I have been using an external Imation Apollo 500GB for some time, but recently it does not work and I cant seem to diagnose the issue.

When I plug it into the computer, Windows plays a 'beep' sound (ie the normal noise when something is plugged into the USB drive), but then the HD fails to show up in My Computer. Occasionally it does show up, but when I try opening it my whole computer crashes. Unplugging it allows my computer to resume and become unstuck from the crash.

Because of this, I cannot seem to run any programs that diagnose the HD. Either my computer doesn't recognize the HD or it does, but then causes my computer to crash.

Any ideas on how to solve this?

Thanks

From your description, there is a hardware problem - although the exact problem, severity and prognosis can't be diagnosed from your description.

If you are happy to accept the risks of DIY and your data is not valuable, then you could try to clone that disk using appropriate s/w (not Acronis, Ghost, Clonezilla etc.) before it deteriorates further (preferably with a direct (S)ATA connection to that "problem" disk - which will also eliminate any problem with the USB enclosure). Such cloning software can need additional technical skills, to get the best possible results. Judging by your previous posts (and the lack of previous replies by you), I think you probably need some local help with that e.g. a technical friend or, especially if the data is valuable, then a reputable DR company.

There is, of course, the risk that the more you "play with it", the worse the problem will get, until you have no alternative except the (then more expensive) services of a DR company.

Thanks for your reply.

Although I will admit I havent done this before, I am nonetheless very comfortable with computers - I have worked with hardware issues before - on an intermediate level I guess.

Could you please briefly describe what needs to be done to clone the drive? I can research it further from there. How do I connect to a drive that seems to be undetectable in Windows?

Thanks

This type of work isn't like most hardware issues, since a wrong decision by you in this work (or even just bad luck) can make data totally unrecoverable, even by DR companies. However if your data is not valuable, and you are willing to take the risk that you will change a recoverable situation into an unrecoverable one, then it's your choice...


You can look at some of the advice given in this thread, before I had to give up further assistance due to the level of help that user was requesting, along with significant communication problems:

need-help-recover-information-hitachi-hds721010cla33-t20250.html


But you said:



In fact the place you were looking for the drive to be recognised by Windows (My Computer) requires the drive to have a readable MBR and at least a partly readable filesystem. If the MBR or filesystem can't be read, then a drive letter won't be assigned and the drive won't appear in "My Computer" - but that doesn't mean that cloning is impossible. For cloning to have a chance, you just need the drive to appear in Windows "Disk Manager" (or in the BIOS list of drives).

Personally, if the data is not valuable, I use ddrescue running on Linux or Unix in this type of situation (since I work elsewhere in the data storage industry, and so I don't have easy access to DR-specific cloning equipment). However, as I'm seeing on this forum, ddrescue is probably overly complicated for many people who are not comfortable using Linux/Unix and who have not already had practice using it. Remember that cloning software can be complicated to use, and can't protect you from yourself e.g. you could clone your "blank" disk over the top of your "data" disk, instead of the other way around, and lose all your data!

[Edited to add: As I mentioned before, I would make sure the drive it attached via (S)ATA and not via USB. Experiences shows that USB-attached "problem" disks tend to have more problems being cloned, than when they are (S)ATA attached. So that will mean opening the enclosure (and therefore voiding the warranty). Of course you also need to have either enough free disk space in a filesystem (to make a clone into a file), or another blank disk (of at least the same size as this "problem" disk), to hold the clone (copy).]

Try to clone it to another drive.
Use DMDE or HDClone

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