What’s the safest way to recover 700 GB from a drive with 100 pending sectors?
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MellowCedar47
My hard drive is reporting 100 pending sectors, and it contains about 700 GB of photos and videos. The files are stored in a few very large folders, some over 100 GB. I have another drive ready, but I'm worried that copying everything at once could put extra stress on the failing drive. Is there a safe way to split the data into manageable batches, or should I use a different recovery method?
Answers
Don’t move the files—copy them. Moving can delete the original after each successful transfer, which increases the risk if the drive encounters a read error. Copy the most important data first and verify that the copied files open correctly.
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Before doing anything else, check the complete SMART information with a tool such as CrystalDiskInfo. Pending sectors mean the drive has encountered sectors it could not read reliably, so it may be deteriorating. Avoid unnecessary scans and prioritize irreplaceable files.
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For a drive that may be failing, a sector-by-sector image is generally safer than copying through the normal file system. A recovery tool such as GNU ddrescue can skip unreadable areas, save a map of what was recovered, and retry difficult sectors later. Make sure the destination is large enough and never use the failing drive as the destination.
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A failed clone does not necessarily mean the files are gone, but don’t keep repeatedly reconnecting or scanning both drives with ordinary file tools. If the data is irreplaceable, the safest option is a professional recovery service. Otherwise, work from an image made with a recovery-focused tool, then recover files from that image in batches.
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MellowCedar47: I tried cloning the drive with another utility, but it stopped around 95%. Both drives now show roughly the same used space, although they cannot be read simultaneously on the same computer. The original drive has been stored unused for more than a decade, so I’m checking the SMART values before attempting anything else.