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geekhack Community => Other Geeky Stuff => Topic started by: calavera on Wed, 17 July 2013, 23:43:17
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I have a WD 3TB internal drive I use for backing up data. I use a dock (USB 2.0) to transfer files to it. But today all of a sudden when I turn it on windows is asking me to format the drive and I cant access it. This **** has happened once a few years ago and I had to format and could only recover 7xxGB. I don't know what to do.
Right now the drive only shows up in device manager and shows its full size of 2.7TB but its in RAW format and empty (as in 100% drive space available.)
I tried a few recovery programs and they all detect the drive as only 7xxGB. Should I quick format the drive first so I get all 2.7TB back?
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Plug it into a Linux box. From what you have described there is a logical problem with the partition table for some reason. 9 x out of 10 boot off of Ubuntu Live USB or plug into Linux box, get your data back and then run diagnostics on the HD to make sure there isn't a real problem with it. Reformat and done.
...are you only using for backup or do you need files off of it? If you don't need any data then run WD diagnostics and then reformat.
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I need to recover the data on it. Otherwise I would have just formatted it right away. I don't have a linux box so I can't really use your method I think.
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boot off of Ubuntu Live USB or other distribution
...there are other ways, but that's the easiest, fastest, cheapest, and probably the most reliable assuming there is nothing major wrong with the drive.
...and don't format the drive until you get your data back.
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Wouldn't a quick format still allow for data recovery?
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A quick format leaves the data intact but erases the partition table. Then you have no choice but data recovery software.
Windows and Mac have a hard time dealing with small discrepancies in logical structure. I have recovered data many times from HDs with simple logical problems by just using Linux. Many times you just need to boot into Linux and you can read all of the data as if there was no problem, back it up, and then deal with the hard drive issue (whatever it may be.)
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Start simple, try a different cable and/or another computer.
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A quick format leaves the data intact but erases the partition table. Then you have no choice but data recovery software.
Windows and Mac have a hard time dealing with small discrepancies in logical structure. I have recovered data many times from HDs with simple logical problems by just using Linux. Many times you just need to boot into Linux and you can read all of the data as if there was no problem, back it up, and then deal with the hard drive issue (whatever it may be.)
Hmm, I have no access to linux but want to give it a try. What's the best way to go about it?
Start simple, try a different cable and/or another computer.
I already tried it. It's the damn hard drive. :(
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http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/create-a-usb-stick-on-windows
Just boot from USB, you don't have to install Linux and it won't affect your current Windows installation. You should be able to browse the HDs after you boot from the USB (Flash) drive.
If you have already performed a quick format then this method will not work.
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http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/create-a-usb-stick-on-windows
Just boot from USB, you don't have to install Linux and it won't affect your current Windows installation. You should be able to browse the HDs after you boot from the USB (Flash) drive.
Hot damn, gonna give this a try right away. I never used Linux before so what should I be expecting after I boot into Linux? If everything is still there can I just copy & paste the data onto another drive?
When the same **** happened back in 2010, I lost most of the data and was able to recover like 1/5th of it. And about 1/3 of those files were corrupt so they were trashed. The drive is still under warranty so should I RMA this POS even if it doesn't have any bad sectors..etc?
EDIT: What ubuntu version do I need to download? :-[
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop
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There is a GUI that's very similar to Windows or Mac. Just copy and paste. Get your most precious files first just in-case the drive fails on you. You may only have one chance...you may have several chances. Every case is different, but from what you describe this would be my first method to try. I have had very good luck with minor logical errors this way. If you have bad sectors then this may still work but you might not be able to pull the data off of the damaged areas. In that case I would clone the entire drive and then attempt recovery from the image. I could go on and on, there is no "one way" when it comes to data recovery. If I tell you more I'll have to charge you. :)
RMA is up to you. The cause could be many things, power issues, bad cable(s), a problem with the external cradle, etc. I would test the drive in a known working rig or RMA.
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The version really should not matter. Try 64bit and if that doesn't work try 32bit.
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I tried both Desktop 13.04 amd64 and Desktop 12.10 i386 ISO's but it wouldn't boot for some reason. Am I doing something wrong here?
After the CMOS screen and selecting the usb drive as 1st boot device, nothing. :(
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Did you use the Universal USB Installer? If that completed successfully then try hitting F12 or F10 to get your boot menu when first turning the PC on. Otherwise, it may try to boot from the wrong USB drive (or make sure you have the correct USB drive set in BIOS.)
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You might skip the USB stick and just burn a live CD image to boot from.
Some USB sticks are picky.
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Yeah I made sure. I use USB to boot/install windows 7 so I've done it before. I have an i7 920 x64 cpu, but I doubt that makes any difference.
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CD will work if you have a burner and disc, but none of my laptops do. It's probably trying to boot from the external drive he's having trouble with.
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Processor doesn't matter.
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I actually turned the external hdd off so it doesn't affect boot sequence. I'm gonna try a different program to create the bootable USB.
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That's a trivial matter. I'm sure you'll get it to boot. Let us know what happens.
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Along the same lines of a bootable linux disc, I used Knoppix on my sisters laptop which allowed me to recover all data needed if that is any help.
http://knoppix.net/
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Alright I used UltraISO to burn the 12.10 onto the usb drive. Got some text this time but still stuck at blinking cursor. Now I'm downloading 12.04 as well as the knoppix CD iso to give a try. Could the USB drive be faulty? This is driving me insane lol
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Knoppix is good too. Just about any Linux distro will work. There is just more documentation on Ubuntu if he wants to google something.
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Alright I used UltraISO to burn the 12.10 onto the usb drive. Got some text this time but still stuck at blinking cursor. Now I'm downloading 12.04 as well as the knoppix CD iso to give a try. Could the USB drive be faulty? This is driving me insane lol
I don't use Windows very often any more so maybe someone else can suggest a better ISO to bootable USB program.
Experiment: try a different flash drive or a CD if you can or different ISO to USB software.
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Is it possible your computer is having USB issues? That was the initial problem correct? An external USB connection?
Honestly if your computer has a CD drive just burn an ISO and boot from it.
My apologies if not.
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I don't think so, all the other USB stuff connected work fine. I plugged the bootable USB into various locations with the same results. Back of the motherboard, front case USB port, USB hub. Every other device connected are working fine.
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Now I got this with 13.04. WTF
(http://i.imgur.com/S6J3NUv.jpg)
EDIT: was able to get boot into the OS using knoppix but the drive in question does not show up. What do I do now?
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Successfully booted into ubuntu but the drive does not show up. I've been at this for hours now. FML
I think I'll be able to recover some of the files from the 746GB (which the recovery program thinks the size is.) Should I just quick format so I get back all 2.7TB of space and then try recovery again?
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No, don't do the quick format or anything else "destructive"
You have not exhausted your safer options yet.
How much is the data worth? If it was my big storage disk, and I did not have a good backup, I would gladly wait a week or more until I was able to burn a fresh Ubuntu disk on somebody else's computer, for example. Like my brother-in-law in another state and he mails it to me.
Or take it, or mail it, to somebody else, even if I had to pay them.
If the data is worth more than the drive, be patient.
PS - also, like Leslieann said, take it completely apart and put it all back together, ensuring that everything is snug and tight.
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DON'T FORMAT. It will make things more difficult at best and is technically destructive as fohat said. Try it on a different PC and try to use Ubuntu again (it's a little more user friendly than Knoppix.)
You really shouldn't have any trouble doing that. It makes me suspicious of your hardware.
Edit: after looking at your screenshot I'm even more suspicious of your hardware or BIOS config. Try it on another PC(including Mac) and see what you get.
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The problem was my overclock (it was rock stable before, guess CPU has degraded.) Put everything back to stock and was able to boot into Unbuntu. However, the drive wouldn't even show up. So I connected it directly to the motherboard trying to eliminate cable/dock hardware fault possibility. Booted it up and went to grab something to eat real quick. Came back to see flowing texts of "deleting orphan file record segment" on my screen like in the Matrix. Turns out, chkdisk recognized the drive and started diagnostics automatically and ended formatting the drive.
(http://i.imgur.com/AA1MpH5.jpg)
Anyways, now I have an empty 2.7TB hard drive that does shows up. I've been running a recovery program for the past 8+ hours and identified 4400+ files so far. My guess is these will be named FILE001, FILE002...etc so ID'ing and renaming every single one will be a *****. Plus based on my previous experience, about 1/2 of them will be corrupt and unusable.
I'm going to run a full diagnostics on the drive after the recovery is finished and RMA this *****. It's only 9 month old so still under warranty.
I very much appreciate all the help though. *group hug*
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Congrats and bummer at the same time. You damn gamers and your overclocking (that does more harm than good) :)
Whenever you have any problems like this in the future make sure your BIOS settings are "factory default."
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Sounds like your overclock might have caused the corruptions. Sometime unstable overclocks can cause data corruption. It's not common, but it could be what happened to you.
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It only happened to my WD Green 3tb twice. My other WD green 2tb, samsung 2tb...etc never had such problem. As a matter of fact I never had hdd failure except on those two occasions. It seems to happen to a lot to other people as well when I googled it. None had answers or solutions that worked for me though.
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You really shouldn't have any trouble doing that. It makes me suspicious of your hardware.
Edit: after looking at your screenshot I'm even more suspicious of your hardware or BIOS config. Try it on another PC(including Mac) and see what you get.
Looks like I was right. There is no need to overclock or heavily modify BIOS settings, even if you are a gamer.
If you had tried Ubuntu after resetting the BIOS you would probably be okay. Windows strikes again with it's infinite un-wisdom and it's auto "fixes." Your data was most likely perfectly readable (in Linux) before the check disk.
Get yourself a backup drive and BACKUP. Then, none of this would matter.
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I did manage to get into ubuntu a few times but the drive didnt show up so I couldn't do anything. I was able to boot into knopixx and destop 13.04.
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infinite un-wisdom and its auto "fixes."
I never knew that "checkdisk" had that destructive side to it. I use it fairly often, maybe I should be more scared of it.
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infinite un-wisdom and its auto "fixes."
I never knew that "checkdisk" had that destructive side to it. I use it fairly often, maybe I should be more scared of it.
^^ I'm thinking the same thing, I tend to let them run but am going to rethink that.
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Let me just say first that I'm an OS "agnostic" So, don't take it as bashing Windows. Every OS is useful in some way or another.
Most of the time chkdsk is great but in instances where the drive can't mount or you think there may be MBR or partition anomalies I would not use check disk. It can revert your partition tables back to a point where the disk will mount (that's the goal of chkdsk in a case like this) but it may be a "hidden" partition that you weren't using in the first place. Therefore, you won't be able to read the data without some type of data recovery software. Sort of like what Calavera is having to do now.
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Never format.
A few things to note...
It may not be that the processor degraded, however, if it did, it means you are pushing things to hard. It's time to re-evaluate your reasons for overclocking. A good, modern quad core should be PLENTY fast for anything really. Processors have not been the system bottleneck for easily more than a decade, overclocking them is sort of moot when something else is holding you back. Today's system bottlenecks are the hard drive and the video card. A good Sata 3 SSD can really wake up a system.
Some of your symptoms are common to a power supply failing or being under powered. BEWARE.
A power supply that is too weak will damage all sorts of parts and cause failed boots and more. Power supplies can lose up to 20% capacity in the first year and 10% the second. How much overhead did you have? What is worse, is not only is this a silent killer, but even after replacing the power supply, the damage may already be done and it may be only a matter of time before other parts start to fail. I lost 5 thumbsticks (3x 16gb and 2x 32gb) and a 2TB drive to a power supply not performing to spec. I haven't even bothered to test the motherboard or cpu from that system yet to see if they are any good anymore, I just replaced the whole thing because I doubt the motherboard will last long.
Let me just say first that I'm an OS "agnostic" So, don't take it as bashing Windows. Every OS is useful in some way or another.
100% agreed.
I have even used Windows 98 like a virus to break a hard drive lock. :p
But seriously, every OS serves a purpose.
Checkdisk can destroy data, but usually that data is already trashed, you just didn't know it yet. ANY tool that can fix something, can also break it, it's just how things are. It's knowing what tool will do the job best that makes a difference. A hammer can build a house, but also tear it down, same thing here.
Regarding checkdisk destroying data, I have seen it trash data and perform near miracles, I even once saw it do both on the same drive. On one system, I saw it run three times in a row, the first completely killed what was left of the OS, the second time it restarted part way through and the third it repaired everything and the system worked fine from then on.
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On a somewhat related note, what should I do for a safe 3TB storage? I'm thinking of getting two 3TB's and backing up data on both. Is there a dock or case that will allow me to do it without having to copy the files twice every time I back up?
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On a somewhat related note, what should I do for a safe 3TB storage? I'm thinking of getting two 3TB's and backing up data on both. Is there a dock or case that will allow me to do it without having to copy the files twice every time I back up?
You want a RAID 1 array (which mirrors data stored on each drive) or get cloud storage/backup service of any kind.
Drives will fail and if there is data that you NEED, absolutely NEED, there is no reason to have it stored in only one place where hardware could fail at any moment. Storage is cheap.
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I would like this backup to be separated from my PC. Is there an external case for 3 tb's in raid 1 that I can use? I've seen some network related stuff but I'm clueless to these things.
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I would like this backup to be separated from my PC. Is there an external case for 3 tb's in raid 1 that I can use? I've seen some network related stuff but I'm clueless to these things.
You could build a small file server and have it either use RAID for duplication if that's what you want. The options are almost endless when it comes to external file duplication/backup etc. Usually it comes down to what you want to spend.
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Well, I want to build it for cheap. This will only be accessed once or twice a week to transfer/back up files. May be an external case for two drives that I can connect to the PC when I want?
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EDIT: was able to get boot into the OS using knoppix but the drive in question does not show up. What do I do now?
You said previously you'd powered off the drive. Have you now turned it back on?
In Knoppix, look for the file explorer tool (nautilus). You should see the drive mounted under "computer". It will be mounted as "read only". If you add a second drive to copy files, you will need to right click to open the pull-down menu, and mount it as read/write.
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Yes of course I powered it on. It showed up in CMOS prior to booting into Knoppix and desktop 13.04. The drive wasn't visible. If it were I wouldn't have attempted to connect the drive directly to the motherboard and be in the **** I am now. :(
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This is on-topic, but not directly on calavers's topic.
My external hard drives have been giving me fits. I have a collection of IDE hard drives, probably nearly a dozen of them, in the 20GB-500GB size range. I have about 4 external IDE-to-USB enclosures and/or adapters that I can swap them in and out of. I have 2 USB hubs, a 2.0 unpowered and a 3.0 powered.
These devices have all worked properly for quite a while, even back under XP, from which I migrated about 2 years ago. They continued to work fine under 7 and Ubuntu until recently.
Recently, they have been failing under Windows 7. Different drives, different connectors, different USB hubs. Often they are not recognized, although when I hot-plug them I almost always get a notice that a new device has been connected and is working properly, but it simply does not show up in Windows Explorer. Often, the device manager tells me that I need to format the drive. When I start that process, it runs for a while (5-20 minutes) then tells me that there was an unexpected error.
Since the same behavior takes place with all these different components, connected in different ways, I can't help but wonder where it is coming from.
Very soon I am going to do a complete re-format-re-install, and I would like to have several different backup sets which these old drives are perfect for. These would be "secondary" backups that would not kill me to lose, but I need to feel like I can trust them.
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RAID is not suitable for backups nor is it meant to be used in lieu of a proper backups. RAID is used primarily for redundancy and speed. Just keep it simple with an extra HD that you schedule backups to. Backups are meant to be archives or snapshots of a particular point in time that you can revert to if need be. With RAID you don't have the option of reverting to a particular point in time. If you are lucky, you will only be able to restore the system to right before a failure.
Example: you go through and consolidate a bunch of picture folders into one big folder and then delete all of the empty folders. Two weeks later you realize - OH ****! - you deleted your niece's first birthday party pics thinking that you had moved them, when in reality you didn't but you DID delete the folder containing them. After two weeks guess what? That data has probably been overwritten and is now unrecoverable.
EDIT: Another example. Your partition table becomes corrupt and guess what, it does it on both drives because they are mirrored (RAID1) I've seen that happen many times.
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To expand on what Smknhjoe said..
The problem with raid is this, it ONLY accounts for a drive failing. So? Well if your power supply burns up, it can fry both your drives. If your raid card fails, it can corrupt data on both drives. A lightening strike can kill both drives... Get the the idea yet? Raid is meant to keep a server running in case a drive fails, you still use a regular backup in case the computer itself fails.
External drives work okay for backups, however, the better the backup, the more hassle it is. Ideally, you want the external only plugged in when backing up, and even better, offsite when not being used. If your house burns, so does your backup. If it's plugged into your computer 24/7, it's only marginally better than raid (the usb system will usually fry before the drive gets fried). I say they work okay, because not only the problems mentioned, but also, far too many forget to bother making a backup.
Here is what I do.
First, off site.. I do this by having a server at an office I backup to, while it cost me some parts, the service is free. Places like Backblaze and Crashplan charge $60 a year to do the same thing. before you complain about the costs, you can barely by a small drive for that and these guys will backup unlimited data for that. I use Crashplans free software to send the actual data, which is free between friends and your own computers, so you don't have to have access to an office like I do, a buddy who trades data with you will suffice (and yes it is encrypted) and completely automated. I have several customers using these sorts of systems and they are quite happy with it.
In my case, since sending even a terrabyte over the internet takes a (LOOONG) while, when I first did my server I transferred the first backup at my house, then moved the backup server to the office. However, I only offsite backup my important data, about 100gigs worth. The larger stuff like movies games, etc.. I use a small external drive that I manually hook up every now and then and let it backup that way.
With this setup, even if my house burns, I retain my important stuff, and the rest, which is replaceable, is only vulnerable to fire and my laziness.
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If nothing else you can use foremost to get some of your data back. I think backtrack has it. Youll need another Hard Drive.
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Missed most of this, and it seems to have been more or less resolved, but here's a few hints, if things go bad with drives.
1 - Rip the drive out and stick it in an external enclosure.
2 - Boot using Linux / *BSD / etc
3 - Turn off automounting for external devices.
4 - Connect drive, and get it to detect. This may take some time and hair-pulling
5 - image the disk using ddrescue. See stage 4
6 - Unplug the disk and put it away.
7 - make a copy of the image, and start your recovery efforts on that.
never, never, never run disk recovery tools on an actual disk.
The sequence of events above /should/ be
1 - remove drive, throw it in the bin, and replace it.
2 - restore from backups.
But we know how likely that is, don't we :)
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I'm just curious who told Calavera it would be okay to do a quick format!!!
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I'm just curious who told Calavera it would be okay to do a quick format!!!
His ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend.
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You can try to find a NAS that uses a RADI1 configuration (if they exist?). Otherwise I'd recommend 2TB drives. I've heard nothing but trouble from anyone using 3TB's, and knock on wood, nothing bad from the 2TB's. If you have extra parts lying around, an extra computer can become a file server as well.
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I've heard nothing but trouble from anyone using 3TB's, and knock on wood, nothing bad from the 2TB's.
We must be nearing the limit on miniaturization. Nano technology is great, and I think that it will be revolutionary in some areas, but I cannot believe that individual atoms can be trusted to stay in the same place at the same state indefinitely.
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You can try to find a NAS that uses a RADI1 configuration (if they exist?). Otherwise I'd recommend 2TB drives. I've heard nothing but trouble from anyone using 3TB's, and knock on wood, nothing bad from the 2TB's. If you have extra parts lying around, an extra computer can become a file server as well.
Off the shelf NAS systems are insanely over-priced for what you get.
By the time you buy one that performs half way decent (most cheap ones operate at USB 2.0 speeds), you could have built a Core I3 Mini-ITX system with more storage and speeds 5 times faster. Not to mention you could use it as a file server, web cam stream, firewall, file downloader, etc... At idle, which is where they spend most of their time, even a Core I7 idles down to nearly the same power as an Atom based system.
If the board you pick supports it, at current drive prices it's quite a bit cheaper to go with multiple 1Tb ($70 each) drives than a single 2Tb ($180 each). This would give you more than enough speed to max out a gigabit connection.
Some 2Tb drives have had issues, but only a few. I have heard grumblings about the 3's, their prices are still too high for most people to bother.
I had one of my 2Tb drives die, but it was due to a bad PSU. Replacing it, cost me almost double what I paid for the first ones.
We must be nearing the limit on miniaturization. Nano technology is great, and I think that it will be revolutionary in some areas, but I cannot believe that individual atoms can be trusted to stay in the same place at the same state indefinitely.
Floods in Thailand and the surge for online storage is keeping prices high. I was looking at prices the other day, and you can tell the industry is buying the larger drives in bulk, the jump from 1Tb to 2TB is nutty (way more than double the price). Crazy to think that 4 years later, I could sell my 2Tb drives for a profit.
Doesn't matter, in a couple years, SSDs will completely destroy the drive market anyhow.
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If you have a NAS or fileserver with RAID you still need to perform routine backups of those devices (unless you are backing up to those devices.) Calavera was using the 3TB as extra storage space not as a backup drive.
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Doesn't matter, in a couple years, SSDs will completely destroy the drive market anyhow.
I have a couple of good-quality drives that I use for storage. I bought them new and do not use them as "daily" drivers so they have very little mileage on them. I trust them to keep my data long-term.
Do you foresee SSDs being as "dependable" as HD technology for the long haul (ie 1-2 decades and/or until technology completely re-invents itself again)?
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Most of the IBM servers we deploy have SAS SSDs if not attached to a SAN and even then they do. They are more reliable than HDDs.
And you are right fohat 3TB is pushing the limit of perpendicular recording in HDDs.
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I have a couple of good-quality drives that I use for storage. I bought them new and do not use them as "daily" drivers so they have very little mileage on them. I trust them to keep my data long-term.
Do you foresee SSDs being as "dependable" as HD technology for the long haul (ie 1-2 decades and/or until technology completely re-invents itself again)?
As Smknjoe said, more and more servers are switching to them (Ebay, I believe is all SSD now and it saves them a ton of money). Your phone already has one. The Bios in your computers use similar technology and they are decades old, so it's not new technology, just a new use because it has gotten cheap and fast enough in large enough capacity.
So obviously long term storage isn't an issue for them (they are also smaller, more efficient, faster, withstand shock better and can be waterproofed), it's the constant write and re-writes that kills them and not only is that getting better, but also entirely overblown. Yes, constant writes will harm them, but they are smart and reshuffle data so that one spot doesn't wear faster than the rest. Anything getting that much abuse isn't going to last long regardless (as server admins how long drives last). They will last plenty long in a desktop so long as it it's not always 80% full. Remember, most of your data is written once then rarely changes. Cache is actually the only thing that changes often and even most of that remains constant. It's only a few megs that are constantly being re-written.
But... For your computer, it won't matter.
I always tell people expect 5 years from a desktop, which a properly sized SSD should handle, but even that is almost irrelevant as the home desktop will be dead in 5-10 years anyhow. By then, your phone will be as capable as your desktop is now, and have a wireless display, mouse and keyboard. It will have a desktop interface when you connect to a big screen. I suspect tablets and notebooks will follow a similar strategy, becoming little more than varying screen size/interfaces that all run from your phone wirelessly. The Unbuntu phone (not the OS, the phone they plan to build) is exactly as I describe, there is also the Clambook (http://clamcase.com/clambook-android-and-iphone-laptop-dock.html), which uses your phone for the notebook's processor and HD (it's in development), and there was the Motorola Atrix (http://www.ebay.com/bhp/motorola-atrix-laptop-dock), that did similar, but was waaaaaay overpriced and never took off. Apple designed IOS as a branch of OSX, and Win8 is designed for tablets, desktops and to a lesser degree phones. .
We are currently working backwards, we always have our phone with us, and our data stored elsewhere, then try to sync everything. This is wrong. Store everything in your phone, it's right there, and simply run everything from it. Most newer phones can already do this, they only lack a desktop interface (just an app), the wireless screen (Intel has it, it's just not efficient enough for a phone) and the storage (which is coming). Many already have HDMI output and with a bluetooth mouse and keyboard you can already do this. You can also use a USB OTG cable on some devices, which allow you to connect anything USB to your phone. So the groundwork is already in place, it's only a matter of time. I have already used my phone this way, and those new watches that connect to your phone... There you go.
We will still have desktops in the form of workstations for work because you need a bit more grunt and employers would prefer the data to remain on site, servers will of course still be needed, but for homes, expect the desktop tower to disappear, and probably for tablets and notebooks to lose their processors and drives. For extra storage, NAS and home file servers will become more and more common for storing movies and music collections. This has already started, Seagate and Western Digital already sell network connected backup drives, which is just a single drive NAS. Expect all of that to change some as well though, as file servers and NAS boxes don't need a lot of power, you can already run them from a phone, too.
The old saying, everything old becomes new again...
This is basically a return to "dumb terminals", where you have an interface to a mainframe, except in this case, your phone serves as the mainframe. This is why Microsoft is in panic mode and pushing Windows 8 and why Intel is getting into ARM. They both MUST get into the phone market before they become relegated to strictly server rooms and workstations. Intel knows they waited too long and MS is trying to leverage their desktop OS into a phone/tablet OS, which as thus far been a disaster for them.
All those people who (some from the get go) predicted the death of the desktop... Were morons. You have to have something to replace it, something not necessarily faster or more powerful, but something relatively capable, and much more convenient. Until now, there really wasn't anything capable of it. Yes, you could use a laptop as a desktop, but it was a hassle and only offered a minimal experience. It wasn't enough and you had to buy the notebook and adapters. Everyone pretty much has a phone and they already destroyed the GPS market and MP3 player market. Now they are aimed squarely at console gaming, and once that is done, desktops will be next. While it sounds revolutionary, it's actually more evolutionary, as I said, the basics are already there.
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Looks like I joined in on this conversation a little too late. Generally speaking if your drive's partition table is hosed it can be repaired. The best thing you can do in the event of a corrupt partition table is make a sector copy of the drive (think dd). Clearly that requires access to a second large disk, but it saves a LOT of pain in the end. This way anything you do can be restored easily enough.
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Actually I could still use the info. How do I go about doing a sector copy? Are you talking about something like ghost drive back up?
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I covered that in post #10 (as with everything else that is pertinent.) Clone it with whatever you like. Ultimate Boot CD has several tools. You still need use data recovery software on the clone drive to get the data back. Cloning in and of itself does not recover anything.
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Right, cloning is just a precautionary measure taken to ensure you don't lose or destroy what data is on the drive before you start your recovery process. Tools like Acronis true image, ghost, dd in *nix land come to mind.
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I've come to prefer Active Disk Image, preferably on a USB stick, I keep one in my work bag.
Acronis is nice, but I have seen it have problems with certain Windows boot sectors if they have been altered in some form, such as cracked copies of Windows. Active Disk, doesn't care and just images the whole thing regardless. I've found it to be more reliable.
Ghost, last I used it was quite dated, but was the most reliable, the problem with Ghost is you can't easily pull files back out of it without extracting the image to a drive. Active Disk Image and True Image, you can load up the image and pull files out as needed through a small program. This is handy while on site and realizing you missed something before wiping out a system.
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I have never used Active Disk Image, but it sounds as good as any if not better. My experience with disk imaging is a bit dated. I normally just do things the old fashioned way - I may check it out though. Always good to update to newer tech or better software.
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Ghost, last I used it was quite dated, but was the most reliable, the problem with Ghost is you can't easily pull files back out of it without extracting the image to a drive. Active Disk Image and True Image, you can load up the image and pull files out as needed through a small program. This is handy while on site and realizing you missed something before wiping out a system.
I know Ghost 14 allows you to do what you describe. I haven't used any versions prior to that. Also, I'm surprised to see no love for testdisk in this thread (unless I just missed it).
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To the OP: Where did you buy the 3TB drive? Newegg, perhaps? I've read a bunch of reviews on Newegg for those 3TB Green drives, and a lot of people were complaining that the 3TB drives bought from Newegg, specifically, were failing, while 3TB drives bought from retail stores were doing fine. Maybe a bunch of people at the Newegg warehouses are messing around with the shipments.
I have a couple of 3TB drives myself (one from Hitachi, and another Green drive from WD), and they've been doing well for a year now (knock on wood). Both were purchased from retail stores.
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Budget USB controllers are dangerous.
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To the OP: Where did you buy the 3TB drive? Newegg, perhaps? I've read a bunch of reviews on Newegg for those 3TB Green drives, and a lot of people were complaining that the 3TB drives bought from Newegg, specifically, were failing, while 3TB drives bought from retail stores were doing fine. Maybe a bunch of people at the Newegg warehouses are messing around with the shipments.
I have a couple of 3TB drives myself (one from Hitachi, and another Green drive from WD), and they've been doing well for a year now (knock on wood). Both were purchased from retail stores.
I bought them from amazon.
Budget USB controllers are dangerous.
I did a full check on my drives (7~8 freaking hours each) and none had bad sectors. I'm suspecting the cheap ass dockI used to transfer data could beat fault here because everything else seems fine. I have solid components in my PC, I didn't cut corners with anything when I built it a few years ago.
And every time the hdd went to **** it was in the dock. Happened a total of three times now over the past few years.
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Cables are also problematic, especially runs over 6 foot.
That 15 foot USB limit, won't reliably happen on cheap parts, and trying to, can result in damages peripherals.
My entire system is on 10-15 foot cables due to my setup, and I had a heck of a time. Almost had a $300 video card warrantied over bad cables, almost replaces $500 in monitors as well.
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To the OP: Where did you buy the 3TB drive? Newegg, perhaps? I've read a bunch of reviews on Newegg for those 3TB Green drives, and a lot of people were complaining that the 3TB drives bought from Newegg, specifically, were failing, while 3TB drives bought from retail stores were doing fine. Maybe a bunch of people at the Newegg warehouses are messing around with the shipments.
I have a couple of 3TB drives myself (one from Hitachi, and another Green drive from WD), and they've been doing well for a year now (knock on wood). Both were purchased from retail stores.
I bought them from amazon.
Budget USB controllers are dangerous.
I did a full check on my drives (7~8 freaking hours each) and none had bad sectors. I'm suspecting the cheap ass dockI used to transfer data could beat fault here because everything else seems fine. I have solid components in my PC, I didn't cut corners with anything when I built it a few years ago.
And every time the hdd went to **** it was in the dock. Happened a total of three times now over the past few years.
I see... I've also heard Amazon's packaging of hard-drives is pretty atrocious as well. Maybe that might have had something to do with it?
Or it could also be your docks, as you say.
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Budget USB controllers are dangerous.
100% agree. You should replace that thing if this keep getting corrupted disks. Get something with USB 3.0 or eSATA at least. I can't really recommend a good enclosure all of my experiences have been with external hdds and they've bone awesome. I use my WD passport 320gb on my wii and it works amazing. No problems.