Retrieving data from broken external HDD

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Hi
I recently dropped my external 3TB USB3 Seagate hard drive on the floor. Now when I plug it into my MacBook Pro it does not mount and I can't see it in Finder. The disk is formatted to Mac OS Extended Journaled. However, I can see the disk in Disk Utility.

Clicking 'Verify Disk' shows: Error: This disk needs to be repaired
Clicking 'Repair Disk' shows: Error: Disk Utility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.

I can format the hard drive though, indicating to me that hard drive is still working, but something data for reading the disk is missing (although I'm not an expert).

Basically I was wondering if there is any way to get all the data off the hard drive so I could format it so it works properly again? I thought of using recovery programs but I don't think the files are actually deleted and also I would really like to keep the folder organisation and file names (which recovery programs do not).

Thanks in advance
 

chscag

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Your only hope of extracting data from the drive is to use recovery software. Data Rescue 3 is one of the best and it does keep the folder and file structure if possible. It's $99 US but you can download a trial version to see how well it does on recovery.

Harry types faster than me! ;)
 
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I bought Data Rescue 3 and I recovered all my files, some without folder structure but at least I got them.

I still have a problem with the hard drive though because I tried formatting it using Disk Utility so it would actually mount by I get this message:
Volume Erase failed with the error: File system formatter failed.

I didn't really know what this means so I tried partitioning the hard drive using the GUID partition but that didn't work either.

Do you know how I can format it again so it works or what the problem is? Are there any other formatting programs which I can use? Thanks
 

chscag

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Honestly, that drive is probably not worth fooling with anymore. It will only give you more trouble in the future. Dig up your receipt and contact Seagate. Ask for a RMA (Seagate warrants their drives for 3 years.). Seagate should then authorize a return on the drive and send you a replacement for free. I'm not sure about the postage and handling but I believe Seagate will pay one way. (back to them)
 
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As chscag says toss it. You can bet your last dollar it will fail again and again.
 
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Thanks for the advice guys. I've sent it back to seagate to get a replacement as it does seem the easiest option.
 

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