Has my external backup disc died?

When i try to open it I get this message: "Not accessible, cyclic redundancy check"

Any way of fixing this?

Is there a way to get the data off it?

thanks to all.

a reply to: Azureblue

Is it a CD, DVD, USB, or hard drive? What type of device? Make model, ect...

a reply to: Azureblue
CRC means it is failing a data integrity check.Probably bad sectors or part of disk.
Windows ? Your only hope would to be run a check disk on it.(and hope at least some was not corrupted.)
Data recovery is very expensive still.

a reply to: Azureblue

A simple trick that sometimes works is changing the drive letter designation. IE if your external drive is drive "E" - rename it to another letter that isn't in use already.

If that doesn't work, open a command prompt and type "chkdsk E: /f /r" - substituting the correct drive letter for the "E" in my example.

If the HDD is failing get the program: Spinrite by Steve Gibson. It has saved a ton of failing HDDs, will make it possible to recover information as well.

a reply to: Azureblue

Not an expert! I used to run a partitioned drive with Ubuntu on one side and Windows7 on the other.

An external drive died and couldn't be read on the W7 OS. The Ubuntu OS could read it and I was able to move whatever I wanted to a stable drive. Incidentally, I left behind a bunch of podcasts that can't be replaced and I've been sulking about it ever since.

You could try the latest live Ubuntu disc. Burn it to a disc and see if your drive will show up.

originally posted by: BIGPoJo
a reply to: Azureblue

Is it a CD, DVD, USB, or hard drive? What type of device? Make model, ect...

Apologies, its a hard disc

thanks

a reply to: Azureblue

It should be able to fail and not stress you out. It's the backup drive. Meant to hold a second copy of your data that is still on the computer. If you were storing data on your backup disk then it was not a backup. You needed a backup of you "backup".

I'm going to assume the backup drive is an external and not just a second partition( you would be surprised how many backup to the same physical drive they are backing up to). Unplug it and power it off and try it on another computer. If you can get your data, copy it onto another drive. Like others have said, Linux can sometimes read drives that windows cannot. Also, sometimes it is the USB/external SATA device controller that is failing and not the actual hard drive. In that case, you can remove the hard drive from the USB enclosure and install into a computer as a SATA connection.
I also don't advise running lots of disk check utilities, or keep it plugged in running. The more you wear it out the less likely you will be able to do data recovery on it.

a reply to: Azureblue

My Disc is an external WD disc and I run win 7 Home edition. I would not normally worry but it contains some sensitive data that is not on the source partition.

all good input people, thanks

try EasyUS Data recovery wizard.

www.easeus.com...

It's free if you like

a reply to: Azureblue

Sometimes the problem with an external drive is not actually the drive, but the USB interface and cables.

It takes a reasonable current to spin mechanical drive up and actuate the heads. A dodgy cable may supply enough to spin the drive up but may be intermittent causing CRC errors.

Also, there is only a single serial data interface. If connections are intermittent, CRC errors would occur.

It is possible to remove the drive from the enclosure and connect it directly to SATA cables on a desktop PC. If the problem is the USB interface, this bypasses that and will allow you to access your data. An additional advantage is that SATA is usually significantly faster than USB.

Should the drive still not give up its data, it may be a failure of components on the logic board of the HDD. If the drive spins up, and you can hear the heads seeking prior to powering back down, then the mechanics of the drive may be OK. If you buy exatly the same make, model and capacity HDD you may be able swap the logic board from the new drive onto the old drive and recover your data (note that it is important that the drives be almost identical, you can't use different drive geoetries and types). In a worst case scenario, the data may still not be recoverable by yourself but you do have the additional new HDD once the logic board has been replaced.

Of course, there are no guarantees but if you are careful you won't do damage. It is still wise to ensure the alignment of logic board/s is exactly right before tighteneing any screws.

ALL^^^^^^ good advice.

I had a western digital with accounting backup that was needed. This drive was in a nospin condition. I swapped the controller with an identical drive. I got spin but also your crc error. I discovered this drive had a calibration chip on the controller, u32 I think. Any how, I took the drive and donor controller to a recovery shop and they swapped the chip. All was good. Some drives can board swap some cant. What mfg do you have? I have lots of controllers. Worth a try.

We have paid for software at work that could repair, I would suggest downloading the free version of hard disk sentinel, checking the drive health and perhaps formatting the drive. Chkdsk would also be a good idea.

Lemme know how it pans out.

Generally a CRC check failing is not a good sign.

Being an external drive i'd first try it on another machine as sometimes the USB ports may not be able to power the drive.

Next i'd probably crack open the case and slap it directly into a machine and see what appears.

Assuming you didn't f--- something up slapping it in the machine perhaps getting a replacement board for the drive may be a possibility.

I'm always wary of the data recovery software as if its a physical problem like a stuck head etc it can mean the magnetic coating of the drive can be stripped leaving no chance as it tries 1000's of time to read some sector.

The specialist data recovery companies are not cheap but some do a price per mb/gb.

originally posted by: ttropia
I had a western digital with accounting backup that was needed. This drive was in a nospin condition. I swapped the controller with an identical drive. I got spin but also your crc error. I discovered this drive had a calibration chip on the controller, u32 I think. Any how, I took the drive and donor controller to a recovery shop and they swapped the chip. All was good. Some drives can board swap some cant. What mfg do you have? I have lots of controllers. Worth a try.

Sorry; whats a mfg?

a reply to: Maxatoria

Spot on.

Mfg.... Manufacturer

Make and model.
Seagate STxxxxxx

a reply to: Azureblue

Today I broke open the external hard disc and put the hard drive into my computer.

After the splash screen came up, this message came up"

'Reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot media and press a key.'

What does the message mean and where do I go from here?

I tried to boot into safe mode several times but to no avail.


Thanks in advance to all.

What sort of connector does it have SATA or P/ATA (IDE) ?

Check your bios to see the boot order and that the drives properly detected as it may be trying to boot of that disk first which will have no bootloader and complains but it should normally boot onto the normal drive but if the boot orders mucked up it might need a few moments to sort it out.