Hey guys,

So recently Ive had a run of bad luck with an external HDD. I have a 2TB WD Essential (its got the WD20EARS Caviar Green inside it) and my friend tripped over the cord and it took a nice 2 foot drop onto a hard wood floor. It was, of course, in the middle of writing large amounts of data on the drive and naturally doesnt work anymore.

I tried multiple computers, multiple cords, and OSX, Windows, and Ubuntu and none would recognize the disk. I took the drive out, put it in an external enclosure, and it still wont read it. It isnt really making any terrible sounds, it starts to spin up and then stops after a few minutes.

I even tried putting it in the freezer for a few hours.

Nothing worked. So Im assuming this drive is boned (unless I want to spend hundreds/thousands of dollars on professional data recovery or someone here has a different miracle trick)


I am now seeking an alternative solution. I dont want to be caught with my pants down again. Money is a bit of a factor but I can maybe work with some give or take depending on overall cost/benefit.


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I have a Macbook Pro, mid 2010, MC374LL/A model that I put a 320gb WD black drive into. It is running OSX Mountain Lion
I have a WD MyBook 500gb external HD that I use for time machine backup.
I have a boned 2tb external that I need to replace and find a way to make redundant.

Options I am looking into:

1- Getting 2 2tb external hard drives, and setting them up so that one is storage, the other is an exact clone of the storage drive and makes regular backups (unsure what software, if any would be needed to set this feature up)

2- Getting 2 2gb internal hard drives with external enclosures and doing the same thing. (reason I am considering this is cost/reliability. Are internal drives cheaper/more reliable because I can choose which one?)

3-buy a new internal hard drive that is larger (1tb) and get a 2tb external drive to use as time machine backup/extra space for things that dont need to be backed up. Then Id use my 500gb external as a test machine drive.

I am open to any and all suggestions! Thanks again for all the help!

-axforts

hello these Caviar Green drives are a pain for failing or worse if they are dropped
crap
that why they call them the green versions

when you say its making a terrible sounds what type of sound
like a scratching noise or motor stuck.

in a way internal drives are better if you got a good power supply in the pc system
and also a drive like to be kept cool for it to run perfect.

at less you wont be dropping the drives if they are inside the unit.

where external drives are ok but they are more likely to fail
because there not a lot of air flow in those cases
and your more likely to drop them from a bookcase or drop on the floor

It makes like a clicking sound but only once or twice then the drive shuts down.

Thanks for the reply!

Freezing the disk is never a good thing. The internet is the world's biggest bullshit generator and full of erroneous nonsense.

_________________
On a clear disk you can seek forever.

Yea I had read on a bunch of other forums and websites that freezing the drive can sometimes help...i put it in a ziploc with silica gel packets and after about 2 hours put it in the freezer for about 3 hours. didnt know it was a bad thing.

So what I think im going to do it buy the hitachi hard drive for my laptop

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822145875

And then get a 2tb hard drive to put in this enclosure.

http://www.amazon.com/Rosewill-RX-358-V ... B004AA4E8K

any reccomendations for a cost-effective drive to use inside the enclosure