Hello I have a 7200.7 barracuda that is failing.

When I try retrieving the files, the copying starts at a OK spped, then quickly slows down, then everything freezes.

I tried doing this in WinXP, live WinPE, tried using an external enclosure on different system and also tried Norton Ghost with the -FRO switch, and no luck.

Tried running chkdsk, it finds and fixes a few problems, but the above problems still continue.

I can still see the files, and open them, but there are obviousl damaged sectors that I do not know what to do about.

What can I do? I tried HDD regenerator which tries doing something, but then freezes (the HDD kinda stops responding after a while for some reason). As a very last resort I was thinking of spinrite, but I heard it can mess up your disk.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Stan

Hi,

First of all, you should try to image your drive, so you can get your data.
After that, you might use MHDD to check sectors of your drive and it's condition.

thx

trying to image with Ghost 11 or Acronis 11 gives me errors??? I have 2 partitions, I am trying to image the partition that has my documents, etc. Is there any way to ignore all errors on disk? I heard ddrescue does that (writes zeros for the error bits), but I do not have linux, nor do I know how to compile ddrescue or use it.

You can use ddrescue, or any other windows app, like r-studio, winhex, etc.

But if you do have valuable data on the drive, you should get your drive to a pro, so it would image your drive by hardware instead of by software, as you may have the chance to ruin it completely.

i did look into prices charged, and i'm afraid i'm not quite that rich

r-stuio also freezes after a while. It's not that the files are deleted however, I can mount the partition, see the files, etc, it is when I try copying the files that everything slows down, then hangs. Possibly the HDD encounters some bad sectors, then gets lost in it's own little world.

ideas?

Like we said you have to clone it first You will not get too far this way if you can not get a copy of that drive to another one. You need to work from copy. If you are not so rich to have a DR pro clone your drive there is other options for you such as purchasing a DC - DDI - Atola to do it yourself. You need an imger if you are having trouble to clone it with software. I would suggest that you try to use ddresuce on it and see if you can get it cloned this way

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Iorana Haraharaini

As other people say before, first of all try to do an image with a sector to sector image program. Try to identify te bad sectors or the bad zones and skip them.

See delays-found-hard-disk-t18034.html

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A backup a day keeps DR away.