edsager
asked on
Hard drive gone bad; which is better: SpinRite 6.0 or HDD Generator 2011
My hard drive went bad. It did it with no symptoms until about 16 hours prior to total uselessness.
I purchased an external (USB) HDD kit and connected my nearly dead Western Digital 500 GB hard drive and voila, Windows can see that a drive is present, but I cannot access it.
I get CRC and bad sector errors. Yes, it clicks a bit. When I tried to initialize the disk (and even with HDD Generator 2011), it shows that my drive is about 11 PetaBytes in size (that might have been really cool if that were truly the case).
The info on this disk was only partially backed up because it did not contain mission-critical files. Of course, if I had to purchase some of the software which I downloaded and saved on this bad drive, it would cost several hundred dollars because the software vendors for many of the titles no longer make the version I purchased and will not allow a download of previous versions.
I downloaded the Trial of HDD Generator 2011 and it is in a pre-scan and has found bad sectors.
I have not yet used Spinrite because I need to purchase it and coming up with $90 is not the easiest thing to do right now. Plus, it looks like Spinrite has not been update for a few years. The home page has not been updated since May 23, 2010.
Does anyone have experience with either or both of these programs?
What do you recommend?
Is Spinrite still "the PC industry's #1 mass storage data recovery & maintenance
software[?]"
I am willing to accept loss of files so long as I at least do what I can to get the information/executables off the bad drive.
Thank you,
edsager
I purchased an external (USB) HDD kit and connected my nearly dead Western Digital 500 GB hard drive and voila, Windows can see that a drive is present, but I cannot access it.
I get CRC and bad sector errors. Yes, it clicks a bit. When I tried to initialize the disk (and even with HDD Generator 2011), it shows that my drive is about 11 PetaBytes in size (that might have been really cool if that were truly the case).
The info on this disk was only partially backed up because it did not contain mission-critical files. Of course, if I had to purchase some of the software which I downloaded and saved on this bad drive, it would cost several hundred dollars because the software vendors for many of the titles no longer make the version I purchased and will not allow a download of previous versions.
I downloaded the Trial of HDD Generator 2011 and it is in a pre-scan and has found bad sectors.
I have not yet used Spinrite because I need to purchase it and coming up with $90 is not the easiest thing to do right now. Plus, it looks like Spinrite has not been update for a few years. The home page has not been updated since May 23, 2010.
Does anyone have experience with either or both of these programs?
What do you recommend?
Is Spinrite still "the PC industry's #1 mass storage data recovery & maintenance
software[?]"
I am willing to accept loss of files so long as I at least do what I can to get the information/executables off the bad drive.
Thank you,
edsager
Anglo
Have you tried the WD Data Lifeguard. I use spinrite and it is good and has fixed quite a few disks but is not the answer to every problem. See if you can do a diagnostic read test over the disk first.
ASKER
Angio:
Thank you for your reply. Yes, I did use it. I tried the quick and extended tests and both came back within 2 seconds as, "PASSED."
For what sorts of problems did you use Spinrite? Do you know the last time it was updated? Is it still the best for mass storage data recovery?
Thank you,
edsager
Another interesting fact: did you know that my bad disk apparently has more than 72 quadrillion sectors?
Thank you for your reply. Yes, I did use it. I tried the quick and extended tests and both came back within 2 seconds as, "PASSED."
For what sorts of problems did you use Spinrite? Do you know the last time it was updated? Is it still the best for mass storage data recovery?
Thank you,
edsager
Another interesting fact: did you know that my bad disk apparently has more than 72 quadrillion sectors?
ASKER
Ooops! I meant Anglo, not Angio. Thank you Anglo.
Try a chkdsk /r first. Spinrite functionality is at such a basic machine code level I do not see how it can be improved. My version is still the latest. I use it when chkdsk /r fails to fix any bad blocks it finds.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
i'd advise you to go to the some kind of data-recovery firms. Because - you can make data on disk totaly unreadable. And it would be no good, i think
go to the specialists in that question.
Becauthe it thin ice.
go to the specialists in that question.
Becauthe it thin ice.
I would recommend GetDataBack, like dbrunton. It costs nothing to see if it can detect your files, so you only pay for it if you want to save what it found. It also does not make any changes on your original disk, so it won't make things worse if it fails.
ASKER
I tried GetDataBack for NTFS V4.21 and it told me I had the wrong product and that I needed to get the product for FAT.
I then used GetDataBack for FAT V4.21 and it told me I had the wrong product and that I needed to get the product for NTFS.
It could not see my data.
The HDD Regenerator 2011 ran all night and found many bad sectors. The trial allows only for one sector to be repaired, if such a repair is possible. After running the repair, one sector was repaired.
On the HDD Regenerator 2011 website it states:
"If the first found bad sector has been successfully regenerated, you can buy the product to regenerate all bad sectors on your hard drive. If the first bad sector has NOT been successfully regenerated, then replace your hard disk drive as soon as possible. "
Anyone have any experience with this HDD Regenerator 2011 and can give their experience whether the above statement they make on their website is true?
Thank you,
edsager
I then used GetDataBack for FAT V4.21 and it told me I had the wrong product and that I needed to get the product for NTFS.
It could not see my data.
The HDD Regenerator 2011 ran all night and found many bad sectors. The trial allows only for one sector to be repaired, if such a repair is possible. After running the repair, one sector was repaired.
On the HDD Regenerator 2011 website it states:
"If the first found bad sector has been successfully regenerated, you can buy the product to regenerate all bad sectors on your hard drive. If the first bad sector has NOT been successfully regenerated, then replace your hard disk drive as soon as possible. "
Anyone have any experience with this HDD Regenerator 2011 and can give their experience whether the above statement they make on their website is true?
Thank you,
edsager
ASKER
When looking at the data from HDD Regenerator 2011, it shows that it found Sectors 0-1 were bad, and it repaired Sector 2.
Thanks,
edsager
Thanks,
edsager
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
When my hard drive failed, I couldnt use any software to recover it, however I did in the end send it away to Vogon to recover the data. It was many years ago so cant remember the cost, however I can remember it was expensive, but if the data is worth more its probably better!
The website for Vogon has apparently now joined with OnTrack - http://www.ontrackdatarecovery.co.uk, but I belive they give a free quote anyways, so worth a try!
The website for Vogon has apparently now joined with OnTrack - http://www.ontrackdatarecovery.co.uk, but I belive they give a free quote anyways, so worth a try!
ASKER
Thank you all for your responses. I will be doing nothing for now and if I can come up with the money, I will get SpinRite and see what it can do, taking the 30-day money-back guarantee, if necessary.
I have not had time to do what dbrunton suggested, but I did download all parts to the suggestion.
Thank you all,
edsager
I have not had time to do what dbrunton suggested, but I did download all parts to the suggestion.
Thank you all,
edsager