External HDD dying
Trying to not panic, but things aren't looking good for one of my external HDDs.
I mean, I guess I could go without it...but this HDD is an accumulation of 10+ years worth of files. This HDD that's currently failing is the copy of a past failed HDD which I had used to combine all the old backup DVDs. If this one dies, I'll lose 10+ years of
-all my music...many of which is replaceable, but there were lots of my own purchases and CD rips for music that's not so easy to find
-ALL my artwork PSD files, including a lot of unposted art/doujin
-rips of DVDs I'd gotten rid of
-concert/broadcast videos
-lots of miscellaneous WIP (sketches, translations, etc)
-my college essays/reports
-important scans/receipts/records/references
-omg not to mention all the precious seiyuu stuff.
It's just... a lot of important things I had invested a lot of time in and enjoyed over the years.
I know that if files are REALLY important then you should always have an extra backup -- which I used to -- but after that old drive died (which I assumed to be from bringing it back and forth through the airport when I traveled), then I didn't bother to buy a new replacement backup yet since that only happened last year.
I've only used this drive once or twice a month to backup crap from my laptop, so I wasn't worried about overworking it. Plus, since I've been back at home, it almost never leaves its (dry, well-ventilated, even-temperature) spot in my room, so it seemed safe enough that I didn't have to rush to buy a new external. Looks like I thought wrong!
Ugh, why couldn't this have happened to my anime HDD instead?? That thing could burst into flames for all I care and the only thing to be upset over is the wasted money. I'm trying to keep from getting upset by telling myself, "Well at least this isn't my HDD for digital photos." However this struggle ends, I'll be sure to buy a new HDD to backup my digital photos drive. It seems redundant and unnecessary since I use my photos HDD the least, but I'd hate to see this happen again.
Actually, this had happened to my last failed HDD, but that time I was able to unplug/replug the drive and sometimes sometimes my laptop would be able to read it again. At that time, it took a lot of interruptions, unplugging/replugging, but I was eventually able to copy ~95% of my data from failing HDD to a new HDD.
This time, however, several unplugs/replugs didn't give me anything. After hours of searching forums and reading up on programs or other methods, I've come up with a rough list of things to try to save the drive... Since last night I've painfully awaited the results of a couple of methods (which take several hours each to complete) with no luck. Currently continuing the fight...
I mean, I guess I could go without it...but this HDD is an accumulation of 10+ years worth of files. This HDD that's currently failing is the copy of a past failed HDD which I had used to combine all the old backup DVDs. If this one dies, I'll lose 10+ years of
-all my music...many of which is replaceable, but there were lots of my own purchases and CD rips for music that's not so easy to find
-ALL my artwork PSD files, including a lot of unposted art/doujin
-rips of DVDs I'd gotten rid of
-concert/broadcast videos
-lots of miscellaneous WIP (sketches, translations, etc)
-my college essays/reports
-important scans/receipts/records/references
-omg not to mention all the precious seiyuu stuff.
It's just... a lot of important things I had invested a lot of time in and enjoyed over the years.
I know that if files are REALLY important then you should always have an extra backup -- which I used to -- but after that old drive died (which I assumed to be from bringing it back and forth through the airport when I traveled), then I didn't bother to buy a new replacement backup yet since that only happened last year.
I've only used this drive once or twice a month to backup crap from my laptop, so I wasn't worried about overworking it. Plus, since I've been back at home, it almost never leaves its (dry, well-ventilated, even-temperature) spot in my room, so it seemed safe enough that I didn't have to rush to buy a new external. Looks like I thought wrong!
Ugh, why couldn't this have happened to my anime HDD instead?? That thing could burst into flames for all I care and the only thing to be upset over is the wasted money. I'm trying to keep from getting upset by telling myself, "Well at least this isn't my HDD for digital photos." However this struggle ends, I'll be sure to buy a new HDD to backup my digital photos drive. It seems redundant and unnecessary since I use my photos HDD the least, but I'd hate to see this happen again.
Actually, this had happened to my last failed HDD, but that time I was able to unplug/replug the drive and sometimes sometimes my laptop would be able to read it again. At that time, it took a lot of interruptions, unplugging/replugging, but I was eventually able to copy ~95% of my data from failing HDD to a new HDD.
This time, however, several unplugs/replugs didn't give me anything. After hours of searching forums and reading up on programs or other methods, I've come up with a rough list of things to try to save the drive... Since last night I've painfully awaited the results of a couple of methods (which take several hours each to complete) with no luck. Currently continuing the fight...