Recover photos from damaged external hard drive

Two days ago my external hard drive gave me an error message saying I should repair or replace it. I've gotten a replacement, but when I try to copy my photo libraries it copies them for two hours, then says it can't continue because the drive is corrupted, and then nothing at all is copied. I can't open the files because they have become read only.

What can I do to try to recover my photos? This is the only copy I have of most of them because there were too many to keep on the Macbook hard drive. I know that I should have duplicate copies, I just didn't have the money for multiple drives/cloud subscriptions. Anyway, just trying to make sure I do everything I can to get back what I can, and my searches so far haven't turned up anything that seems to apply to my specific problem.

Whenever problems like this happen...many times two situations exist.

1. The files aren't recoverable.
2. It's going to cost money to recover them.

Luckily your hard drive seems to be operating to some degree.

The first thing I should ask is (since this is an external hard drive)...do you frequently or occasionally unplug the external HD from the computer. And if you do...do you follow any procedure before unplugging it?

- Nick

Hav you tried using DIsk Utility to repair the drive?

If it costs money, it costs money. But I find it helps if I know exactly what I need and who to take it to. And if it's all gone, it will be very sad.

Anyway, the drive is operating to some extent as I can view my files and was able to transfer some of them. I occasionally have to unplug it, and either I do so after powering down the laptop, or I eject the drive and then unplug it. I don't remember *recently* unplugging it without doing either of these, but I have accidentally done that in the past.

pigoo3 said:

Whenever problems like this happen...many times two situations exist.

1. The files aren't recoverable.
2. It's going to cost money to recover them.

Luckily your hard drive seems to be operating to some degree.

The first thing I should ask is (since this is an external hard drive)...do you frequently or occasionally unplug the external HD from the computer. And if you do...do you follow any procedure before unplugging it?

- Nick

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bobtomay said:

Hav you tried using DIsk Utility to repair the drive?

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Yes, I tried the First Aid function and after examining the drive it said it could not be repaired that way.

Do you hsve the same problem if you try to copy a few files at a time? It's time-consuming but has worked for me a few times in the past.

Slydude said:

Do you hsve the same problem if you try to copy a few files at a time? It's time-consuming but has worked for me a few times in the past.

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I wanted to try that, but the problem folders are a Photos folder and an iPhotos folder (I really only need the Photos folder) and when I try to open it the error message says it's read only and I should copy the folder and try again...which is what I can't do.

If it needs professionals, can anyone recommend a place? I'm not against paying to get these photos back.

Try recovery software first: Data Rescue 4 is $99 to buy but they do have a trial version that you can test with first to see if it's able to recover your photos.

Okay, I'll try that. It will probably take all weekend before I can try it (the drive is in the meantime shut down).

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Keep in mind.... the more you use that drive trying to recover your data, the greater the chance that it will fail completely. And if it fails completely, you're looking at a fee of around $1000.00 or more to professionally recover the photos.

Mise-en-scene said:

I occasionally have to unplug it, and either I do so after powering down the laptop, or I eject the drive and then unplug it. I don't remember *recently* unplugging it without doing either of these, but I have accidentally done that in the past.

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This is the answer I was looking for. To make sure you were aware that there is a proper procedure for "ejecting" an external HD before unplugging it. Sounds like you are familiar with the procedure.

- Nick

The reason why I mentioned that the recovery of your files may cost money is. In post #1 you said:

"...I just didn't have the money for multiple drives/cloud subscriptions. "

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Then in post #4 you said:

"If it costs money, it costs money."

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An inexpensive $50 external hard drive for doing backups would have saved a lot of trouble & heartache in this situation. If you can now afford to spend possibly hundreds of dollars to recover these files. It certainly seems that spending $50 for a backup external HD would have been the less expensive route!

Again. I'm only posting this reply because in post #1 you said that you had no money. Then in post #4 all of a sudden you have money. Either you have money or you don't. And if you do have money...spending $50 for a backup HD would have been a really great investment! Since hard drives can fail at anytime...it's ALWAYS a great idea to have a backup!

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

The reason why I mentioned that the recovery of your files may cost money is. In post #1 you said:



Then in post #4 you said:



An inexpensive $50 external hard drive for doing backups would have saved a lot of trouble & heartache in this situation. If you can now afford to spend possibly hundreds of dollars to recover these files. It certainly seems that spending $50 for a backup external HD would have been the less expensive route!

Again. I'm only posting this reply because in post #1 you said that you had no money. Then in post #4 all of a sudden you have money. Either you have money or you don't. And if you do have money...spending $50 for a backup HD would have been a really great investment! Since hard drives can fail at anytime...it's ALWAYS a great idea to have a backup!

- Nick

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Understood. I have never seen a $50 external hard drive with the capacity I need, however - if that's all it was I would have done it. And yes, if it costs $1,000 to recover these photos that's not going to happen right now, but hopefully I can put the drive away somewhere safe and get to it after I've had time to save. It's really not so simple as "have money or don't." Five years ago when I bought the drive, I didn't have the money for two. I also don't want to commit to a subscription for cloud storage, because I'd hate to think what happens if I have a financial crisis and can't pay for it any more. Anyway, recently I have been meaning to get a backup system (being in at least better financial shape than five years ago) but obviously I failed to act quickly enough. I just wanted people to give me all the possible solutions, whatever they might cost, so I can figure out what I can and can't try on my own.

Mise-en-scene said:

Understood. I have never seen a $50 external hard drive with the capacity I need, however - if that's all it was I would have done it.

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I don't know what size external hard drive you need (you didn't say). But here are some examples.

Complete ready to go 500gig external hard drive for $34.99:

Refurbished: WD My Passport Edge for Mac 500GB 2.5" USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive Model WDBJBH5000ABK-NESN - Newegg.com

Here's a "bare" 1 terabyte hard drive for $44.99 (just need an external case):

Western Digital RE3 WD1002FBYS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive (Certified by Dell) Bare Drive - Newegg.com

Mise-en-scene said:

It's really not so simple as "have money or don't." Five years ago when I bought the drive, I didn't have the money for two.

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Ok understandable…but that was 5 years ago. You've had 5 years since then to come up with approx. $50 to purchase an "extra" hard drive for backups!

Mise-en-scene said:

I also don't want to commit to a subscription for cloud storage, because I'd hate to think what happens if I have a financial crisis and can't pay for it any more.

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What you may not realize is…MANY online companies that offer online storage solutions…also offer free accounts with anywhere from 5gig to 10gig to 15gig of online storage for FREE! If you sign up for a number of these accounts…you could easily have a bunch of FREE online backup storage!

Here's just one example (10gig of free online storage):

https://www.box.com/personal/store-files-online/

Mise-en-scene said:

Anyway, recently I have been meaning to get a backup system (being in at least better financial shape than five years ago) but obviously I failed to act quickly enough. I just wanted people to give me all the possible solutions, whatever they might cost, so I can figure out what I can and can't try on my own.

Click to expand...

One possible solution that I didn't get a chance to mention yet was (because we got side-tracked talking about money)…is purchasing a data/file recovery app. But initially you said that you didn't have any money…so that's why I initially didn't suggest it.

You could purchase a program like Disk Warrior 5 (it costs $119.99)…to try to help recover your files.

DiskWarrior 5 - The Disk Utility for Mac Disk Repair, Mac Directory Repair, Mac Disk Recovery, Mac Data Recovery

But unfortunately as you can see by that price ($119.99)…a nice BIG 2 terabyte external hard drive (external case & all)…could have been purchased for $84.99:

Seagate Expansion STBX2000401 2TB USB 3.0 Portable External Hard Drive - Black - Newegg.com

But again…signing up for multiple free online storage accounts may have solved the problem too.

- Nick

I think at this point professional data recovery is the way to go if each recovery attempt I make on my own increases the chance of losing everything (assuming it isn't already).

I need at least two terabytes at this point. The malfunctioning drive was one terrabyte. I don't remember what I paid when I bought it (about four years ago), but it was over a hundred, I think. The difference between one and two hundred dollars mattered at the time. Now, I don't know. I tend not to buy the cheapest drives, but the ones that have better reviews (though not necessarily the best reviews). Maybe the cheapest available drive would be fine for a secondary backup in the future. I am not keen on $20/mo for 2T cloud storage.

Anyway, if there are professional data recovery companies that are known to be reputable, let me know.

Run Don't purchase Seagates the latest batch of seagates have been failing do to bad firmware they have a firmware update for them which is excellent but you have to have windows to firmware update the drive because seagate won't release a mac firmware updater.

i recommend a 2tb my passport there small they don't take a lot of space and are very reliable i have 4 2 connected to my mac pro for backups and 2 connected to my xbox one never failed or skipped a beat last seagate i had made it one week drive corrupted main board stopped functioning. never again.

Anyway, if there are professional data recovery companies that are known to be reputable, let me know.

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Drive Savers has always been highly recommended.