Unreadable files on a troubled external HDD

[hammerhead]

Hi everyone. I'm hoping one of you very knowledgeable folks can help me retrieve a whole lot of data from a very troubled external hard drive

The drive's specs:
Seagate Backup Plus, 5TB, Model: SRD00F1, P/N: 2AWAP6-500, S/N: NA7TR4AZ

The problems started with the drive randomly dismounting from the computer for several weeks

Then it stabilized for several weeks (I know, I should have backed-up right then and there. But I didn't, so that's why I'm here. To be fair, I thought I had most of the data already backed-up. I was mistaken.)

Finally, it shutdown (bricked); would not power up.

I removed the casing and replaced the SATA-to-USB adapter. And it works (sorta). It works with a SATA-to-USB2.0 adapter but does not work with a SATA-to-USB3.0 adapter.

I tried to copy all of the files to another disk. About half copied but the other half would not copy due to errors.
"Interrupted Action:
an unexpected error is keeping you from copying the file. If you continue to receive this error, you can use the error code to search for help with this problem.
Error 0x80070057: The parameter is incorrect."

Next, I tried to move all of the files to yet another disk. The same files that had copied moved, but again about half (2TB+) would not move due to errors.
"Interrupted Action;
an unexpected error is keeping you from copying the file. If you continue to receive this error, you can use the error code to search for help with this problem.
Error 0x80070057: The parameter is incorrect."

The files are mostly videos (of a variety of formats: mp4, m4v, mov, avi, flv, wmv, mkv, mts, vob, mpg, etc.) greater than 60MB and about a dozen jpg images (there were tens of thousands of jpg images that did copy/move).

Windows 10 cannot make thumbnail previews of the files. It does show file properties, but some information is missing such as: video length, frame width, frame height, data rate, total bitrate, frame rate, audio bit rate, channels, and sample rate

No program is able to read them:
Media Player Classic (64-bit) says "Cannot render the file"
Windows 10 Movies & TV App says "Can't play"
VLC says "Your input can't be opened: VLC is unable to open the MR"

Recovery software (Disk Drill, Recoverit, Recuva, EaseUS) do not find the files. They find the files that were moved, but not the ones still on the drive.
Hetman File Repair 1.1 says "stream read error" when trying to view the jpegs.
One program did find them, but couldn't read them in order to recover them.

When I ran Check Disk (which took hours):
chkdsk p: /r
"...
detected in file 2CD76 of name \Misc\DOWNLO~1\2017\NID4BF~1.MP4.
A disk read error occurredc000000d
The disk does not have enough space to replace bad clusters
detected in file 2CD7A of name \Misc\DOWNLO~1\2017\SPECS_~1.MP4.
185328 files processed.
File data verification completed.

Stage 5: Looking for bad, free clusters ...
549464958 free clusters processed.
Free space verification is complete.
An unspecified error occurred (6e74667363686b2e 155c)."

With so many files all going bad at once, what's going on? Is it a physical problem with the drive? It doesn't make any noises. Virus/malware scans reveal nothing.

Booo.

[ddrecovery]

This is a physical issue. My advice would be to stop trying to access the files as you may be doing more damage to the drive and making your data unrecoverable. Take the drive to a professional for evaluation.

[pcimage]

Drive media is failing rapidly, by the sound of it.

Running chkdsk was a bad move

If data isn’t important then AT YOUR RISK you could try cloning with something like hddsuperclone or ddrescue to a good drive. Then run some DR software on the clone. But be aware there is a chance that the drive could fail catastrophically and PERMANENTLY during a DIY procedure like this.

But if your data is worth a few hundred bucks, then seek assistance from a DR company.

[hammerhead]

Thanks for your advice everyone!

As I was contemplating whether or not these data were worth the risk, I received shipment of a new SATA-to-USB3.0 adapter that I had ordered at the beginning of the week (when I was hoping that would be the solution). I figured I would plug it in just to see what would happen, and holy cow you guys. Boom! There it was, all my files in perfect condition, not corrupted at all. I started copying them to a healthy drive right away and the job finished in less than 12 hours. No errors.

Feeling pretty blessed. I'm gonna start backing-up that new drive today. And revisit my back-up habits for all my data.

Peace

[pcimage]

Wow! That’s great news!

Go and buy yourself a lottery ticket