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[craft]

null

[dcwebman]

Sorry to hear that. I guess that shows that regardless, you always need to have a backup of that library. I haven't tried one of those enclosures but is it possible to take the hard drive out of there and try it in another hard drive enclosure to see if you can access the files there? That would at least eliminate the connection as a possible problem and determine if it's just a hard drive problem.

[JimH]

Put it in the freezer for 1/2 an hour and then try it.  I'm serious. 

[bob]

Make sure the internal ATA cable didn't just come loose then I'd give it one try of the freezer method and if it works pull the stuff off as fast as possible. If not, you've probably lost a head. Don't run it much if you want to try data recovery, the more you run it the more damage you'll get. In the past I've successfully moved platters over to an identical HD but the current crop of HD's are much more difficult to do this on at home. Data recovery is usually pretty pricey and not guaranteed. For this reason, I have at least 1 backup for my music.

[craft]

null

[dcwebman]

Instead of buying an identical model, you might want to consider adding something like this to your toolbox:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812619001

Then you can plug any hard drive in easily without having to mess with external enclosures for those quick changes.

[bob]

Nice, truly a hacker device!

[benn600]

I'm sorry to hear that.  I myself have purchased 11 (yes, eleven) 500 GB My Book drives and only had trouble with one.  Here's two stories with them:

1. I ordered three drives.  I was going to live with one 500 GB drive--I was upgrading from a compilation of 120, 80, and 40 GB drives!  It was a huge upgrade!  Then I started ripping to FLAC and noticed it filling up.  My goal originally was to have my data on three distinct drives.  Main drive with onsite and offsite backup.  Unfortunately, I started needing 2 and 3 drives.  I slowly added to my pile of My Book's.  I paid ranging from $255 for the first few to as low as $180--this purchasing span went from about July of last year to January of this year.  The problem I had was that I had all my data on all three drives and suddenly, one just quit working!  I couldn't turn it on or anything!  Luckily I had two identical copies but I'm positive I lost something--probably minor or just some folder cleanup that I have since accomplished.  But I ended up sending that drive in.  They didn't offer a SINGLE piece of advice or assistance for bringing the drive back online.

I'm thinking the USB part probably messed up and the SATA drive was probably fine but I didn't want to destroy the warranty and lose $200.

2. The second time was when I was copying data from my 500 GB My Book to my fresh software raid a while back.  My chair, while I was spinning, caught the cable hanging off the desk and very quickly forced the RUNNING drive onto its side--fast!  The drive actually shut off!  I'm thinking it sensed a jerk and then quickly slid the head to its safe location for the impact.  Luckily I still got my data back.

I guess your one of the few people that has the disappointing thread posting asking for help with a failed drive.  I always worried about a failed drive and couldn't even imagine how horrible that could be...it never really happened to me yet, though.  The two times I've had hard drive issues involved either simply backup data or system drives which didn't matter 'cause all my data is on the server.

Was it running when it fell?  If yes, I wonder if it shut off like mine did?  My drives were also the Essential edition (the cheap ones).  I guess the Premium edition isn't shock resistant.  If it fell two feet while running and didn't sense the drop--to save the head--then yes, that would be horrible.

I consider my music collection about as important as my other pictures and documents because, like you, I've spent a lot of time organizing it.  Still, if you have the MC database, save that!  You can possibly read through that to recreate your ratings and playlists.  I'd take the entire JR folder--including backups and the current library and burn it to CD now.  Burn everything you have to CD--database wise.

Since I hand scanned my cover art in and that isn't huge, I burnt it all to a DVD.  Re-ripping the CDs would suck. Re-scanning the cover art would suck even more.  Some of it required cleanup and some help to look good so I wouldn't want to redo all that.

I would also suggest taking it out of the enclosure and hooking it up directly via SATA and power.  I've opened my My Book's all at least once--some twice.  It is a pain but isn't horrible. I  always end up breaking some clips but don't really care.  Be a little careful since you're concerned with the drive!

Of my 11 My Book's and 6 external SATA 500 GB WD drives, I haven't had a single failure--remember that story #1 was probably just a USB board failure and not the drive.  It wouldn't even spin up the drive when the issue developed.

Keep us posted on your progress (if any) and I'll keep thinking about it.

[benn600]

BTW: if any of these methods ever get it running and you see data--be sure to have another drive READY to go and copy the data off.  Also, if it starts copying--amazingly enough, be aware that some of the data may be damaged so it may give you CRC check errors.  Be prepared to click OK to the error and work more on copying.  Or use a non-Windows copying program that won't stop on an error.

The most important issue is that you need another 500 GB drive ready to go because if it starts working and you have to run to the store--lol, uhh, no.

[jgreen]

DC, have you tried those cables?  They look great but it's not clear to me how you would get power to 3.5" drives.  I'm assuming 2.5" drives will self-power via the USB cable.  Also, can you hook two 2.5" drives up to the same cable?  If so, I think I'll get one and make a 2-node (2.5") DAS for my notebook.

[dcwebman]

DC, have you tried those cables?

I haven't tried that particular one but own 2 of the cables that just do IDE drives because they didn't have a SATA one at the time. The power is very easy because there's an A/C adapter that simply plugs into the back of the hard drive just as if you were plugging it into the power cable in a desktop computer or enclosure. Then the USB cable plugs in the back of the drive.

When I first learned about them, I had started compiling a box of small hard drives compared to today's sizes, like 10GB, 40GB, etc. What better and faster way to back up or move large amounts of data? I'm lucky I work at a computer company and started asking around for small hard drives that nobody wanted anymore and actually ended up with some 80GB's too. So now I've got a big supply of backup drives for those times when you want to back up, say some digital photos, but don't want to use DVD's because it would take more than one. Plus the shelf life is supposed to be better for hard drives too. Simply plug in a drive, back up, and set it on a shelf.

[KingSparta]

time to morn

Sounds like the head(s) have dropped on the platters.

What Jim Suggested "May" Pull The Heads Back Up And You Can Then Copy the Data To Another Dive And Hope You Can Salvage The Data.