what is the best way to get the data out of my damaged external hard drive?

Question

my hard drive is damaged pretty much right after i made a backup of my PC on it(how ironic) the reason is unknown to me but i think it might be a hardware issue. but beside backup i have about 90GB information on it which i really need.
the data on the hard drive is still okay(i hope at least) but the data transfer is now extremely slow and the connection is keep reconnecting. anyone know what is the best way to get the data out without seeing the 1w and 3d remaining time??????

Answer 1

you should run two things...



open cmd box with admin rights

chkdsk D: /f (where D is the letter of your drive)



run hdd regenerator from a bootdisk

hiren's has it on one of his old bootcds

http://www.hirensbootcd.org/hbcd-v104/

Answer 2

If all alternate attempts fail, & you've got a lot of valuable files that must be recovered, have a look @ 'SpinRite' from GRC.

Recovers data & fixes HDD errors; disk maintenance; checks cable interfaces; many deep disk checks; etc.

Self contained DOS, so functioning OS not required.

Run it once per month or so to keep the HDD at peak mechanical performance. Some success has been reported with SSD's as well, using "Level 2.

About $90 US;

30-day, money back guarantee: no questions asked.

How many software items have you seen with that?

THE industry standard.

https://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm



Google for reviews.

Well worth the money.



If you decide to give this a try, read the help files on what modes do what, cause it can be a tad confusing. Whatever 'mode' you select, don't be impatient: this works slowly, but methodically, and just may pull your drive (or data) back from the brink of doom.



In your situation, I believe the external HDD must be put into a computer as the Primary drive (aka "Master") and then boot the SpinRite iSO disk. It has a self-contained DOS so it will run on it's own.

Pretty easy to use.



If it works, BACK UP YOUR DATA right away, and migrate to an CD/DVD/ext. drive. This is imperative.

If it fails to do the trick, ask for a refund: it's got a money back guarantee, no questions asked.

Downloads in about 2 minutes (written entirely in "assembly language", and fits on a CD quite easily)

Answer 3

If the drive is running physically, you should try putting it in an external drive caddy and copy the data. If that doesn't work, the only way to retrieve the data is to send the drive into a data recovery service.

Answer 4

Have you tried plugging it directly into the computer using a sata connector?