Unreadable 3 TB WD Caviar Green Internal HDD

[Opcode]

I bought 3 TB WD Caviar Green Internal HDD about 1.5 years ago. It's still under warranty. My Windows 7 (64) system has periodically flagged it for repairs under CHKDSK, but when I returned from a camping trip last weekend, I found that Windows could not read the file record segments at all. The drive letter still shows on my drive list, but Windows reports the drive has 0 bytes of free and used space. When I removed the drive form my system and reconnected using my Coolmax external HDD hub, I can hear a series of head movements that repeat themselves about every 5th move.

I have about 200 GB of data, in the form of videos and photos, on that drive that I haven't backed up elsewhere. Some of this material is so valuable to me that I have decided that I won't return the drive under warranty as long as I do not have copies of those files. I also don't have any money to attempt data recovery. My inclination is to store the drive in an anti-static bag, in hopes that future technological and economic advances will enable the rejuvenation of the dead. I'm looking for alternative suggestions.

Thank you.

 

[carnageX]

Can try to hook it up to the PC, and boot off of a Linux LiveCD and see if you can access the data that way. This has worked for me sometimes in the past, when a drive seems to be hosed. I could recover some of the data, but not all of it.

Really that's about your only option since it sounds like the drive is physically failing. Try the LiveCD idea; otherwise, it's toast.

 

[Opcode]

Can try to hook it up to the PC, and boot off of a Linux LiveCD and see if you can access the data that way. This has worked for me sometimes in the past, when a drive seems to be hosed. I could recover some of the data, but not all of it.

Really that's about your only option since it sounds like the drive is physically failing. Try the LiveCD idea; otherwise, it's toast.

Does Linux need anything special to support 3 TB? Windows does.

 

[carnageX]

No, you shouldn't have any issues just accessing the drive that I know of.

Just try downloading Ubuntu, burn it to a CD, and then boot off of it and select the "Try Ubuntu" option. You can open up a file browser and go to your drive then and see if you can access it.

 

[Opcode]

I cannot get my system to boot off the CD I created. Maybe I did not burn Ubuntu correctly to the CD?

The problem seems to be getting worse. In addition to not being able to access my 3 TB internal HDD, some applications are not cooperating. Firefox will not play any Flash components (Chrome will). As of today, Microsoft Word stops responding as soon as it launches (it worked 2 days ago). These applications are located on a different internal HDD than the 3 TB drive that I cannot access.

Disk Management shows my 3 TB HDD with 2794.39 GB of healthy RAW partition (it says the drive is not formatted). Windows Explorer does not show any available space on the drive (probably because Windows thinks the drive is not formatted). WD Tech Support referred me to run Ontrack Data Recovery, which produced a pop-up window stating that bad blocks have been detected and continuing to operate my system may damage my hard drive beyond repair or cause irretrievable data loss. It refers me to contact Kroll Ontrack for further assistance from their technicians.

I use MS Security Essentials for virus checking, and it is running and shows my drive is healthy. A day or two prior to my 3 TB HDD becoming inaccessible, I ran system restore to a month previously, because my system was acting a little weird.

The options I see are malware, bad drivers or failing components (RAM seems like a common point of failure).

 

[MindoverMaster]

Do you have your Boot order set to the CD first in order?

 

[carnageX]

What did you use to burn the ISO to a disc?

Does the CD contain the .iso file when you look at it under Computer, or does it contain a bunch of files/folders?

 

[Opcode]

I have a BluRay reader and a DVD drive in my new system. I set my boot order first to CDROM, which apparently tries to boot from the BluRay reader; that never works. For some reason, the BluRay reader cannot launch software from DVD or CD. So, I switched over to the other optical drive listed. That seems to access the DVD drive, but Ubuntu never launches.

Please note that I am using Paragon Hard Disk Managerâ„¢ 2011 Suite, etc., as a boot loader for Windows 7.

I used Roxio to burn the (64-bit) ISO to disk on my old, 32-bit, single-core Dell computer. I am unable to read (explore) the disk.

 

[carnageX]

Did you burn the ISO image to disc, or did you burn it as a data disc, and just burned the ISO straight to the disc.

 

[Opcode]

Did you burn the ISO image to disc, or did you burn it as a data disc, and just burned the ISO straight to the disc.

I'm fairly certain that I burned the ISO to disk as a data disk, but that was a few days ago, so I don't remember, now.