Hard Drive Problems - How to Recover Files From SimpleTech External Hard Drives
Expert: Chris Morrison - 4/4/2008
Question My SimpleTech (500GB) just died after three months, and when I turn it on, the blue light flashes, but no whirring. Then I just got a red light by the power button and on top of the unit and it won't even get recognized on my desktop, not show up on my desktop or “My Computer”. I had all my family pictures in it, it’s about 15% usages, now I can’t recover those pictures, and it’s real heartbroken! I have tried on two computers and different USB ports so I don't think it is the USB ports problem. One computer is XP Media Edition and the other is Vista Home Edition.
I downloaded and installed “PareLogic-Data Rcovery” to my desktop, still can’t find the unit.
How to retrieve those pictures when this occurred? Please help!
Thanks & Regards,
Tara
Answer First download testdisk http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
That can retrieve your files and fix partition tables if needed. Most file recovery programs rely on a file system being on the drive. Testdisk does not. It doesn't care how the disk is formatted.
It does not have to be installed just run from the folder. Also the recovered files will be placed in the win folder, located in the same folder as the program itself.
If testdisk cannot find the drive, there may be a problem with the drive or the drive case. Open the drive case and make sure the power cable and the data cable are connected to the drive securely. Plug in the power and usb and test. If still no go you can always remove the drive from the case and install internally inside you computer. If the drive is seen then, it was just the case and not the drive itself.
Another thing you can check with the USB drive connected is to right click my computer and choose manage. The scroll down to disk management. If your drive appears in the lower right box, then it is working it is just recognized by windows. this is usually a format issue.
Remember to safely remove all USB drives before you remove them from your computer. This can be done by clicking the little green arrow in the tool bar at bottom right and choose "safely remove (drive letter".
