Can a portable hard drive that has been dropped and pc does ot recogise it, have its data pulled off so i can save it

[wickedtart19]

i dropped my portable hard drive on the pavement and now when i plug it in, it is not recognised, can this be repaired and can i retrieve the information on it, thank you

[MarkRae]

Yes, probably, but not by you otherwise you wouldn't be asking the question. There are any number of companies which specialise in this - do a Google search for data recovery - most operate on a no fix no fee basis...

[AlBags]

Hi
Sorry .. but probably not. Try taking to a PC shop and tell them what you tried. They might try for free.

[ChuckFickens]

Depends on if you've damaged the drive or the case it's in.

If you've only damaged the case then removing the drive and putting it in another case (or mounting it directly into a PC if it's a 3.5 inch drive or you get an adaptor for a 2.5inch) will enable you to get the data off it.

If you've damaged the actual drive itself then the short answer is, no you can't get the data back off it (in theory, you could if you are prepared to pay a small fortune for professional data recovery services)

(this is why a single copy of data on any drive is not a good idea)

[AlBags]

Mark is spending a lot of money for you .. Generally, it's prohibitively expensive to remove data.

[scotman]

I don't think there is a definite answer to that. You would probably have to take it to specialist data retrieval company and they would be unlikely to give any guarantees either. I have no idea how much that would cost.

[AlBags]

^ loads usually.

[MarkRae]

It really depends how much value the data has to the OP. Do not UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES take the drive to a PC shop - they will almost certainly have nowhere near the specialist skills required, and will probably end up ruining the drive completely.

And, yes, specialist data recovery is very expensive...

[ChuckFickens]

If the computer is not recognising it at all there is a fairly good chance the controller in the case has been damaged though!

If the controller was OK and the drive was busted then you'd normally get the USB to IDE bridge detected but no drive.

Of course it may be both are damaged, but as the controller is not detecting I'd say it was worth trying the drive in another case or directly connected.

[AlBags]

Just leave it sitting there then ..
You need some expertise .. to make a judgement. That's all.

[VHG]

For this very reason I know have 3 external hard dives and copy all my data to all three drives.

Just before Xmas I bought a NAS drive (Network drive) and plan to start copying my data to that as well.

You can never have too many backups.

[jaydah]

I dropped my lappy, local PC shop fixed it in lunch hour for £50; no data lost. Maybe ....just unbalanced boards.

[ChuckFickens]

I work on the principle that a backup in just one place isn't a backup.

anyhow, WT, Does the drive make any noises at all when you connect it up if so what sort of noises?

[MarkRae]

Jaydah - in that case, there was (almost) certainly nothing really wrong with it...

[jaydah]

a lappy that dont boot aint much cop Mark. :)

[VHG]

>>jaydah a lappy that dont boot aint much cop Mark. :)

If the hard disk had been slightly knocked out its socket then it would stop it booting, but would take about a minute to fix (take off the hard disk cover and push the laptop back in its socket).

So that is what Mark meant about not much being wrong with it.

[MarkRae]

That, or a dislodged RAM chip, was almost certainly all the problem was...