Yeah well I'm screwed

[Raven]

I guess this should go here.

I don't really know how to start so I guess I'll just spit it out.

In my everlasting luck with PCs, my hard drive blew up as well as the backup hard drive. HOW I do NOT know but both of them are totally fried, you tell me how...
That means everything I've ever done has gone down the crapper. Everything.

I have about 5 files on this mac that I made on this not Windows, so yeah, everything is gone.

So yeah. No more mod, not that it really matters as it seems it would never get completed due to my real life situations, but still, I was happy with how things were going and YES I am *rather* pissed that I've lost everything I've ever done.

So yeah, fan-f***ing-dabby-dozey...

[Red Devil]

*goes and makes more backups on DVD*

[Steeveeo]

Keep your friends close and your beta testers closer, you never know how many backups you may need.

You may still be able to access one of the harddrives using GetDataBack and setting the kaput drives to slave, unless that is, that BOTH harddrives' motors and/or readers have been damaged/destroyed, which is unlikely.

GetDataBack

[Raven]

They make a very strange noise when you try to use them, like a high-pitched buzzing. I *really* doubt that they are accessible but its worth a try in the morning.
My CD backups have mysteriously disappeared *look at brother* more than likely...

So yeah I'm left with one hard drive with Ubuntu on it.

[Warfreak]

NOOOOOOOO (Ox10000000000 to save space) ! (x 10000000, same reason)

May the Jenovian R.I.P 

[Steeveeo]

hmm, you sure your brother didnt stick anything in the drives?

Anyway, crack open your case and pull out the damaged harddrives, then inspect for any foreign objects lodged in between the platters (try not to get fingerprints on them).

If there's nothing, and you're truely worried about losing the drives before you retrieve the data, take them to a pro and see if they can get anything from them.

Anyway, the getdataback is definitely worth a shot, and I'm pretty sure it works for Ubuntu. I've used it to get back an important document or two (family photo's, irreplaceable homework, etc), I'm nearly 90% sure it will work.

[Avatar]

Pros cost big bucks... and try a few other things before you even think about cracking the case on a drive.

First and easiest is leave them in the freezer overnight.  This shrinks bearings and connections.

Hook the drive up to another computer, preferably with a USB connector.  There are numerous adapters or drive housings available, or grab an external USB CD drive from a friend and crack that case, hooking the drive up in place of the CD.  This is to minimize the time it's running, using every second to retrieve valuable data.

If you can't access the drive normally try one of the data retrieval utilities, but do so with the drive hooked directly up to the computer.  Many of the best utilities can't work through anything but a straight IDE or SATA connection.

If the above doesn't work, strangely enough a sharp smack on a very hard surface (concrete) can realign platters or free welded parts.  Smack the drive straight down on the flattest part and then try the above again.  Do this ONLY if all else fails as it's sure to the end of the drive doing this.

Either way, if you retrieve your data toss the old drive.  Smash it with a sledge hammer if you're not sure if it contains things like account numbers, SSN numbers, phone numbers, or just to relieve your frustrations.

Believe it or not the freezer trick works quite often and is painless...

-Av-

[GSH]

External USB backup drives are dirt cheap these days. You can get a 500GB external drive for just over $100. I back up to that monthly -- the external drive is connected and powered on for maybe 30 minutes a month while it's pulling down updates. Plus, I burn DVDs monthly of the important files.

That's worked out really pretty well in practice. When I had the HD in my main box die ~2-3 years ago, I think the only thing I might have lost was three or four 1.3 private builds. Considering I've got over 1000 archived private builds, that gives me pretty good coverage.

-- GSH

[Avatar]

Network storage is getting cheap and fast, too.  I'm seriously thinking that my future systems will be minimal on the main drive, storing all data files in shared and private folders over the network.

Lol, I just love saying 'network' when talking about my cheap router and a few old PC's.  Sounds very impressive, though...

-Av-

[bigbadbogie]

SHHHIIIIIITTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i was going to be a beta tester 


PLEASE TRY TO GET THE STUFF BACK RAVEN!!1

[technoid]

Hard drive cooler fans also help as drive overheating is also one way they die.  This happened to one of my drives several years ago and fortunately I didn't totally lose all data (some sectors weren't recoverable and it wasn't too important to retrieve everything).   Not sure about your situation, but hopefully you'll find a way to get your stuff back.  Just another painful lesson of preventive pursuits of archival happiness.

[anomaly]

Wow, that sucks.  I really hope you're able to recover some data from your HD.

Come to think of it, this makes how many mods discontinued/setback by HD crashes?

[bigbadbogie]

200000000000 and counting 

[OvermindDL1]

I have multiple Seagate FreeAgent 500GB drives (by multiple, I mean I have a lot, about to get another).  Had them since they first started making them, a couple are used *all* the time and they still live, so I trust them.  But yea, can never have too many backups.

[Nielk1]

The clock is ticking on my drives I gues. I need to burn some stuff... I need more DVDs.
*looks up at 500 or so 1 layer DVDs already burned over the years that happen to NOT contain any mod work*
Shudder.