Data Recovery on Failed/Failing External Hard Drives

[nafroe]

Wasn't sure where to put this thread... so I put it right here! Hopefully this is a good spot for it.

I have two external USB hard drives... both failing simultaneously... These are hard drives used to store some fun little projects you all most likely already know about. I've plugged both hard drives in to other computers to make sure that the issue is not computer-specific. It is indeed a hard drive issue.

My question is this: Is there a good way to recover the data on my own? Is this something that I would need to pay for? What methods have you all used in situations like this?

One hard drive is a Seagate 2TB and the other is a Western Digital.

Any help would be appreciated!

[deleted user]

With a bit of luck only the USB controller is damaged. You can try removing them from the casing and plugging them directly into the computer - or another casing. The problem is that, to my knowledge, some of these controllers scramble the hard drive data so that this cannot be done. Some of the WD externals are known to do that. This isn't a problem when you just want to plug it into your computer and reformat - but it is a problem when you want to actually read what's on it.

[FrankT]

Are they making weird, rhythmic scratching noises? I've lost several drives due to that. I'm told they work on other computers though...

[nafroe]

Are they making weird, rhythmic scratching noises? I've lost several drives due to that. I'm told they work on other computers though...

No noises whatsoever. My computers (new and old) just aren't recognizing them any more.

[BronzeTitan]

Maybe a stuck head? It would prevent the disks from spinning . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfDecirua_0

. . and you might like to search YouTube for other symptoms and solutions.

[Colek]

They still would show up in system, it's propably board on HDD that has died.