Need some computer HELP

VegasJogger · May 15, 2011

I have an old external hard drive with years of family pictures, videos and important docs

it has been close to year since I have updated it. went to update today and it is completely blank! ##)

the drive still works, was able to put new files on and remove, without a problem but is there a way to recover the lost data? Have no idea of how or when it was erased

Murphy8276 · May 16, 2011

dont quote me on this. but if it was erased by someone phyiscally erasing the drive or deleting the old files, I think u may be SOL sad to say.

if the external drive erased itself due to wear/tear/old age..etc then u may be able to recover the files by cloning the hard-drive onto another drive. but more than likely someone must have deleted the files for a reason? I am sorry about your loss either way.

-murph

1cheater · May 16, 2011

Vegas Jogger said:
I have an old external hard drive with years of family pictures, videos and important docs

it has been close to year since I have updated it. went to update today and it is completely blank! ##)

the drive still works, was able to put new files on and remove, without a problem but is there a way to recover the lost data? Have no idea of how or when it was erased

Look in your local phone book or online for computer data recovery; it will cost you, but you can recover what ever was erased as long as it wasn't written over (aka rendered unrecoverable) Best Buy will charge you around $80-? to recover deleted stuff.

1cheater · May 16, 2011

Here's some links to data recovery software, some are free and some cost $

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Download <------this one is free and looks to be the best choice

http://blog.gadgettown.com/2010/12/30/how-to-recover-files-from-an-external-hard-drive/ <----------free?

http://www.remosoftware.com/recover-deleted-files-from-seagate-500gb-external-hard-drive <--------40$

VegasJogger · May 23, 2011

thanks for the tips guys. i ended up finding a free software called testdisk. worked perfectly. recovered files from waaay back, many that i didnt even want. excited to get it all back though. had some of a few family members that passed away. priceless and irreplaceable stuff

celticGreen+ · May 24, 2011

lucky

good for you.

for future reference, in case folks search & find this thread, my understanding is that as long as the data isn't copied over (ie: even if you erase files, or format the drive) the data is usually still there. this is because the "files" we see in Windows (or, whatever OS) are just pointers or references to the data, so when you erase files you're erasing access to the data - but not the data itself. BUT, once that space is re-allocated, you're SOL.

wolfie_cr · May 24, 2011

celticGreen said:
lucky good for you.

for future reference, in case folks search & find this thread, my understanding is that as long as the data isn't copied over (ie: even if you erase files, or format the drive) the data is usually still there. this is because the "files" we see in Windows (or, whatever OS) are just pointers or references to the data, so when you erase files you're erasing access to the data - but not the data itself. BUT, once that space is re-allocated, you're SOL.

you are correct BUT the data is normally in bad shape after you try to (if you can) recover it, filenames and many other things are gone, many files will be unreadable etc etc

backups is the only solution guys

VegasJogger · Jun 1, 2011

wolfie_cr said:
you are correct BUT the data is normally in bad shape after you try to (if you can) recover it, filenames and many other things are gone, many files will be unreadable etc etc

backups is the only solution guys

you are correct. backups are the only way. as i started going through the files many are corrupt and only recovered about 40% of the data. which is better than recovering nothing

1cheater · Jun 1, 2011

Vegas Jogger said:
you are correct. backups are the only way. as i started going through the files many are corrupt and only recovered about 40% of the data. which is better than recovering nothing

Another tip: Keep your computer clean and uncluttered by doing disk defragmentations/clean up. If you install and uninstall a lot of programs it leaves a lot of clutter behind. This clutter can make it harder to recover files after you delete them. The more crap builds up, the more corrupted files you will have, hence lowering the % of files recoverable. Now, I do believe everything on your computer is recoverable, but this takes a good amount of time and know how and would cost you a pretty penny.