[roebeet]

Tyson, I'm SO sorry to hear this. I know I would be devastated, if I were in your position.

I can't really add to what's already been written on backups, but I appreciate your words of wisdom to backup, regularly. But, I would like to add that a UPS is also a good investment - I've had two family members that came to me with failed drives recently, and both were the result of power surges / dips.

 

[evilking]

The police recover child pornography from drives that have nails hammered through them...


If the drive isn't completely vaporised, then you can get something back. Don't give up!



EK

 

[thread]

I forgot to mention that if the process doesn't work or you're not satisfied for any reason, Steve will let you have your full money back. Oh, and he built his own "e-store" that is very simple and quick. (And elegantly built from how he describes it.)

The drive may actually seem completely cured after the software runs.. and it may actually be -- especially if you re-run the software every few months. But replacing the drive wouldn't be a bad idea...

From the sheer volume of success stories, I would not be surprised in the least to hear that the $90 SpinRite literally solves your problem.

GRC*|*SpinRite 5.0 to 6.0**

 

[Gurck]

That sucks dude. Something similar happened to me not long ago. I back up too, but I wiped one of my drives to set up dual booting (had to repartition it). As I'm copying my music back from my backup drive to the newly partitioned drive, the backup just up & dies. I could have just reripped my music (and ended up having to do just that), but all the photos I've taken since getting my camera in '04 were on there too, and for some inexplicable reason I was too effing stupid to back them up to dvd or my other computer... $80 later and I have them back, as well as a license to NTFS recovery software (and like 8 copies on DVD, I went a bit crazy). Life goes on, but it's a good reminder that when you only have 1 copy of your stuff, you're in a bad spot.

 

[chadbang]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ezkcdude /img/forum/go_quote.gif As another poster said, as long as the disc itself is physically intact, you should be able to recover the data. It may cost $1000, but it can be done.

the odds of finding a real expert locally i would guess are high. like guys say, there are some serious recovery people who will rebuild the drives, but it will be expensive (but worth it, nes pas?) i don't think spinright is going to work. it says up front it can " wrestle data from dying and nearly dead drives". if yours had a mechanical breadown, it's rebuilt time.

 

[RubberDuk]

You could use GetDataBack(for example) to scan the drive. You can do the scan and see what's recoverable for free, though recovery functionality you have to pay for. There's free/open source programs for recovery too, I bet.

..and IMHO you have the moral right to just download the music you lost, of which a lot can still be found I'm sure.

 

[bungle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RubberDuk /img/forum/go_quote.gif ..and IMHO you have the moral right to just download the music you lost, of which a lot can still be found I'm sure.

I would be utterly pissed if this happened to me, but... I don't agree with that, since he gave away the CDs already and no longer owns them. I'm not sure he should have kept the digital copies once he gave the CDs away. What does everyone else think?

 

[jsaliga]

There are basically three types of hard disk failures:

1. Mechanical Failure: If the disk is suffering from a mechanical failure then there is no software product that will be able to recover the data. If you hear a repeating clicking noise when power is applied to the drive then you have a head failure. This is the most common failure in hard disks of recent manufacture. You may need to get your ear close to the drive in order to hear it. Other types of mechanical failure is drive motor failure or spindle bearing failure. In cases of mechanical failure don't bother wasting your time or money with software. It will not help you.

2. Electronic Failure: There might be an electronic problem with the disk that is preventing it from communicating with your computer or one that is causing the control circuits from sending commands to and receiving data from the mechanical assembly.

3. Media Failure: The drive could be suffering from a physical media failure. But this is a much less likely scenario. If the drive is less than 5 years old then the probability that you have media failures on TWO disk drives is near zero.

You can almost always recover data from drives that have suffered mechanical or electronic failures. Generally speaking, the procedure would entail sending the drive to a company that specializes in this type of data recovery. They will take the drive to a clean room and open the drive case to gain access to the physical disk media and heads. From there the problem can be corrected and the data read from the media.

If the physical media is damaged then chances of data recovery will be inversely proportional to the amount of damage or degradation on the media itself. Here is where software tools may be able to help you with data recovery. But this assumes that the disk drive itself is mechanically sound and there is no problem that would prevent the disk from interfacing with your computer. Software can also help recover data from drives that have problems with the logical file system structures on the disk. Even though the disk itself has not failed there could be problems with the file system, such as corrupted data or MFT problems.

Nearlly all drives today support the S.M.A.R.T system (Self-Analysis and Reporting Technology), which is pretty good at predicting failures. If you get SMART alerts when booting your system it would wise to replace the disk as soon as possible.

--Jerome

 

[RubberDuk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bungle /img/forum/go_quote.gif I would be utterly pissed if this happened to me, but... I don't agree with that, since he gave away the CDs already and no longer owns them. I'm not sure he should have kept the digital copies once he gave the CDs away. What does everyone else think?

Well, everyone acts how they feel is right. However, if the music has already been paid for once, in my opinion the physical copies are irrelevant. It's not like you physically own anything if you buy downloadable songs from an internet store either. And if you buy a CD second hand, the artist does not get anything from it whatsoever. Either way, I can't see how it could possibly be right to pay twice for the same music.

edit: I don't personally trust S.M.A.R.T too much. I've never gotten an alert upon boot-up and rarely anything if significance even when I've scanned the disks. And I've had plenty of disks die on me

 

[jsaliga]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RubberDuk /img/forum/go_quote.gif edit: I don't personally trust S.M.A.R.T too much. I've never gotten an alert upon boot-up and rarely anything if significance even when I've scanned the disks. And I've had plenty of disks die on me

I never said that SMART would protect you from disk failures and data loss. What I did say was that if you are getting SMART alerts then you should replace the disk as soon as possible. The only system that is going to protect you from a spontaneous disk failure is a fault tolerant RAID solution.

--Jerome

 

[Wmcmanus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyson /img/forum/go_quote.gif Some of them they stocked, but most were sold at auction.

Perhaps the library can help you to track down the buyer(s) from the auction? It's not clear from what you've said here, but if most of your collection was sold in bulk to a fellow collector, I can't imagine that person would have any issues with allowing you access to make copies.

Seems odd to me that the library would accept your generous donation, which was obviously intended to benefit the people of the community, and then turn around and action everything off right away. If you wanted to give them a wad of cash you could have done so.

 

[bungle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RubberDuk /img/forum/go_quote.gif It's not like you physically own anything if you buy downloadable songs from an internet store either. And if you buy a CD second hand, the artist does not get anything from it whatsoever. Either way, I can't see how it could possibly be right to pay twice for the same music.

If I sell a book to a used book store, and Fred buys it from there, the author doesn't get another sale. However, I also can't read it anymore. If I buy a CD and sell it, but keep the digital copies, then it's like I can still read the book even after I've given it away. If you extend that farther, I could buy a CD, rip it, then sell the CD to a friend for $1. He could do the same, etc., until all 20 people we know have a copy of the CD digitally in perpetuity, but only one was sold by the artist. There's all sorts of stuff available used or at second hand stores, but with physical things you can't sell it and keep it at the same time. Just because one can with music doesn't mean one should.

If you have a CD that disintegrates, then you can download it to replace it. If files are bought digitally, then I think you own them forever and should be able to download them again - I'm not saying you have to buy it twice. But I think it would be wrong to sell a copy of those files to your friend, while also keeping them in your library - you are profiting instead of the artist. Similarly, if you buy a CD, then sell the CD to a used CD store, you don't "own" that music anymore. If you expect to have the music in your library (whatever form that is), you should own a, I don't know, "distinct" copy of the music. That is, the number of libraries in which the music is present should equal the number of copies (in whatever medium) are sold. Each time you copy files or sell a CD but keep the files you increase the difference between the two by one.


Quote:

Originally Posted by Wmcmanus /img/forum/go_quote.gif Seems odd to me that the library would accept your generous donation, which was obviously intended to benefit the people of the community, and then turn around and action everything off right away. If you wanted to give them a wad of cash you could have done so.

At the risk of being contrarian on yet another point, selling the CDs so they can afford to buy more books could also benefit the community. I think unless he specifically said that he wanted the CDs as part of the collection for musical enlightenment, the library management is in charge of the collection once given.


Quote:

Originally Posted by jsaliga /img/forum/go_quote.gif The only system that is going to protect you from a spontaneous disk failure is a fault tolerant RAID solution.

While some RAID configurations will allow data to survive a disk failure, RAID should not be viewed as a backup solution.

 

[Barock]

Frankly, it was wrong of the library to sell the CDs for profit. They surely could have kept them for the musical enlightenment of the public, rather than making a quick buck. Or given them away themselves. Not sure how the law stands on giving things away, but that doesn't seem morally wrong at al.

 

[Kang]

Words mean little in this case, but I really, really feel for you. A devastating event. Yes, please check with the library.

 

[jsaliga]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bungle /img/forum/go_quote.gif While some RAID configurations will allow data to survive a disk failure, RAID should not be viewed as a backup solution.

I never said anything about disk RAIDs and backups. They are solutions that have different applications. I was simply trying to offer the OP some information that he could actually use where his disk failures are concerned.

If you like, however, I can take the topic further off course by going on and on about how some RAID devices are also backup devices, such as VTLs, or how some SANs are used as backup devices, or how you can recover data from a RAID1 member on a different system. I have 29 years of technical experience, work as a IT solution architect, and see this stuff every day. I know there are a lot people on Head-Fi that are technical professionals. Perhaps you are one of them.

But us getting into a technical tit-for-tat about RAIDs and VTLs is not going to help the OP one bit. Neither is suggesting that a software magic bullet might solve his problem. No one here has enough information about the precise nature of the problem to know whether or not software recovery is possible.

I know if I took what I thought was a failed drive to someone who ostensibly was a specialist in data recovery then I would expect much more information from them besides "the disk is toast." That's like paying someone to tell you something you already know. Imagine turning the key in the ignition of your car and nothing happens. You take it to a mechanic and he tells you "the car won't start."

Companies such as DTIdata have a properly equipped clean room, and if necessary they can crack the drive open and get to the disk media (where all of your data lives) and recover it. I am not trying to plug them specifically, there are dozens of firms that provide similar services. I don't know what DTIdata's service costs. Some outfits charge by the gigabyte, some charge by the size of the logical volume, and others charge by the size of the physical disk.

To the OP...

Check your drives for a clicking noise as I suggested. If you can hear it then you already know there is a problem with the heads and the disk will need to go to a data recovery specialist such as DTIdata if you want your data back. If you still have both disks -- the failed primary disk and the backup disk, then you might want to send them both in and see if one of them can be recovered. Most of these places will only charge you for what they can recover.

It never hurts to get a quote. The worst that can happen is they give you a price that you don't like and can't accept, and you are no worse off than you are now.

Some information we don't have that might be helpful:

1. Does the drive spin up when power is applied?
2. Does the computer detect the presence of the disk when it is connected to the system?

--Jerome