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General => General Discussion => Topic started by: V8CRSA on February 06, 2016, 01:25:31 PM

Title: Data recovery
Post by: V8CRSA on February 06, 2016, 01:25:31 PM
Fellow swaggers,

I'm after a bit of help from those in the IT game in Melb, I have an external hard drive that was knocked of a desk and broke the plug off.....
We took it to a "local expert" along with a new hard drive and asked for the data to be taken from the old broken drive to the new.
The "experts" claim it's all in some odd format and couldn't do any thing for us. The only files on the drive are mp3's and about 20k photos including our wedding, honeymoon and baby photos of our son.

So the question I have, I need someone to recover our memories from this hard drive. There is lots of places averting but I do want to take any further risks, I need someone I can trust.

Cheers Matt
Title: Re: Data recovery
Post by: D4D on February 06, 2016, 01:27:59 PM
Can you post a pic of the broken drive? Pics of the drive itself, model/brand, and the broken connector. Typically these are just a hard drive in an external case. With a bit of luck you should be able to swap the case over with a new one.
Title: Re: Data recovery
Post by: V8CRSA on February 06, 2016, 01:29:15 PM
I think they have butchered the case, but I will go grab it and put up some pics.

Title: Re: Data recovery
Post by: V8CRSA on February 06, 2016, 01:37:28 PM
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l285/hzj105t/6D94B341-D7E8-4F69-8F3C-420F6EC7150C.jpg) (http://s99.photobucket.com/user/hzj105t/media/6D94B341-D7E8-4F69-8F3C-420F6EC7150C.jpg.html)

(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l285/hzj105t/EBB525DC-11FE-4C50-8275-24C5E22B535C.jpg) (http://s99.photobucket.com/user/hzj105t/media/EBB525DC-11FE-4C50-8275-24C5E22B535C.jpg.html)

(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l285/hzj105t/B6AFA8AE-5BFD-489E-82C2-89AE4A6BD973.jpg) (http://s99.photobucket.com/user/hzj105t/media/B6AFA8AE-5BFD-489E-82C2-89AE4A6BD973.jpg.html)

I can't find the Brocken plug either.......
Title: Re: Data recovery
Post by: MrCruza on February 06, 2016, 01:38:55 PM
As D4D they're just a hard drive in a case. As long as the drive survived you can take it out of the case and put it in another case or caddy.
If its just been used on a windows PC then it's format will be standard windows, although there are a couple of flavours of that.

Yep, that's a standard WD drive. Any tech head should be able to handle the data recovery.
Title: Re: Data recovery
Post by: D4D on February 06, 2016, 01:39:20 PM
Thanks, looks like a standard drive. Can you post a pic of the connections on the drive itself? Should be the left hand end looking at the above pic.
Title: Re: Data recovery
Post by: V8CRSA on February 06, 2016, 01:45:33 PM
Thanks, looks like a standard drive. Can you post a pic of the connections on the drive itself? Should be the left hand end looking at the above pic.

See the 3rd pic mate, I thought just as MrBitchi said it looks like a stud drive.
Title: Re: Data recovery
Post by: Renno on February 06, 2016, 01:46:37 PM
I have an  Omini (http://www.gamedude.com.au/prod_show.php?art_no=cadOMds_01_dock_1)Sata HDD Dock as I have a stack of hard drives.
Jacar sell a similar one.
Should fit.
Renno
Title: Re: Data recovery
Post by: bruce93 on February 06, 2016, 01:49:02 PM
V8 CRSA

The actual hard drive looks like it's all good and the connections haven't been damaged.
Just buy a Sata HDD dock or Sata 3.5 HDD enclosure and you should be able to access all your files again.

Bruce.
Title: Re: Data recovery
Post by: D4D on February 06, 2016, 01:52:33 PM
The actual hard drive looks like it's all good and the connections haven't been damaged.
Just buy a Sata HDD dock or Sata 3.5 HDD enclosure and you should be able to access all your files again.

x2, if you can wait until early next week I can help.
Title: Re: Data recovery
Post by: V8CRSA on February 06, 2016, 02:03:04 PM
x2, if you can wait until early next week I can help.

That would be great mate, I'll send you a pm.

Cheers
Title: Re: Data recovery
Post by: Bird on February 06, 2016, 05:19:20 PM
I have external caddy and recovery software.. plug the drive in and leave it over night
gi.me a yell if i can help.
Title: Re: Data recovery
Post by: BigJules on February 06, 2016, 05:40:49 PM
I reckon you'll be going back to the guys you saw and calling them on their BS. Were they trying to extort a large sum of money to fix it?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: Data recovery
Post by: noel_w on February 06, 2016, 05:47:32 PM
I reckon you'll be going back to the guys you saw and calling them on their BS. Were they trying to extort a large sum of money to fix it?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
X2. If the drive is still alive it should be recoverable. Have done this myself numerous times.
Title: Re: Data recovery
Post by: V8CRSA on February 06, 2016, 05:58:48 PM
I reckon you'll be going back to the guys you saw and calling them on their BS. Were they trying to extort a large sum of money to fix it?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nah they just charged me $60 and said they couldn't do it........I didn't think it was gunna be some thing too hard to do either
Title: Re: Data recovery
Post by: MarkVS on February 06, 2016, 06:09:17 PM
Guys,
Any chance that is one of the WD USB desktop backup drives....that come with password and hardware encryption.... Which would explain why the techs thought it was in an unusual format ???

Just a thought

MarkVS
Title: Re: Data recovery
Post by: D4D on February 06, 2016, 06:12:32 PM
Any chance that is one of the WD USB desktop backup drives....that come with password and hardware encryption.... Which would explain why the techs thought it was in an unusual format ???

That's a very good thought and would explain why the techs couldn't find any file systems on it.
Title: Re: Data recovery
Post by: plusnq on February 06, 2016, 06:20:10 PM
http://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=17398 (http://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=17398)
Title: Re: Data recovery
Post by: V8CRSA on February 06, 2016, 06:25:17 PM
Guys,
Any chance that is one of the WD USB desktop backup drives....that come with password and hardware encryption.... Which would explain why the techs thought it was in an unusual format ???

Just a thought

MarkVS

I don't know about the encryption, but the rest sounds about right.
Title: Re: Data recovery
Post by: bobnrob on February 06, 2016, 06:25:36 PM
Guys,
Any chance that is one of the WD USB desktop backup drives....that come with password and hardware encryption.... Which would explain why the techs thought it was in an unusual format ???

Just a thought

MarkVS

Also, was the drive being used at the time of fall....even just plugged into a running puter?
If yes, also good chance the head has damaged the platter(s)  :(
Title: Re: Data recovery
Post by: D4D on February 06, 2016, 06:26:10 PM
Reading that thread above, I hope the techs didn't destroy that PCB as you're going to need it to recover the data.
Title: Re: Data recovery
Post by: MarkVS on February 06, 2016, 06:27:19 PM
Reading that thread above, I hope the techs didn't destroy that PCB as you're going to need it to recover the data.

I suggest, based on that thread, that is the only option for recovery.
Title: Re: Data recovery
Post by: Bird on February 06, 2016, 08:47:58 PM
If its not encrypted, you should be able to go to MSY and buy a USB SATA dock for bout $50 and just stick the drive in the dock, the USB into another machine and use it as another drive.. It would be a start.'

But chances are it would need a touch more love.

As I said earlier, I have some Data Recovery Software I could give ya to try, or get it to me in Blackburn at work, and I'll do it for you.
Title: Re: Data recovery
Post by: V8CRSA on February 06, 2016, 10:14:56 PM

So having a good look at the pub it appears that the plug for the USB lead has completely broken off, and I don't have it.
It looks like this pcb is needed to make it work if I understand correctly ? Is it gunna be a simple as fitting a new socket for a USB lead or am I in a lot more trouble ?
I don't really have a great grasp of all this stuff........
Title: Re: Data recovery
Post by: xcvator on February 06, 2016, 10:19:05 PM
Just give it to Bruce, if it ain't fecked before he gets it it will be afterwards  ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: Data recovery
Post by: firefox on February 07, 2016, 06:38:53 AM
More then likely a Linux partition on it... Not uncommon on these devices and the small card runs an smb share the exposes the drive to Windows.

Do you have a Linux machine you can get a caddy and plug it into. More then likely it will just fire up.
I have a few forensics tools we can use to recover it, shouldn't be that hard.
If D4d can't help I'll be in Melbourne cbd this week Monday to Wednesday
Title: Re: Data recovery
Post by: MrCruza on February 07, 2016, 09:31:11 AM
One option if it is hardware encrypted, WD produced a whole lot of these external enclosures using the same encryption keys, so recovery could be as simple as getting hold of an identical enclosure and swapping your drive into it.
Not guaranteed though..
Title: Re: Data recovery
Post by: Bird on February 07, 2016, 12:25:19 PM
This may help
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2053119 (http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2053119)

http://superuser.com/questions/959345/western-digital-hdds-not-showing-up-in-a-docking-station-while-others-do (http://superuser.com/questions/959345/western-digital-hdds-not-showing-up-in-a-docking-station-while-others-do)


Otherwise, if the end of your drive looks like this (http://www.build-your-own-cheap-computer.com/images/sata-hard-drive.jpg)
and neither of the sections are damaged all you need is this and another computer to connect it to with USB (https://files.pccasegear.com/images/6619US3-BK-th.jpg)

https://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=28348&cPath=288&utm_source=googlebase&utm_medium=cse&utm_campaign=export_feed&gclid=CNmD7t7L5MoCFZOSvQodkccHUw&gclsrc=aw.ds#googlebase (https://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=28348&cPath=288&utm_source=googlebase&utm_medium=cse&utm_campaign=export_feed&gclid=CNmD7t7L5MoCFZOSvQodkccHUw&gclsrc=aw.ds#googlebase)

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/290357-32-dock-question (http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/290357-32-dock-question)