1tb Seagate FreeAgent External failing/failed?

[nlmiller1975]

I have a Seagate external hd that I think may have already failed, but I'm hoping that I can salvage it somehow. Basically here's what happened:

When I plug it in to my comp, it takes forever to be recognized in Windows Explorer, luckily it's being recognized at all, I guess. Unfortunately, it's being recognized as "Local Disk: (G)" as opposed to FreeAgent; however, when I go to device manager, it's listed as Seagate FreeAgent. Anyway, when I click on the G drive in Windows Explorer to look at the files, the bar at the top seems as though it's reading and progressing, but when it gets close to the end, it stops. Sometimes it says "not responding." Yet other times I get some sort of I/O error. Other times still it says that I need to format the hd.

I really, really need to be able to access these files as they contain home videos and pictures of my little ones that I do not have anywhere else. =/ Yes, completely my bad because I hadn't backed them up anywhere.

I tried the Seatools diagnostic long generic test, and it failed. I also tried r-studio and I got as far as the scan. The screen says that there are read errors at position 0, 512, 1024, etc. Every one of them in multiples of 512. The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error (1117).

Also, I took it out of the case and plugged it into a desktop sata connection; but when I go to boot it up and the computer is running through its normal bootup process (when it's doing the DOS-looking stuff before it gets to the Windows processing then follow-up login screen), it recognizes the other hd but stops at the Seagate as though it's trying to recognize it before booting up. I hope that makes sense.

Any suggestions?

 

[BadBigBen]

I am afraid, but it you may not be able to get the data off the drive...

you may off course try to use a data recovery software, such as GetDataBack (the trial will let you know if the data is recoverable, but only the paid version will recover the data)...

and if the DATA is really that important, you may have to use the services of a professional Data Recovery expert, and that is usually not cheap. They have other means at getting to your Data... as I do not know where in the world you reside, I can not recommend any company at this time...

you may also wish to check the warranty on the drive with Seagate, they do also offer data recovery... so check with them at least...



Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[goombawaho]

^^^^ That is a perfect analysis of the situation and your options on data recovery.

I would leave the drive off/unplugged until you decide on a course of action. If left running, it's POSSIBLE that damage to data could be ongoing. Not necessarily, but it is possible, so be safe.