Hi all,

I dropped my Toshiba External 1TB HDD and of course, cannot access it anymore, for it is corrupted. The drive appears in Explorer and sounds like it is running, but I can't open it. Recover and CHKDSK in cmd do not work.
I found heaps of programs that can create an image, but with a TB HDD, the destination drive has to be more than 1 TB, and I don't have one now.
now I don't want to recover everything on the drive, just a couple of important folders. Is it possible to create an image of only some folders? Does any software offers the option?
Thanks for your help.

mic

Most imagers don't pull specific data types but simple read an entire drive, sector by sector. That being said, some, like DeepSpar's imager can allow you, after the initial scan, to specify specific file types or locations to recover. However it is also a 4K dollar tool. You can try using data recovery software against it to scan it, if the drive is working, and then pull the data you need, but as a rule of thumb, you should never perform data recovery on the patient drive. Make an image of it and work with the image. That way if the drive goes out before data is recovered you're ok. Also, I'm sure that you know this, but you do not create an image, or restore recovered files, onto the patient drive. It must be onto a separate destination drive (not partition on the same drive). I've seen people do this and all it does is destroys data. Incidentally, on a very damaged drive chkdsk can cause data loss. One must be very careful on the types of tools one uses on a damaged drive.

Thanks for the reply.

Hmmmm...any thoughts as to why the drive is now "corrupted" after being dropped? It can only mean that the heads and/or media is bad and you are unlikely to have any success recovering any files without dealing with the physical issues first. If the data has any value at all, it is best to get it assessed at a professional lab before you completely kill any chance of further recovery.

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Luke
Recovery Force Donor Inventory: 5,000+ Fully Cataloged HDDs & Growing