Words of advice: Backup your data to multiple sources

[greeches]

Hard drives fail, its a way of life. Always have two sources, and for the really important stuff, make hard copies (eg, DVD/BD backups).

In my years of purchasing hard drives, I've had the best luck with Seagate. WD has improved over the years, but my default is seagate. No drive is free from failure. You could always get some Solid state (SSDs) drives to backup data to. They are not error-proof but alot better than anything mechanical.

 

[Shaneuk]

There's multiple ways of getting your files back.

There's also ways of keeping your hard drives from failing.

 

[danabnormal]

There's multiple ways of getting your files back.

Absolutely.

There's also ways of keeping your hard drives from failing.

Absolutely not.

Yes, theres things you can do to minimize the risk of hard disk failure (don't move the disk when powered on, keep in a dust/smoke free environment, minimize vibration etc) but all disks can and will fail, you just can't always tell when.

I work in enterprise IT and we spend hundreds of USD on relatively low capacity disks that are designed for resilience. I would say we need to replace roughly a 10th of our estate in disks per year.

Disk failure happens. Backup often and archive whenever you can. If you have something stored on disk and disk only assume that tomorrow you won't have access to it. If you make a living from digital media invest in a tape drive (LTO drives are fantastic). Its one hell of an outlay but it will pay for itself and you will be able to backup all your data every night.

 

[semajha]

Sorry to hear that. Is it the problem mechanical ? Do you hear a repeating click as the drive tries to read the data ? If that it is the case I am afraid there is no software that will solve the issue. The HDD needs to be open by professionals in a clean room.
Can you see the disk mentioned in the list during the booting while the BIOS is showing up ? That would give already an indication.
thx

Yes, the problem is mechanical. As soon as I turn back on the drive, I hear a constant clicking. I haven't tried the whole BIOS thing but my mac is no longer picking it up when i have it plugged in and powered on.

Thank you all for the suggestion on hard drives.. I'm really considering something like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822205064&cm_re=g_raid-_-22-205-064-_-Product

But wouldn't it be better(cheaper) to make your own?

 

[Shaneuk]

Absolutely.



Absolutely not.

Yes, theres things you can do to minimize the risk of hard disk failure (don't move the disk when powered on, keep in a dust/smoke free environment, minimize vibration etc) but all disks can and will fail, you just can't always tell when.

I work in enterprise IT and we spend hundreds of USD on relatively low capacity disks that are designed for resilience. I would say we need to replace roughly a 10th of our estate in disks per year.

Disk failure happens. Backup often and archive whenever you can. If you have something stored on disk and disk only assume that tomorrow you won't have access to it. If you make a living from digital media invest in a tape drive (LTO drives are fantastic). Its one hell of an outlay but it will pay for itself and you will be able to backup all your data every night.

Yeah I agree, I should have wrote, there's multiple ways to prolong the life of your hard drives.

 

[CiPO]

I work with CCTV systems which are recording on HDD and SSD in various situations (even ships). I can tell you that they all fail but of course the working conditions are much worse then serving your editing station at your home/office.
However the first failing reason is the working temperature: a high one will deteriorate your HDD much faster then anything else. Meaning that an HDD working at 50-60C will break maybe 10 time faster then one running at 40C. SSD might fail too if you e.g. constatly try to overwrite the same data over and over, therefore never put a DB on the SSD. But data on SSD are much easier to recover due to lack of mechanical parts that could break (your case now).
Go for a RAID1 device as your backup device and keep it well (possibly cooled, no dust and no heavy vibrations). I read good reviews about this one (it's a NAS that you can access via LAN): http://www.synology.com/enu/products/DS210j/index.php and I am going to try it soon.
You could also use low rpm HDDs (e.g. 5900 rpm) which tend to heat less then the 7200 or 10000 although bit slower.

 

[CiPO]

I haven't tried the whole BIOS thing but my mac is no longer picking it up when i have it plugged in and powered on.

I am not familiar with the Apple but I suspect what you are saying is exactly what I was suggesting. It seems your system doesn't recognize the disk anymore. If this happens at low level (when the PC/MAC boots) then I am afraid you cannot do much yourself and you can only need to ship it to some pro facilities. The HDD need to be open and data need to be read probably changing the mechanical part that moves the head over the thin magnetic disks. All this needs to be done in a clean vacuum room with no dust.