikely software exists that will get your data back after you opened it up (assuming that is what you did) and mucked around inside (you would have far better luck getting blood from a turnip). Just opening up the drive would be a bone headed move that pretty much would guarantee you will never see your data again. Working inside HDDs is a job for trained professionals which usually, if not always, should be done in a clean room. The tolerances inside modern HDDs are incredibly tight. Even not properly retorquing the screws holding the cover on the drive can throw alignment inside way out of tolerance.

 

Since you are aware of the cost of professional data recovery and do not feel your data is worth it, you may as well just salvage the magnet(s), repurpose the platters for drink coasters, and toss the rest. To avoid future data loss from failed drives, not to mention a host of other causes of data loss, start making and maintaining backups of your data.

 

For data to be reasonably safe, it must exist in three separate places. For most people, this means on a drive in the computer, on an onsite, external backup drive, and on an offsite external backup drive. The backup drives must be kept powered down, disconnected from the computer, and stored out of sight of the computer. The onsite and the offsite backup drives need to be swapped out as frequently as practical to keep both as up to date as possible. If money is tight (we've all been there), even only one backup is umpteen tims better than none. Backup drives cost incredibly less than professional data recovery (which comes with no guarantees of success) and is far more reliable. One should not even consider buying a drive for a computer unless that buying that drive includes buying (or otherwise acquiring) at least two backup drives.

[WereCatf]

2 minutes ago, Lady Fitzgerald said:

Not if he opened up the drive and messed around inside (I don't know how else he could determine the heads were parked on the platters and then move them off the platters).

I think you misunderstood something. When I say that ddrescue would be able to handle read-errors, I am not saying it would magically do something and be able to read those broken sectors; ddrescue, when it comes across an unreadable sector, writes a zero in the output and continues to the next sector, whereas most other software would throw up an error and exit. So yeah, it doesn't matter to ddrescue's operation whether OP opened the HDD up or not.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

13 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

I think you misunderstood something. When I say that ddrescue would be able to handle read-errors, I am not saying it would magically do something and be able to read those broken sectors; ddrescue, when it comes across an unreadable sector, writes a zero in the output and continues to the next sector, whereas most other software would throw up an error and exit. So yeah, it doesn't matter to ddrescue's operation whether OP opened the HDD up or not.

Methinks we are misunderstanding each other. The OP left me with the impression that the drive was inoperable. There isn't any software that will work if the drive can't spin up and/or the heads aren't moving.

 

Back to the ranch original problem, another level of protection that might have prevented this fiasco would be to use a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply). A properly sized one will keep the computer running long enough after a power outage begins to allow it to be safely shut down (I won't run a computer without one). Backups are still necessary, though. 

[WereCatf]

45 minutes ago, Lady Fitzgerald said:

Methinks we are misunderstanding each other. The OP left me with the impression that the drive was inoperable. There isn't any software that will work if the drive can't spin up and/or the heads aren't moving.

I thought that OP had a sudden power-loss, thought that it's going to break HDDs and opened it up without even trying to power it up first, proceeded to move the heads from the platters, put it back together and ask for software they could use to read as much off of it as possible.

 

Hard to say which one of us misunderstood OP, unless they wish to clarify.

[ChunkyPuding]

Quote

Hard to say which one of us misunderstood OP, unless they wish to clarify.

Clarification

1.The drive is alive and wants to spin, it was just unable to due to heads being stuck to the platter.

2.The heads got stuck to the sudden power loss, this type of incident wont happen again since i just purchased a ups.

3.There is on visible physical damage to the heads or platters, i just want to get the data of the drive since hdds after this type of incident are usually a ticking time bomb.

 

Quote

Well, you could use ddrescue under Linux to make an image of the drive and then mount that image and copy your files off of it. ddrescue is a tool that can handle read-errors.

Thanks WereCatf, i'll try this and report back later.