data recovery on my LaCie Big Disk extreme 500GB

[jean nichols]

<p>My external LaCie Big Disk extreme 500GB does not show on my desktop anymore. I switch the power supply with my 250 GB but the problem is not fix. It does a strange noise, I suspect failure.</p>

<p>I can I recover data from this HD? Using a software? Or I have to bring it to a technician?</p>

<p>Thank you,</p>

<p>BigBlaze</p>

[eric_brody]

<p>The first question, of course, is whether or not this is the only copy of the data. If it is not, play with it all you want, see what you can do, but the drive is likely a lost cause. If it is the only copy of the data, you have a good reason to make a belated new years resolution to back up critical data in the future. There are data recovery companies out there but they are likely not to be inexpensive.<br>

I'm truly sorry, but find it hard to believe no one has suggested you back up your files.<br>

All hard drives will fail, we just cannot predict when.<br>

Good luck.<br>

Eric</p>

[janne_moren]

I had a LaCie Big disk. After about a year it failed; when I tried to start it up it'd just do this faint *tock* *tock* sound. It was still under warranty so I turned it in for repairs. They insisted it was the power supply that was at fault (sounded kind of unlikely though, as the initial boot seemed to work), and I got it back with wiped or new drives inside. After less than another year it failed again, in the exact same way.

 

Since a backup unit that fails every year is about as useful as a bowling ball made of tofu I just got a Buffalo network disk unit instead. Haven't had a problem since.

[JAPster]

<p>First, turn everything OFF, and carefully double-check ALL the cables, make sure that EACH cable is snuggly and securely plugged in at each end. Sometimes a cable connection can get knocked loose on one end causing loss of connection. Use the original power adaptor & cord that came with the drive when you bought it, a different adaptor might be rated differently and not be able to provide enough voltage and/or current. Power up the external drives first and wait about 1 or 2 minutes, then power up your PC. Give it 5 minutes to finish booting itself. That should be plenty of time for the CPU to recognize the external HD, make the handshake, and put the entry under MyComputer (I'm assuming its a Windows PC).</p>

<p>If you still do not see the external HD in the MyComputer drives list, then its likely your external hard drive has experienced a hardware failure resulting in loss of access to any data on that hard drive. HOPEFULLY, you will have been making backup copies of your critical files on CD or DVD, and can fetch those backup copies. If you have not been making backups, then you may be in trouble if these were mission critical files and you cant recover them.</p>

<p>If you DO see the external drive in the My Computer drive list, then see if you can navigate down into any subfolders. See if any folders are missing. See if any files are missing. See if the PC acts strange, sluggish, slow, or gives you any weird error msgs when you try to access that drive and its subfolders. Any of these bad response would be symptoms of file system corruption, again that's bad news.</p>

<p>You can check the Event Viewer widget to see if Windows saved any specific disk error messages that might indicate specific problems...<br>

START => CONTROL PANEL => ADMINISTRATIVE TOOLS => EVENT VIEWER => Click on<br>

SYSTEM and look through the list for any disk related ERROR Messages.</p>

<p>Can you try some of these things, and report back if you had any luck?<br>

AP</p>

[colin_mattson1]

<p>Clicking on an older LaCie enclosure is strongly indicative of a failed power supply. While it's possible your 500 uses the same supply as your 250, it's also very possible it doesn't—the smaller drives often used a lower-wattage power supply (which, like a failed one, won't provide enough juice; more catastrophically, LaCie warns trying to use a lesser-equipped supply on a drive that shipped with a higher-power one can cause hardware failure).</p>

<p>Big Disks are getting up there in age and a drive failure's possible, but given you say the failure was sudden, I'd still lean toward a power supply. <em>Generally</em> you'll see warning signs of a drive failure before it occurs. The old LaCie power supplies, on the other hand, just up and pack it in.</p>

<p>If you don't want to chase it any farther, this would be the time to restore from your backups and get on with things. Otherwise I'd wager a new power supply's a good bet.</p>

[bob_maria]

<p>Hello Blaze,<br>

If your external LaCie Big Disk extreme 500GB does not show on my desktop anymore and making a strange noise then it means there are some physical damage in it. You should see a technician for, after repair if you get your data then it's ok else you can try a data recovery software for the recovery of your data.</p>

 

<p>Thank you</p>