Don't be a chump like me - BACK UP YOUR HDD TODAY!

[Stephen Mick]

From the moment the card comes out of the camera until the final project is delivered, my mission is to always have two copies of everything.

In the field, I offload simultaneously to my Nexto NVS2500 AND a USB-connected hard drive. Every card gets copied to both drives.

In the edit suite, the USB drive gets copied to a CalDigit HDPro RAID setup. The USB drive gets stored (until the project is complete).

When the edit is finished, the project is media-managed to mirrored G-Safe hard drives, one of which is stored in house, the other is stored off-site. And the project is also copied to the original USB drive and sent to the client. This is their copy to keep.

I can't stress enough how important it is to have your workflow figured out before you even press the record button. Headaches will be avoided (generally). Clients will be happy (mostly). And you'll sleep well at night (probably).

 

[John_in_NY]

I used it...and it worked. If your drive goes ker-chunk, ker-chunk on startup, it might work for your drive. That's the read arm crashing into the platters, and freezing contracts the metal and pulls it away. If not you might be SOL.

Batutta, did you lose data or was data corrupted? I thought at least some data loss or corruption would be a likelihood when the read arm crashes into the platters. How long did you keep it in the freezer? I have a desktop PC with a five year old drive that would not boot up. I assumed the HDD crashed, but I am not absolutely certain. I haven't tried it yet, but I was going to put the HDD into an (USB) external drive enclosure and see if I can access its contents on another PC. I haven't done any of this yet, because I put everything on the back burner. Assuming it crashed, I was considering sending it to a data retrieval company that specialize in recovering data from crashed hard drives (it would cost at least a few hundred dollars), but maybe the freezer method might be worth an attempt. I also wonder, if the read arm contracts and pulls away from the platters as it is frozen, wouldn't it expand back to its previous state (and crash again) as the temperatures rise inside the HDD? If the arm could manage to read the data just long enough so you can back up its contents, that would be OK. Thanks.

 

[John_in_NY]

I got a reprieve- first disassembled the drive, all inside looked fine, then for the heck of it, plugged it into a different power supply. Eureka! She spins up again. Files all there. Must be my lucky day. Off to Office Depot tomorrow for a backup! I've learned a valuable lesson. :thumbsup:

I love happy endings. :happy:

 

[John_in_NY]

Oh hell, way too late for me. I lost 40 gig of sound files and SFX sounds about a year ago. Value= 6500 bucks. All the back up discs were stolen out of my truck back in 2008.

Ironic thing....I just bought a new larger HDD and downloaded the software to mirror the drive onto the new one. Got all set up, turned old drive on, and, wait for it.............bzzzzzt! with a puff of smoke out of the old drive. That was the most expensive puff of smoke I have ever seen.

If I were you, I would send the old drive to a data recovery company. It would be worth it to spend $300 to recover $6500 of data.

 

[Batutta]

Batutta, did you lose data or was data corrupted? I thought at least some data loss or corruption would be a likelihood when the read arm crashes into the platters. How long did you keep it in the freezer? I have a desktop PC with a five year old drive that would not boot up. I assumed the HDD crashed, but I am not absolutely certain. I haven't tried it yet, but I was going to put the HDD into an (USB) external drive enclosure and see if I can access its contents on another PC. I haven't done any of this yet, because I put everything on the back burner. Assuming it crashed, I was considering sending it to a data retrieval company that specialize in recovering data from crashed hard drives (it would cost at least a few hundred dollars), but maybe the freezer method might be worth an attempt. I also wonder, if the read arm contracts and pulls away from the platters as it is frozen, wouldn't it expand back to its previous state (and crash again) as the temperatures rise inside the HDD? If the arm could manage to read the data just long enough so you can back up its contents, that would be OK. Thanks.

I got every last bit of data off. A 500 gig drive. I wrapped it in paper towels, stuck it in a freezer bag, sucked most of the air out with a straw and put it in for 3 hours. After 15 minutes or so it would heat up and then crash again, so I kept doing this until I got all the data. You just have to watch for condensation and keep wiping it as it warms up. Also helps to sandwich it between two ice packs while transferring to slow the warm up process.

 

[John_in_NY]

I got every last bit of data off. A 500 gig drive. I wrapped it in paper towels, stuck it in a freezer bag, sucked most of the air out with a straw and put it in for 3 hours. After 15 minutes or so it would heat up and then crash again, so I kept doing this until I got all the data. You just have to watch for condensation and keep wiping it as it warms up. Also helps to sandwich it between two ice packs while transferring to slow the warm up process.

Thanks for the reply. I figured the rising temperatures would pose a problem as I assume the amount of contraction and expansion would be virtually microscopic in size. I am glad you recovered all your data, but I am (pleasantly) surprised you were able to. It was my understanding that each time the read arm contacts those platters, data is further damaged. Backing up a healthy 500 GB drive would take many minutes under normal circumstances. How were you able to control what data is backed up? In other words, since your are backing up data in pieces at a time, each time it crashed again, were you able to continue from where you left off instead of having to start all over again? Were you using special software to do this process?

 

[Batutta]

Thanks for the reply. I figured the rising temperatures would pose a problem as I assume the amount of contraction and expansion would be virtually microscopic in size. I am glad you recovered all your data, but I am (pleasantly) surprised you were able to. It was my understanding that each time the read arm contacts those platters, data is further damaged. Backing up a healthy 500 GB drive would take many minutes under normal circumstances. How were you able to control what data is backed up? In other words, since your are backing up data in pieces at a time, each time it crashed again, were you able to continue from where you left off instead of having to start all over again? Were you using special software to do this process?

Don't know how, but it did. Perhaps my drive had a safety feature to prevent direct contact. On a Mac it just transfers in alphabetical order, so it's easy to see where it stopped and I just resume from there.