I don’t normally write about technical how-to type stuff–but I’ve had to deal with USB hard disk failure multiple times. I’ve come up with a super simple method for recovering your data with just a few steps. Depending on the brand of drive, you’ll need a screw driver (philips or standard depending on manufacturer), a data cable, (probably SATA if the drive was purchased in the last few years), and a little tech savvy-ness.
Here’s a quick video of me talking about the trick:
Anywho, once your drive is plugged in and you turn your computer on, (BTW I should mention this is for Win 7), your computer should see the drive and install basic HD drivers allowing you to see the data that you thought you lost. Copy it over to another drive or burn it to a DVD. Toss the old drive, or use it as spare space. Just remember messing with the drive in this way probably will void your warranty. So…just a heads up. Also. no magnets, use your head, don’t get shocked….and all that legal buffer I need to put in there. If anyone knows if this works for a Mac drive or even an earlier version of Win, let me know.
I had a backup of 50% of the stuff on here and this was more of an exercise in getting the rest of the junk off of it, but still felt it might be useful information for someone.
Have a great week folks.
-G