Dying HDD - Any Tips?

Lukerative · December 18, 2016

So, a couple weeks ago, my 1TB Seagate mass storage drive began making grinding/clicking noises, and eventually became unreadable. After running a disc repair, it showed up again, but cut out again a week later.

I went ahead and ordered a 1TB WD Black as a replacement, and am now trying to figure out the best way to rescue the data (mostly Steam games, video recording/editing/streaming software, and PDFs).

I've attempted using SpinRite, which encountered critical errors twice, due to the size of the drive. After those attempts, my system wouldn't boot from my SSD, instead getting stuck at the post-BIOS black screen with a blinking cursor. I can now boot from a Windows 10 64bit disc, the Seagate drive is now readable, and I want to save the data ASAP. Attempts to create an image of the drive with both ImgBurn and Reflect have failed, producing a cyclic redundancy check error #23. It has been suggested that I try to copy the data directly over to the new drive, but I'm not sure if that's going to cause more stress on the struggling drive.

Any suggestions?

Electronics Wizardy · December 18, 2016

If you want the data send it to a data recovery service, no software will recover the data as its a harware error. Don't try to get any more, your just lowering your chances.

Lukerative · December 18, 2016

The data's still there, and I really don't think it's worth it to send in my drive just to avoid having my steam games reinstalled. I'm more concerned with repairing any file errors so I can copy the drive's contents over, if that's any better. I don't think it's totally a hardware error - as far as I know, a cyclic redundancy error is usually caused by registry corruption or a failed installation (Which did happen - I tried to install Elder Scrolls Online via Steam, didn't end well). So, as far as I know, the data is still there, but I want to get it onto a newer drive as quickly and safely as possible.

meenmeen1103 · December 18, 2016

The time for copying the data over was when it first started clicking, ideally backups should be kept all the time, before any signs of failure, and even with brand new drives (backup from a brand new drive onto any other known good drive). Maybe screenshot what crystaldiskinfo shows for the drive's SMART status. I think 'failed installation' would refer to specifically a failed installation of the OS itself, not just a non-critical program like a game.