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Failing HDD and Cloning

OOLuigiOo

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So if an HDD is slow(Seagate 2TB HDD) and the HDD loads really slow in windows and for scanning how long may a sector by sector cloning take if the HDD if almost all of the 2TB is used up if the cloning is done on a boot up CD?

Basically, the HDD is now painfully slow to load up in windows and takes light years to scan if it does scan.
2TB space almost used up.
It's a Seagate HDD.
Boot into CD software, not windows.
Sector by Sector cloning from there.

Also, if a Seagate software were to exist for this, would it be any faster?

Note: This drive is said to be at 4% health...

At this health, what is the likelihood of recovering all files not in bad sectors?

And what about files in bad sectors?

What is the fastest way to clone a failing HDD and is now really slow?

And what other ways are there to transfer files from this HDD myself?
 
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Don't clone it. Pull it and get a new drive. Then recover the data you want by just coping it. No programs just data. The check the smart data. The more you mess with it the more data you lose
 
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tabascosauz

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So if an HDD is slow(Seagate 2TB HDD) and the HDD loads really slow in windows and for scanning how long may a sector by sector cloning take if the HDD if almost all of the 2TB is used up if the cloning is done on a boot up CD?

Basically, the HDD is now painfully slow to load up in windows and takes light years to scan if it does scan.
2TB space almost used up.
It's a Seagate HDD.
Boot into CD software, not windows.
Sector by Sector cloning from there.

Also, if a Seagate software were to exist for this, would it be any faster?

Note: This drive is said to be at 4% health...

At this health, what is the likelihood of recovering all files not in bad sectors?

And what about files in bad sectors?

What is the fastest way to clone a failing HDD and is now really slow?

And what other ways are there to transfer files from this HDD myself?

First of all, a 2TB platter that is almost full cannot be expected to run any faster than a snail. Any HDD that is nearly full will be as fast as a snail.

I'm curious as to where you got the 4% reading. SSDs can generally be read for a long time as it's the writes that count towards its lifetime, but HDDs (I think) are not like that. Don't use it at all, and don't boot from it.

Just leave the computer off, buy the SSD, pull the HDD from the computer, install the SSD and install Windows, then reconnect the HDD and copy over the important files. Take it easy; don't copy the entire thing at once, go one small folder or a few files at a time. It fail to load a folder at times, so just be patient. I've recently had to do this for a 7-year-old 2.5" Seagate drive; its time is nearly up and it was giving me errors the entire time. Thankfully, I was able to, more or less, get the most important files out.
 

OOLuigiOo

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That is not the boot drive and still causes Windows to be sluggish and entering the drive takes too long.
 

tabascosauz

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That is not the boot drive and still causes Windows to be sluggish and entering the drive takes too long.

Your point being...?

If it's not the boot drive, then there are even fewer "normal" reasons for the drive to be that slow. Backup all that you can.
 
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Don't clone it. Pull it and get a new drive. Then recover the data you want by just coping it. No programs just data. The check the smart data. The more you mess with it the more data you lose

^This. The more "strain" you put on a failing drive, the more likely it is to die. Install and format the replacement drive, then plug in the failing drive via a SATA cable or a USB-to-SATA adapter. Use Windows Explorer to copy your data to the new drive: go after the most important files first, then work your way down. Don't be surprised if some files take forever to copy, or just outright fail. Recover whatever you can, and be thankful that you got that much.
 

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If you do choose to go the "clone" method, I do recommend Image for Windows. You can get a trial version here. With that, you can create an image of the drive, and restore it to a new one, even from a boot disc or USB stick. This does require you to have room somewhere to store the image for recovery, however.
 

SuperSoph_WD

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Welcome to TPU, @OOLuigiOo

I honestly wouldn't risk cloning an HDD that is so severely damaged (judging by the 4% health). I guess you've tested the drive already, but what exactly did the SMART data attributes state about its health?
Retrieving data is rarely a 100% affair, actually. If there are too many bad sectors, then most probably the files stored there will be corrupted and, unfortunately, won't be repaired (even if you are able to recover it, there's no way we can determine how fully functional/usable the data would be).
I guess you can give the sector-by-sector cloning a try. But considering the almost-full 2 TB storage capacity and the responsiveness of the HDD itself, honestly I'm not sure I'd have such patience.
If you have the budget, I'd recommend you to simply turn to a professional data recovery company for assistance right away.
However, I'd strongly advise you to keep your data stored on more than one location in the future. This way you'd have at least two copies of it and you'd be lucky enough to avoid the headaches of data loss.

Best of luck to you, though! :)
SuperSoph_WD
 

OOLuigiOo

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The tool from Seagate said the drive was ok, but the scanning repair tool couldn't scan the drive.
 
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Where did you get the 4% reading from? Could this be a simple as the is 4% of space left on the drive and it's slow from being full? There could be nothing wrong with the drive other then just being full. Where did you read 4% at?
 

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Acronis Drive Monitor

Hey there again!

This utility should also be able to monitor the SMART data of your HDD. What do the SMART parameters from the tool's interface indicate?
 

OOLuigiOo

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The Seagate toolsays the drive is ok, though it is a seagate drive, but its tools cannot scan the drive.

What if Acronis were to say the same thing?
 

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The Seagate toolsays the drive is ok, though it is a seagate drive, but its tools cannot scan the drive.

What if Acronis were to say the same thing?

That's why such utilities have a quick & extended (short & long) tests. In order to determine the SMART data of your HDD, you'd need to run the long test from the manufacturer's diagnostic tool. Even if the test result is a PASS and says 'It's okay', you still might be having issues with it, this is why you need to take a look at the SMART attributes and their raw value yourself.
Here you can find more info about the SMART monitoring system and what the attributes indicate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M.A.R.T.

SuperSoph_WD
 

OOLuigiOo

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Those short/long tests failed to scan(failed pretty fast), yet SMART says PASS...

Wouldn't know how to see this raw data with Seagates tool.
 

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Those short/long tests failed to scan(failed pretty fast), yet SMART says PASS...

Wouldn't know how to see this raw data with Seagates tool.

Hmm, this is weird. Since it says PASS, there should be a way to view the complete SMART data results. What about the Acronis Drive Monitor? I believe there is a S.M.A.R.T. parameter tab in the utility, which should be able to the display the raw values for the HDD in question. If you could post a screenshot of it, that'd be very helpful.

SuperSoph_WD
 
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If the drive health is at 4%, pulling the exact SMART statistics isn't a priority to me. We already know something is wrong and identifying the exact cause of the problem is a luxury at this point. SuperSoph_WD has been offering excellent help though, don't get me wrong.

Is the drive making a constant screeching or scratching noise while it's powered on? If not the surface of the platters aren't physically being damaged and there's no harm trying to recover your data yourself with either of the methods I list below.

If you need to get your data off this thing, and you can't drag/drop the files in Windows which would be the easiest way, you have two other options.

A) Run cmd as an administrator
- chkdsk C: /r (replace C: with the drive letter of your failing 2TB)
^ This identifies and re-maps the bad sectors on your hard drive & will take a long time
- Use sector-by-sector backup software of your choice now that the bad sectors are removed

B) Use imaging software such as Macrium Reflect Free that has an option to ignore bad sectors and other read errors. This is faster and IMO less stressful to a failing drive than chkdsk + data copy. Once the failing drive has been imaged to a working drive you can freely look over and back up your data.

Either way, if you have bad sectors, as @SuperSoph_WD mentioned you will lose any data that resides on them -- but at least you'll have everything you can get.
 
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I would recommend ,as others have stated to pull the drive out , plug into a Pc with enough free space and manually copy the data.

Dont use windows copy , use eg . killcopy or teracopy , Unstoppable copier ,so if finds a bad sector can skip and continue to next file.
Dont test the Harddrive can cause the drive to fail completely if already has so many bad sectors .stresses the drive out

Some software you will be able to select from which sector-sector to copy from and too - so you can backup file from last sector to first sector or in-between.

Quick Hdd check - Trail version of Harddrive Sentinel windows version ( best app ever), no need to test and damage drive further
gives good hdd smart

After manually backing up data you could use SpinRite to recover and rebuild the damaged sector - Note! does take very long time - then retry manually backup data if failed before

would use Nortons Ghost or Acronis to clone drive but not in your case

If Drive fails during backup freezing/hanging , you could put it in a antistatic bad seal it and put in in the DeepFreezer for half a Day - No jokes , the metal contracts and sometimes able to quickly backup data
have Worked for me at least 10 times on certain situations
 

OOLuigiOo

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If the drive health is at 4%, pulling the exact SMART statistics isn't a priority to me. We already know something is wrong and identifying the exact cause of the problem is a luxury at this point. SuperSoph_WD has been offering excellent help though, don't get me wrong.

Is the drive making a constant screeching or scratching noise while it's powered on? If not the surface of the platters aren't physically being damaged and there's no harm trying to recover your data yourself with either of the methods I list below.

If you need to get your data off this thing, and you can't drag/drop the files in Windows which would be the easiest way, you have two other options.

A) Run cmd as an administrator
- chkdsk C: /r (replace C: with the drive letter of your failing 2TB)
^ This identifies and re-maps the bad sectors on your hard drive & will take a long time
- Use sector-by-sector backup software of your choice now that the bad sectors are removed

B) Use imaging software such as Macrium Reflect Free that has an option to ignore bad sectors and other read errors. This is faster and IMO less stressful to a failing drive than chkdsk + data copy. Once the failing drive has been imaged to a working drive you can freely look over and back up your data.

Either way, if you have bad sectors, as @SuperSoph_WD mentioned you will lose any data that resides on them -- but at least you'll have everything you can get.
But how long may Reflect Free take to image an 2TB HDD that's almost full and loads painfully slow(Even if not boot drive, slower in Windows 10 though, Win8 is somewhat faster but doesn't give choice to bypass scan on boot up and it's stuck at 0%) with 4% health if it ignores bad sectors? And would imaging be a good choice?

And does Reflect Free offer software that boots from CD?
 
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It's best to copy user data file by file from failing drive to a new one and do it in batches so you know when certain files fail to copy so you can re-copy them. This way you can fiddle with data in multi sessions where. Cloning usually only works in one go and if it fails mid way, you'll have to repeat it. Which is very inconvenient and lengthy process.
 
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But how long may Reflect Free take to image an 2TB HDD that's almost full and loads painfully slow(Even if not boot drive, slower in Windows 10 though, Win8 is somewhat faster but doesn't give choice to bypass scan on boot up and it's stuck at 0%) with 4% health if it ignores bad sectors? And would imaging be a good choice?

And does Reflect Free offer software that boots from CD?

Macrium is a single-pass process that images everything on your disk in the minimum amount of power-on time possible, which is exactly what I would want if I had a drive with one foot off a cliff. If it is ignoring bad sectors, it won't fail halfway; it will keep running until it's finished and ignore/skip all read errors and bad sectors rather than trying to repair them. Yes, it will take some time (I can't say exactly how much) but it will be the fastest and most gentle way to make a copy of everything that's still intact. Any other disk imaging software that ignores bad sectors should work fine too; Macrium certainly isn't the only one out there, but it's one of the most popular and easy to use.

Also, if you image the drive to another one, the data is compressed which shrinks the actual space used (from what I've noticed) by up to 50%. Or you can perform a direct drive-to-drive copy if you have another 2TB+ drive connected to the system.

The first time you launch Macrium you will be prompted to create a fully functional bootable recovery CD. You can make more of them later on within the program if you'd like. It's great software.
 
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Why not try it and find out? Copying file by file won't work on half failing drives.

Another piece of software you can use for free that does a great job:
Acronis True Image 2016

Let's estimate the amount of time required to copy file by file versus image the drive:
A) Copy block of files, wait for it to fail halfway. Look at destination and try to figure out where the files stopped copying. Start copying more files where you guess they stopped. Get another read error a couple minutes later. Repeat potentially hundreds of times.
B) Image drive. Walk away and wait for it to finish.
 
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Get a new drive, if not already done so.

Copy files in batches. Folder by folder is the best way. Time consuming, but in case copying a file fails you don't have to look through everything to see what already copied.

After that, format drive and test it again empty. If it fails, and is still in warranty, erase drive and send in for repair. Otherwise just copy all the data from the new drive and use it as a cold backup, or install back and use for non-important data.
 
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Programs like Tera Copy can be useful for such tasks since they provide faster copying and they have a list of processed files. If it fails, you know instantly what file failed and you can also resume or restart file copy/move operations. Tera Copy is a free program so give it a try.

Cloning is for drives that are in perfect mechanical/electronic condition but have a corrupted partition or parasitic virus infection. You clone the drive and then you can repeatedly perform data salvaging tasks without the risk of degrading data and making it unrecoverable forever. If recovering fails, you just restore the drive and start all over.

Something you can't afford on failing drives, because they will interrupt the data cloning process. And when it fails, you have to do it all over again.
 
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