Problem with the external hard drive

[Ryan Morgan]

Hello, I have encountered an unpleasant event. My external hard drive has stopped working. The disc is no longer readable . When I connect the disc to my computer, the system asks me to format it.

There are very important files on the disc.

Does anyone know how to help me?

[rproffitt]

If this is your first foray into data recovery, it's best to send it to data recovery shops.

Any do-it-yourself or recovery apps are never a sure thing. You can try RECUVA but sometimes folk balk that it doesn't FIX the drive. No data recovery app should write to said drive. It should only recover or copy files out. Writing to a damaged drive is too dangerous.
If you feel RECUVA wasn't good enough feel free to Google "Recuva Alternatives." For me if Recuva doesn't do the job, the drive is sent to a recovery house.

Think of the unicycle, one wheel, hard to avoid a crash. Bicycle is much better and the tricycle almost everyone can ride without trouble. The same for storage drives. Google 321 BACKUP and yup, 3 copies or you may not have your data for long. A single copy is prone to loss. Even a second drive with the copies would have saved you.

[Reverend Jim]

You might try spin-rite

[Dani]

Ugh, I'm so sorry that happened. I've had that happen with two different external hard drives over the years ... both were LaCie drives from a very long time ago. Unfortunately, I never took any steps to try to recover them, and lost the data on them at the time. I hope you're able to figure something out in this case.

[Ryan Morgan]

I was recommended to pull the disc out of the box and connect it directly through the SATA interface.
Now I have this picture.

[pritaeas]

I'd recommend to stop messing around and bring it to a specialized recovery shop, as rproffitt already mentioned. The more you tamper with it, the more chance you'll lose your data.

[cored0mp]

Assuming you intend to ignore the sound advice of your compatriots here, I recommend having a look at a tool called Foremost. I'm a specialist and that's what I would use.

[Ryan Morgan]

I was able to solve this problem.

First, I was able to make a copy of the disc using Clonezilla.

I came across this video tutorial.

Click Here

True, it cost me $97.95, but that's nothing compared to taking the disc to a specialist. I risked losing my files forever. But I can't afford to pay a lot of money.
Let me tell you a little bit about how I did it.
I downloaded Hetman Partition Recovery, the software mapped my RAW drive, which used to be FAT, and started a full scan. It found most of my files and successfully recovered them. Yes, it couldn't recover all the files, but I was lucky: I recovered the most important ones.

And yes, make copies of important files (discs) for the future.

Also thanks to everyone who tried to help me)

[Dani]

I’m glad you were able to recover your important files.

[mreza]

Have you tried connecting your external hard drive to another computer which running a different operating system?

[Mikey37]

Hi Ryan Morgan,
I'm am glad your were successful in recovering your data.

I have dealt with several similar situations. Some were with my computers, other times, friends and family members. As you, I bought data recovery software and dealt with the process myself. Making the decision whether to take it to a pro or do it myself, came down to the data involved. If it is business critical, let the pros do it. If the files are not worth thousands, I'll do it. If toe failure was electronics related, i.e. the drive is not recognized, then it is the pro or nothing.

Since Drive Management app showed the drive could be read, you arrived at the same decision I would have.

Cheers, Mike