Working with big quantities of information? You know the panic moment when you realize that you need some files that you deleted a long time ago. This is the subject of this article : Western Digital hard drive data recovery. First lets start with some general data recovery advices, valid for all type of data devices, PC’s, Mac’s, phones.
Don’t forget to back up your files. As life coaches like to say, there’s something positive about every negative thing that happens to us. When your USB flash drive suddenly disconnects from your computer or your operating system starts to insist on checking your SD card, it may be a blessing in disguise. These early warning signs give you a chance to properly back up your files, if you haven’t done so already. We can probably all agree they are much better alternative to a sudden, irreparable failure.
The first step is to remove the hard drive from the device if possible, or otherwise stop using it. Any actions, even installing a recovery app, risks overwriting the files you need. The good news is that when you delete a file on a drive, all that data doesn’t immediately go away. The computer mostly erases the information that points the computer to that chunk of data, which will remain until it gets written over. This works differently depending on whether you have a magnetic spinning disk drive or a solid-state drive (SSD), which you’ll find on most modern computers. But either way, recovery is possible.
You’ll know if your hard drive has been mechanically damaged if on trying to access the data on it, you can hear a distinguishable clicking sound. When a hard drive suffers a mechanical failure, there is little you can do to help. Professional help is your best bet in such a case so you might have to take it to a hard drive recovery service center.
If Your Drives Spins Ups and Is Detected by Your Computer, But Hangs When You Try to Access It: This usually means that the magnetic media is degraded. Basically, there are a large amount of bad sectors that the drive is trying to read, failing to do so, and hanging. This is a common problem that occurs over time and can be worked around, but only with professional data recovery equipment, more specifically a hard imager. If you look at the SMART values of the drive you’ll notice and large amount of reallocated sectors to confirm your suspicions. If the data is important then send it off to the pros.
Before you bring out the heavy guns, make sure that it’s not a connectivity problem. First, swap USB cables and ports to rule them out. Still no dice? Now, check if it’s a problem with the external drive’s enclosure itself. Eject the external USB drive from your computer, and if it’s powered by an adapter, unplug it from the wall outlet. It’s highly recommended that you ground yourself with an anti-static wristband before attempting this to avoid injuring yourself or damaging your drive further. Next, crack its case open then check the physical cables that connect the hard drive to your USB output. Note: The connections can either be IDE (wider connectors) or SATA (small connectors). Check for any loose cables and make sure that they’re firmly connected.
Western Digital (WD) Elements Portable Hard Drive is a very popular kind of portable hard drive. With big capacity and fast data transfer speed, this portable hard drive is widely used for data storage & transfer. But data loss can happen on any kind of device including WD Elements Portable Hard Drive of course. There are many reasons behind data loss, but in most cases the data has not been lost permanently. Once you find the right solution, you can completely recover lost files from WD Elements portable hard drive. Read more info at Recover lost files from WD Elements portable hard drive.