New Problem

[hby]

Hey Guys,

 

All is well !!!!!!!!! Many many THANKS to you all. I also learned more about Vista in the process.

 

I do have another situation/problem that you may have suggestions. A while back I had a 500GB Western Digital IDE external drive go bad with a ton of home videos. I was lucky in that my Son's laptop w/vista basic could read the drive when my desktop w/XP Pro could not. Was able to copy all files to another drive. Now another son has the same type drive with yes a ton of movies/pictures of his kids. He has a desktop w/XP Pro. I've tried my XP desktop and my Vista laptop with no success. A couple of times we did see the drive come up (in Windows Explorer) as 500GB-1 (the name we gave it). Otherwise comes up w/ Local name. Zero files show in Local. I didn't think to try to copy when 500GB-1 appeared. Now unable to get back to it. Is there a utility I can use? My local computer store will check it out for $85 per hour. We will do this if I can't come up with anything else.

 

These situations lead me to what to I do to make sure we don't loose more in the future. I now store my 20+ years of video/pictures on a external 1.5TG Seagate FreeAgant. I suppose I could check out online storage. Any other ideas?

 

Thanks again for your support and help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[d_deweywright]

A couple of times we did see the drive come up (in Windows Explorer) as 500GB-1 (the name we gave it). Otherwise comes up w/ Local name. Zero files show in Local. I didn't think to try to copy when 500GB-1 appeared. Now unable to get back to it. Is there a utility I can use? My local computer store will check it out for $85 per hour. We will do this if I can't come up with anything else.

 

These situations lead me to what to I do to make sure we don't loose more in the future. I now store my 20+ years of video/pictures on a external 1.5TG Seagate FreeAgant. I suppose I could check out online storage. Any other ideas?

 

Thanks again for your support and help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've successfully used a utility called, "RecoverMyFiles", but this assumes that the drive is at least spinning and recognized as a drive (even if not the name you gave it). Standard disclaimer: I have no affiliation with the company that makes this software except as a satisfied user, and receive no remuneration for mentioning it here.

 

Now, my next question is, what makes you more comfortable using a Seagate FreeAgent drive as a backup? For photos in particular, I'd suggest adding yet another level of backup such as writing them to DVD or CD as well. My backup strategy is similar, keep two copies of the picture files on different physical drives, then occasionally write them to optical media too. As has been said elsewhere, it's not a case of "if" you'll lose data on a drive, it's "when".

 

Good luck!

[hby]

DVD & CD are ok for pictures but way to small for my videos. ie a 30-60 minute video captures to many > 8GBs. I film my kids and grandkids events (ball games,,,etc) and build DVDs for their familys to enjoy. I also have 30 year old super 8 and 8mm family tapes. I'm capturing them before the tapes go bad.

 

Thanks.....

[Brendon]

Western Digital drives are usually very good, in fact I prefer them over all other brands for reliability. The fact that this external could be read by one machine but not by another would make me suspect that the interface in the external caddy might be going bad, rather than the drive itself.

 

I have seen half a dozen external caddies where the filter capacitors have gone bad - usually due to the heat inside but also there were some poorly-made, cheap capacitors in the market a couple of years back and they fail quickly. I have photos of the bulging caps that failed.

 

In each case where the interface went bad or failed completely, replacing the large value filter capacitors brought the box back to life.

 

Now, I'm not suggesting that you jam a soldering iron between your teeth and dive into unchartered territory to fix the interface yourself, but if you have valuable data on the drive you should try moving it to a newer external caddy or connecting it as an extra drive inside the computer before you write off the drive as faulty.

 

As long as you haven't damaged the drive by dropping the external case, you should be pleasantly surprised by the result.

[REDWAGON]

Another file recovery program that you might consider is "RescuePro Deluxe" I have used it very successfully even on memory sticks that you use in your digital camera. Recovered almost all of the files on a memory stick that I ahd deleted the file on.

 

Also, there are several different kinds of hardware that you can use to connect between computers and HD's (IDE to IDE; IDE to SATA; and SATA to SATA) to recover lost files. I have one that has a "Vantec" name. I have used it to transfer files from one bad drive to another good drive also.

 

As suggested by another guru, I have no affiliation with either of these suggested program or hardware, but have used them with much success. btw, I do three kinds of BU's for my personal files--Copy to another internal slave drive; copy to another external drive and burn data discs (DL) of all these same files. One can never be to careful about personal files, especially ones of the years of family photos, video and other personal stuff.

 

Frank...