Hey everyone, I have a Seagate Backup Plus 2TB external drive that I've been using for about 10 years. Recently, I wanted to transfer some photos from it, but the drive started making cracking noises. After transferring a few photos, it disconnected from my laptop. When I connected it again, my computer recognized it, but in the disk management, it showed as unallocated. I found a YouTube tutorial and created a new volume without formatting the drive, but now it's in a RAW state. Is there any chance I can recover my data?
4 Answers
It sounds like your drive is pretty much toast. If you stop using it immediately, a data recovery expert might be able to pull some files from it. Don't try any DIY fixes anymore, as that could make things worse. Good luck!
You might want to take your drive to a professional data recovery service. Using an old drive for crucial files can be a big mistake, especially if it’s been around for a decade! Just a reminder here: don't put all your important data on one device, especially one that's older than many gadgets out there.
Totally agree! The lifespan of an HDD is usually around 5 years, so it's really risky to keep valuable data on something like that.
Remember, a backup drive is meant to be a backup of your original files. If that’s the only place you stored your stuff, it’s a tough lesson learned. You should definitely look into getting a replacement drive.
There's a chance you can recover some files, but it's hit or miss. You might get fragments or full files back with some recovery apps. But honestly, after this experience, consider developing a better backup strategy. Relying on a decade-old drive for critical data isn't a good idea.
Yeah, messing with it more could just complicate recovery. Let the pros handle it!