Dead external hard drive?

[Earl Faubion]

That's not to say I don't think people can't have really bad luck with a given brand, but I think it's just that - Luck.

Three successive WD drives, each successively larger and used in different machines, all failing prematurely. Bad luck? Maybe, hence the 2 cent caveat tacked on the end of my note. But 3 in a row is also a pattern that only an unwise man would ignore.

 

[Andy Wehrle]

I've got two WD My Books, a 320 gig that I've had since midsummer 2007 and a 1 TB (technically about 930 gig) that I got Christmas of 2008 (2 months ago). Both have never had any problems with the drive itself failing, even though the 320 was dropped pretty hard once (since then it has became a little balky and had a couple of the larger video files get corrupted, but deleting them and then defragging the drive took care of that).

Occasionally they both do give me the "Found new hardware...install drivers...problem with the USB device" business, but it's always gone away just after unplugging and replugging the USB cable.

I'm running Vista so the problem manifests itself a little differently than it does for you, but it's not a problem with the drive itself.

As far as video backup goes, I always keep the original camera tapes (if you think I'm going to a direct-to-HDD camcorder anytime soon, think again) so I can re-capture in those instances where I do have to lose some files.

 

[Ian Miller]

You could try using Avanquest software (backup and restore) if the drive is spinning up it will run on the machine and copy data from an disk which wont boot to your fixed disk or from a none booting fixed disk t an external drive so you should be able to recover your data, it has worked for me, it is also great for ghosting your data to a larger drive to upgrade..

 

[Mike Deep]

Three successive WD drives, each successively larger and used in different machines, all failing prematurely. Bad luck? Maybe, hence the 2 cent caveat tacked on the end of my note. But 3 in a row is also a pattern that only an unwise man would ignore.

I'm operating three WDC drives and never had an issue... Does this mean our experiences cancel out?

I'd probably do the same as you, three in a row would put me off for quite a while.

 

[Earl Faubion]

I'm operating three WDC drives and never had an issue... Does this mean our experiences cancel out?

Yes, I think it does.

I'd probably do the same as you, three in a row would put me off for quite a while.

It's been a few years since those bad experiences so for the right price I'd probably be okay with trying a WD again. Then again, as long as my good luck with Maxtor continues I may stick with them. Sounds a lot like Coke and Pepsi people, it all comes down to personal preference as to who likes what and in the end both are nearly the same. I'm a Coke guy BTW.

 

[Daniel Barker]

i mentioned data recovery centers, never heard of any till 3 weeks ago, price then 2000$ herein denver the Data Recovery Ctr has opened up next to microcenter, supposedly 400$..

 

[Mike Deep]

For $400 I have to wonder if they're not just replacing the I/O board and hoping for the best... Never heard of a real clean room service going that low.

 

[Jeff Smith]

Boy do I feel stupid!

Update:
I took the hard drive to a computer guru-friend and he removed the cover and immediately said "here's your problem"...and showed me the SATA cable had partially came unplugged! He popped it back in and walla! I now have all my pics/videos/music back! Waaay cool! Thanks for all the replies! I'm gonna start working on an alternate backup plan!

 

[Robert Bone]

I'm gonna start working on an alternate backup plan!

Syncback! even if just the freebie version