Old Harddrive woes

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Greetings,
I have a very old LaCie HD that I plugged in and its sounds sad, creaky and scary.

Suggestions on how to move this information to a new drive that won't strain the old drive is what I am seeking.

Is it best to move one group of folders over at a time and then let the LaCie drive "rest" in between copying files over?

Or would you think its better to clone the drive over in one fell swoop?

I am not sure if the starting and stopping in an incremental copying over does more hardship on the drive or if moving it and having it spin for an extended time is worse.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Thanks in advanced.
 

Slydude

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I'm nut sure which is best. I just had this issue with a drive that dates back to OS X 10.2 days. I didn't spend a lot of time on it because there wasn't much of anything on it that I didn't have elsewhere. Ultimately I think you're going to be stuck with picking method and hoping it works. If one method doesn't work you probably don't have mcu to loose by trying the other method.
 

pigoo3

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If you can actually get it to spin up...and you can access the files...whatever you do...DON'T turn it off! From what you describe...it may be on its last-legs.

Once you have it up & running...get everything copied over to a new drive ASAP.

- Nick

p.s. Thread move to better area.
 
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When I move the files. Do you recomend I grab them all and move them as the 160 GB group?

Or move the files in smaller increments?

I have perhaps 2 dozen folders on my top level and could move one. Let it copy over, do the next one. And so forth.

Thoughts?
 

pigoo3

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It probably doesn't matter. I would probably do smaller transfers just in case it fails halfway thru. The important thing is...if it sounds as badly as you say...you need to do all of the transfers ASAP before it fails (which means tonight)...unless you have all these files already backed up.

Been 2 hours since this conversation started...could have had everything copied already.:)

- Nick
 

IWT


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As regards "method", I'd be inclined to use Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! to clone your failing drive to a new one. Why? I think this would put less strain on the failing drive than stop/start copying, but that's just an opinion without concrete evidence to support it.

Ian
 
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As regards "method", I'd be inclined to use Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! to clone your failing drive to a new one. Why? I think this would put less strain on the failing drive than stop/start copying, but that's just an opinion without concrete evidence to support it.

Ian

Ian,
I have wondered about CCC and SD for this but I am not sure why it would be less strain. All the information still needs to be transferred, and perhaps CCC or SD would be more strain because it first catalogues the data before it sends it.

Or am I not looking at this correctly. I have a couple of days before I can try again, so open to suggestions.

Sorry Nick I did turn the HD off and I know it could have been done already, but right now I don't have my laptop and my wife is using hers almost non stop for work on her Masters.

In a couple of days I am going to make the transfer. Fingers crossed.
 

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Thank you for replying to my suggestion. That is very kind of you.

As I said, I have no substantive evidence,but I look on it this way.

Whilst you are correct in the way you describe the cloning process, I see it as a continuous one using proven software and tend to regard copying data manually in separate chunks as a start, stop, start all over again.

My thoughts are empirical rather than scientific. It’s how I would proceed.

But any method at this stage is not without its risks given the status of the failing HD.

Good luck when the day comes.

Ian
 

pigoo3

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Sorry Nick I did turn the HD off and I know it could have been done already, but right now I don't have my laptop and my wife is using hers almost non stop for work on her Masters.

In a couple of days I am going to make the transfer. Fingers crossed.

I would recommend NOT turning it on again...unless you're ready to do all of the copying/transferring. Maybe the sounds you're hearing are normal...or maybe they are the sounds of a hard drive VERY close to failing. Don't take any chances...unless this info is already backed up...next time you turn on this HD (let's call this HD "A")...get everything copied.

And once you get all the info copied onto a new HD (HD "B") ...then get out another HD (HD "C")...to make a 2nd copy. You should always have at least 2 copies of the same stuff.

As far as HD "A"...if it really sounds terrible...and if it's really really old. Once you're finished copying everything...and verified that everything copied successfully (you were actually successful opening documents & apps that were copied)...get out a sledge hammer...and bust it up into a 1000 pieces!;)

- Nick
 
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Old Hard Drive Woes

Thank you for replying to my suggestion. That is very kind of you.

As I said, I have no substantive evidence,but I look on it this way.

Whilst you are correct in the way you describe the cloning process, I see it as a continuous one using proven software and tend to regard copying data manually in separate chunks as a start, stop, start all over again.

My thoughts are empirical rather than scientific. It’s how I would proceed.

But any method at this stage is not without its risks given the status of the failing HD.

Good luck when the day comes.

Ian

It seems there is no slam dunk on how to proceed, but I do agree that the next time I plug it in, to get as much of it off as possible.

Hopefully all of it.

Its been years since I used CCC and I didn't have a good experience with it as I ended up with stray files all over my desktop, and ever since then I just never bothered with it, regardless of its sterling reputation. That was many years ago, and I know that it was more likely my fault, but I didn't understand the UI well enough and I do think I might have one shot on this only.

Fingers crossed.
 

Slydude

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one thing that might make a difference in how much data is recovered is what software is being used to transfer the files. I remember reading some time ago that the Finder tries to read / write data as many as 20 times before it decides that block is bad. Other programs had different criteria.
 

Slydude

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No. I don't recall, sorry. that statistic was part of an article on Wikipedia. I know it was several years ago because I was still writing for AboutThis Particular Macintosh e-zine at the time. I don't think the article was really looking at which was "better". It was a comparison of various programs. I'll keep looking for the stat but my Google skills seem to have deserted me at the moment.

When it comes to reading bad blocks that number may / may not be helpful. If I remember the article correctly most programs used a lower number of read attempts before it declared a failure. The good news is that's more opportunities to read the data. but the bad news is that's more strain on potentially failing drive.
 
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If I use Carbon Copy Cloner and my external drive dies half way through, will I still have what had been transferred? Or is it an all or nothing proposition?

While it's start and stop dragging it over in bits, I feel like I might get at least some of it.

Thoughts
 

Slydude

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I don't think there is a good way to predict that. It seems to me that the answer would depend upon exactly what was happening at the moment the drive died. If, for example, some files had already been written to the new drive those should be OK. If a directory change is being written then the files might not be useable. I was completing a clone recently and had the target drive go offline during the cloning process. CArbon Copy Cloner put up a warning.

I can't really say whether the files would have been useful beause I was cloning system files -- which wouldn't have been bootable since the process didn't complete. I think data files that had already been copied woul have been useful.
 

pigoo3

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I see. Talking until then works.:)

At the end of the day...I think the good old-fashioned (and simple)..."drag & drop" is the way to go. Not having heard the drive operate myself...there is always the possibility that the drive is ok & it's just noisy. With that in mind...I'm simply advising using an abundance of caution...and not running the drive any more than necessary just in case it's close to failing.

I've owned a lot of hard drives...and 10-15 years ago I can remember there being more hard drive manufacturer's (or at least more 3rd party companies slapping thier brand name on an external drives case). And back then I can remember more variation in the amount of "drive noise" that each drive made when operating (spinning sound was different between drives...the read/write heads moving back & forth made different amounts of noise). Today (or at least the last 5-7 years)...hard drives have become a lot more generic (all look, sound, and kind of operate alike).

Since this could be a pretty old drive...the drives "noise" could be normal for the drive...or it could be a result of years of "wear & tear". Copy those files over as soon as you can to a healthier drive...then no worries (and of course that info should also be copied to a 2nd good drive as a redundant backup).:)

- Nick
 

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