Back up I/O error

[Breaz]

I did a clean install of windows 7 ( I do this about every 2 years)
I saved all my file unto my back up drive.......
Then as I was doing the install the drive fell and hit the floor hard. (wont say who's fault that was)
When I connect the drive to the comp it says to insert disk???????????
So I toke it apart and connected it directly to my comp and bypassed the pcb inside the back up drive.
Now it says I/O error does this mean the head is damaged or maybe the disk, is there anything I can do?
It was a 500GB click free backup drive.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hey there, @Breaz!

I'm sorry to hear about the struggle with your external drive. The I/O device error almost always indicates a faulty hardware.
Unfortunately, you cannot fix the physical damage by yourself. It needs specific technical knowledge and a clean lab room where professionals usually take the HDDs apart.
You can still try testing the drive using your HDD manufacturer's diagnostics tool and see what the SMART status has to show.
I hope you have another backup of the data somewhere else.

Hope I helped though!
Keep us posted!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[RCoon]

@SuperSoph_WD is the one to assist on this. ninja'd by the rep already
However I fear that if you dropped a HDD severely enough, odds are the mechanicals inside are borked.

I can recommend using a bootable USB/CD drive like Parted Magic or GParted, and running a Disk Health utility (something like CrystalDiskInfo). These live boot disks tend to not be so stubborn about reading dodgy/broken disk partitions. In the event it still doesn't read any data correctly, I'd recommend a professional data recovery team, or cut your losses with that drive.

 

[W1zzard]

If you consider the drive lost, and have tried recovery, whack it hard on the side, this sometimes helps revive a HDD so that it turns again.

Do that only before throwing it away, once you've given up on it.

 

[rtwjunkie]

If you consider the drive lost, and have tried recovery, whack it hard on the side, this sometimes helps revive a HDD so that it turns again.

Do that only before throwing it away, once you've given up on it.

I had never heard of that! Do you mean whacking it with an object or a hand?

Personally, I would consider the drive lost if it dropped like that. I am suspect intitially on opening brand new drive boxes when shipped, despite their excellent packaging these days, because who knows how many delivery persons have thrown it like a ball. Without packaging; I would say if you are able to get the data off that drive the trust factor is gone and it should be replaced afterward.

 

[rtwjunkie]

@Blue-Knight: Very true. Like you, I have external storage drives, but don't rely on them alone. In fact, all data storage is duplicated to my WHS (I think I am singlehandedly trying to keep WD in business. )

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Well, yes, indeed! We all have been burned by data loss at some point of time.
I personally use several external storage devices & after losing my music collection once, I started burning DVDs as well! Paranoid maybe, but honestly it was a heartbreaking moment and took me like 2 years afterwards to gather half of the data somehow. This is exactly why it's essential to have multiple backups on different storage devices/locations!
Better safe than sorry, right?!

P.S. You, TPU people, absolutely make my working day so much more fun!

 

[W1zzard]

I had never heard of that! Do you mean whacking it with an object or a hand?

Personally, I would consider the drive lost if it dropped like that. I am suspect intitially on opening brand new drive boxes when shipped, despite their excellent packaging these days, because who knows how many delivery persons have thrown it like a ball. Without packaging; I would say if you are able to get the data off that drive the trust factor is gone and it should be replaced afterward.

You want to put a ton of G-Force sideways on the drive. ie put it flat on a table and hit it from the side. Start with your hands (easier to have the hdd in one hand and put hands together). Then work your way up

 

[Breaz]

ok thanks for all the replies although I can feel it spin I whacked it nothing happened lost cause...

 

[Breaz]

That is one of the reasons I do not trust 1 HDD only for backup. Minimum is 2 recommended is 3 or above.

And I would still backup to optical media from time to time. Pen drives are completely out of question.

We all learn with experiences like that... It is sad to lose unrecoverable data.

I had three separate copies one on my computer now formatted one on my back up drive and one on a raid set up on my pc. But got an ssd and had to dismantle my raid (to late reassemble) and lost the last copy when it hit the floor.
I think I'll try giving the cloud a go.
That can't possibly get drop on the floor can it? LOL

 

[Pickles Von Brine]

The drive likely has platter damage/head damage. If the data is important, have you tried contacting OnTrack. They are the best data recovery company I know of.