Hi,

I recently purchased a WD Green 1.5TB drive. It was working fine for a couple of weeks then started spontaneously disconnecting from Windows 7. I've since pulled the drive from my tower and tried on several computers using either an eSata cable or a SATA to USB adaptor I have. When using eSata I can see that the drive, while remaining visible, has its volume unmounted. I can restore it from within Drive Management by taking the drive offline then back online, or physically disconnecting and reconnecting the drive. But within a few minutes it will get unmounted again.

If I use the SATA to USB adaptor the drive/volume doesn't disappear, but after a few minutes it basically stops responding. I suspect the same thing is happening but the adaptor isn't smart enough to report exactly what's going on or properly remount the drive.

When I do plug it in Windows 7 says I should check the disk for errors but I can't get through the chdksk process before the drive becomes inaccessible so after getting partway through the chkdsk it just hangs indefinitely until I disconnect the drive.

I've also tried to copy data to another drive but the disconnect frequency seems to be getting worse and I pretty much can't get through a whole file before it disconnects and leaves explorer hanging indefinitely (or until I disconnect).

WD is sending me a new drive. Not sure when it will arrive and I'll need it to have enough space to copy the contents of the defective drive. But I'm wondering if there's any software or other technique I can use to actually copy the data off the drive? Since I can't necessarily copy whole files, I was wondering if there's something that will create a drive image, but that's sophisticated enough to keep track of where it is and automatically take the drive offline and back online then continue once it stops responding? Or at least something that will continue from where it was when I manually disconnect and reconnect the drive?

Thanks!

Robocopy is good... built into Windows 7 & will resume copying from where it stopped

or Richcopy might work too.

Thanks, I'll give those a try when I get my new drive.

What happens with Robocopy if the drive disconnects while copying a file, though? If I reconnect the drive, will it actually continue?

Also, is it likely that Linux or OS X cold hold onto the drive any better? If so, is there any live Linux distro with an easy to use data copying util?

Thanks

You could try Ycopy http://www.ruahine.com/ It's simple and may help you under win7

Linux will not be so easy if you don't know what you are doing.

You could try knoppix or Ubuntu Linux Lve CD's. I don't use live CD distro's myself .

the DD command in Linux is easy to use . link below to a wiki page on it

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dd_(Unix)


Or if using Debian

http://www.debianhelp.co.uk/ddcommand.htm

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All went well until I plugged the drive in.

Okay, thanks for the suggestions.

This can manage disconnecting drive it will reset and retry
http://clonezilla.org/
freezer spray might also help a lot in your case.

What is "freezer spray"?

WD seems to have a backorder on drives so I don't know when I'll actually get my replacement...

Thanks.

yes -50c freezer spray
http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=29004


It helps loose connection or some other electronic diffects temporaly while you make a copy
you may use it to find if there is any hot or deffective component on hdd pcb too
for cases like head jam because of hdd over heat(not your case)
its also someting very cheap to try.
other uses includes not limitted to..
spraying it over the bottle to have a instant cool drink while your data being copied .

just worth the try in some cases dont expect too much

Interesting. I think I'll try out that spray if I can find it in Canada. Would you spray it over the top or bottom (PCB) or both? It does seem like it gets worse over time, although I've decided not to play with it again until I get my replacement drive, so it's posible thee is an overheating problem. I was thinking of putting the drive in a plastic bag then putting an ice pack above and below the drive to keep it cool while attempting the data extraction.

Thanks.

haha, love it

Seriously though, DO NOT TRY THIS!!

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Data Recovery Ireland

I know about refrigerator jock but I was serious on this one.
If you got old and not useable drive you may try it.

Its available in any electronic repair shop .
http://www.miller-stephenson.com/?gclid ... 4wodzRkRpg

_________________
You don't have to backup all of your files, just the ones you want to keep.

freezy spary can do more problems in this case.

Additionally there is more thing wich needs to be noted.
The re-initialising drive can screw up the SA during the cloning force.
This is why should be handled by a pro....
pcb replaced, reprogrammed, and everithing runs smoothly...


Janos

Thats very funny

_________________
All went well until I plugged the drive in.

"SA"?

The data on the drive would be very nice to get back, but it isn't crucial. I suspect replacing the PCB would fix the problem, but I haven't found a professional that will do it for less than around $350 and it just goes up from there if things get more complicated. While I'd be willing to spend that if I really needed the data, I just can't afford to spend that right now on data that would be nice but not necessary. I did just pick up a Windows Home Server so I now have a much better backup solution for my really crucial data. For the recovery of what's on the defective drive, I'll just go it alone and hope for the best. If I can't get the data out I can live with that. But it's worth a try. I'll use the spray as a last attempt of nothing else works. At that point I'll have nothing to lose anyway...

Thanks.

If you read Magritte with all the other choices rolled out the spray still worth the try.
Although I laugh my ass off drccsc
But I would like to change the jock atmosphere around refrigerator kind of stuff
It’s not all lacking reasons. but warn you its long.

1- All currently available electric computing devices and many other components
Works better in lower temp.for one of the many reason of this
Min energy needed to do the simplest computation for ex: bit erase (different from bit on hdd)
In most efficient way is E=ln(2)kT.
This is theatrical limit which current technology can never pass this.
ln(2) and K are constants and T is the temp. Of the component you can see that
The lower the T the device needs lesser energy to do the same job. This a physic law
For the most efficient possible device for others it’s many times more.

2-regarding mechanical part of hdd :
Everyone knows high temp. Will trigger smart alert.
While there is no such alert for lower limit. This is backed
With reason.

3-something like freezing will shrink platters to the point that it became out of alignment
Is complete nonsense .needed data for head to find the target in way adaptive is preset
Between sectors (many of you knows the device as servo writer)
These servo signals on platters will move head to target address .also because
Of limited head capability data is written in a way that makes it possible for head to differentiate the
Two different sectors. Data is NOT written as zero and one it’s written like music with more than just high charge and low charge then it knows which notes are zeros and which are ones and never 2 same note residing next to each other so head could take much more than platter can shrink and still read the data. It’s not applied to overheat for many reasons.however many people claim this would be an issue with freezing. As far as I know misalignment in amount of micron is only meaningful regarding cylinders of different platters.
4-also many electronic devices which considered as burnt in normal room temp
Still may work in very low temp.the reason is partly that defected internal parts (because of
Over heat) cannot bear the heat emitted by operation (E=ln(2)kT) however they may still operate on
Lower temp
Imagine a series of microscopic conductive parts in this series normally few of them will burn and makes
The series none functional. because good part are many times larger in number when you cool the component you increase the possibility for a signal to pass .heat will do the opposite regarding this
5- There is more about behavior of semiconductors in ram and rom components,... which I really
Don’t feel to make my post any longer than this.

About this topic in special cases which you need to run long read operation
it would be more helpful .for short reasoning run mhdd sector map save the count
of week sectors considering any more than best as weak
Spray the drive run and count again

I’m not a recovery expert and my reasonning might be short sighted but still I don’t know any specific
Situation which use of anti static freezer spray would cause serious harm in data recovery process

Polite experts with different view are welcome to share.
Others please forgive and ignore my post.
However drccsc :still very funny
I wish I could do my answer as short and meaningful.lmao

"SA"?
.[/quote]
Service Area ,a place on hard drive which used as storage for data and code it needs for operation.

.......



It’s generally true, but not a practical practice in this case.

Additionally I don’t see re-initializing more harmful than a normal
Start stop and so can be done to the drive limit for start /stop count.

The disapearing/reappering drive usually caused by pcb failure, like MCU restart or freezed.
In this case i have seen sometimes the drive "forget" to park the heads and the heads was stucked on the platters....
Additionally re-initialisation just like normal initialisation DOES write attempts into the SA.
And you can't be sure about the drive will no restart DURING the SA write attempts....
This is why more dangerous.
You can play with these type of drives, but if someting wents wrong, the prices is doubled or tripled or more worse...

Janos