What did you do when your ehd...

[WalkersMommy]

stopped working? My ehd got knocked off the table and now when I plug it in it just makes a noise like it's trying to read... but the light won't come on or anything. I called a data recovery place and they said it could be between $400-$1900 to fix Anyone else have this happen to them? What did you do and were you able to recover your stuff? My son's whole life in pictures is on there, not to mention all my scrapbooking supplies and pages I've ever made. I feel sick.

[ColleenSwerb]

You can try putting it in the freezer, some people have luck with that. But since it got knocked off the table I'm guessing it jarred something loose or out of place inside, which means the freezer probably won't help.

This is why people are always talking about multiple back ups. 1 EHD isn't enough.

[jenn7]

Sorry this happened to you. I have had EHD failures before too. This is why I now backup to DVDs and another EHD as well.

[Julie Billingsley]

when it happened to me, I cried. a lot.

about 18 months ago that happened to me, well except my EHD didn't get knocked down, it just suddenly freaked out. I took it to Best Buy's geek squad and they couldn't fix it so they sent it to a data recovery place. The discs in the EHD had misaligned and they had to rebuild the EHD in a 'clean room'. It cost me about $1800 It was so much money that I almost didn't do it but my hubby was insistent because when he was a child a fire destroyed all his childhood pics. He didn't want that to happen to our kids. Now I have everything on DVD, on another EHD, and backed up to Mozy.

I'm so so so sorry. ((hugs)) Hope yours is an easier and cheaper fix.

[newfiemountiewife]

I hope you are able to save the stuff on it, you will have to pay, because it does take a long time for them to get things off. My computer guy does a lot of this stuff, and has helped me out a lot.

I back up on DVD and I have 2 EHDs. Tony also has an EHD and does DVD back ups. Our pictures are everywhere. I never want to lose them. I don't care about my scrap stuff, because even though it'd be a pain to replace, I COULD. I can't replace pictures which is why Tony and I are so insistent on so many back ups.

((hugs)) to you!

[mummytothree]

I'm so sorry Fairon!!! I hope you can figure something out!!!

[Julie Billingsley]

you are in Washington right? I know Misty Cato had this happen to her also and she had a guy in Washington get the stuff off her hard drive. She was able to make sure he recovered everything she wanted. I wish I had been able to use her guy but I didn't know about him until after mine was sent out. Anyway, you might PM her and ask for that guy's info.

[Gemma]

Oh no, I hope it doesn't cost too much to get it fixed.

I haven't had to deal with an EHD breaking down on me yet, it was only 3 days ago I backed a lot of my kits and ALL my photos on to DVD's, I need to do the rest of my kits at the weekend I think. I guess I've been lucky so far.

[WalkersMommy]

I know, I know, I should have backed up Too late now lol.

I'm going to try sending it to a data recovery place. I know it will be expensive, but I'm willing to pay to get my pictures back.

Thank you ladies

[WalkersMommy]

Oh! I just remembered that I did backup about the first year of my son's life in photos onto cd's a while back. So... at least I have the pictures from his birth and most of his first year if the hard drive isn't fixable...

[jaylensmom]

one of my phd died on me and i ended up getting a recovery software and i was able to recover most of my stuff...my main concern was my photos...i'm not even sure i tried to recover my layouts i was just happy to get my photos...

[Sarah8914]

Oh no!!! So sad!! I'm like Jamie. Our pics are backed up a lot, but scrap stuff... not so much. I need to back up some more layouts, because of all the time i put into them... but scrap stuff isn't as big a deal. I hope it isn't too expensive!

[Jengerbread88]

I have mine on two EHDs... One portable, one not portable.
I'm considering buying a new one, a smaller one maybe... I've also lately been trying to back up the SUPER important kits and photos on a flash drive (kits on one, photos on the other). Just in case.

[WalkersMommy]

Originally Posted by jaylensmom

one of my phd died on me and i ended up getting a recovery software and i was able to recover most of my stuff...my main concern was my photos...i'm not even sure i tried to recover my layouts i was just happy to get my photos...

What software did you use? I'm just scared to do something wrong, lol. I know it's going to be ridiculously expensive, but I almost feel better just sending it in. Did yours just stop working or was it a physical failure(like mine falling off the table)?

[kscwgirl]

I have mine on 2 big ehd's and a portable ehd and i use mozy and i have dvd's burned. I would seriously freak out if i lost all my pictures.

Hope you can get your stuff back!!

[carrie1977]

Oh no! I hope it isn't too costly.

I started saving all my stuff to DVD's as well. I save all my zipped folders of my scrap kits and all my photos.

[MamaBee]

Oh no!!! I so sorry... I sure hope that you are able to get your data and it doesn't cost a lot!! GOOD LUCK!

[ColleenSwerb]

Originally Posted by carrie1977

Oh no! I hope it isn't too costly.

I started saving all my stuff to DVD's as well. I save all my zipped folders of my scrap kits and all my photos.

Carrie I just wanted to let you know that zip files are very unstable. You're much better off burning the unzipped kits themselves, if you stick with DVD backup (and be careful because DVD's do corrupt over time as well). Zip files don't save you much space either for digital kits, they are mainly just to make it easier to download. Otherwise you'd have to download each individual paper and element. That's the only real purpose for the kits being zipped.

Just wanted to make sure you knew, in case you were unaware. I had no idea when I started out.

I have 3 EHD's, and my husband runs our companies IT group and is letting me bring in my biggest one and back it up to a tape drive (which is CRAZY stable and long lasting). I have all my photos in 4 or 5 places, as well as backed up to DVD's that I check every so often to make sure nothing has gone wrong with them. My digi stash is well backed up, but I don't really care about that. My main concern are all of my pictures, so I go a little nuts backing them up. And I don't even have kids! LOL!

[ksbella]

I have had this happen to me before too, about 3 years ago now, and I cried...for days! But it taught me the biggest lesson...to backup, backup, backup! Which I need to do again soon! I try and do it monthly, and I have 3 EHD's all with a copy of photos on it, plus burn them to DVD, but have also been looking into a online storage thing like Mozy. Until then, I'm probably going to store them on our work photography website so at least I have an extra storage place.

I hope you are able to recover the photos

[nonnie]

I am so glad you have this thread - I am totally going to buy a new EHD payday!!! (After I spend my sweet rewards!!!)

I hope you can get your pictures - Fingers crossed for you - let us know

[WalkersMommy]

Thank you for all the well wishes, guys. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and trying to stay optimisitc!!!

[Milmomma]

My husband is a puter geek so when ours died first of the year we took it apart cleaned it put it back together. Tried different cables/ports and then took it in to a computer tech to be evaluated. He said the drive was corrupted. I had lost about 6 months of photos, layouts and kits. It was hard but it was deal able. I know back up to the desktop, EHD and DVD's. I've been working on doing a current back up over the past week. It takes me about two weeks to totally back up. But I'm hoping to do re install of Win

[bellbird425]

Originally Posted by WalkersMommy

Thank you for all the well wishes, guys. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and trying to stay optimisitc!!!

well u dont wanna hear that when my DD knocked my ehd off the table last year (it fell onto a dining chair that has a padded seat, so not too far to fall and one would think a softish landing), it would kight up, whirr and then click repeatedly but nothing more.
We got quotes, sent away the ehd (to sydney cos we live in Aust) and they rang us a few wks later and said it was not fixable at all - we tried, y'know; they tried and that's my advice, try but be prepared for bad news. i'm sorry, i cried lots too and i had backed stuff up like a few mths before, i lost a fair amount of LO's (which one day i maybe able to rescrap based on thumbnails in online galleries) and like most of Aug 2009 in pics that i hadnt backed up. It's gotta be more devastating the more u lose ((hugs))

[scrapmommaof3]

I am going through the exact same thing right now, except my pictures weren't lost. I had all my pictures from years past backed up on dvd and this year's pics were on my computer's harddrive. But all my layouts and some kits are on it, which still makes me very upset. I took it to one guy and he said it was damaged and couldn't do anything. I have another guy taking it apart, but I don't know if he will be able to get anything off of it. I don't know if I have the heart or patience to redo all the layouts I hadn't printed yet. Maybe in a few months after I get over the loss.
By the way, there is another recent thread about Mozy and how it may not be the best option. I am backed up on Back Blaze now, so we'll see. Too little, too late for this problem but might help in the future.

[WalkersMommy]

A lot of you back up to DVD's... why DVD's rather than CD's? Do they fit more? Or are they more stable?

[ColleenSwerb]

Dvd's fit FAR more on them than CD's. But both can become corrupt over time, so I always mention that you should pop in your DVD's from time to time to make sure they are still good. Again, don't keep anything solely on a DVD.
I stick to EHD's. It takes a LOT of DVD's hold the same amount of information even a small EHD can hold. Yes, EHD's can and will fail, but I'll take that over a buttload of DVD's any day of the week.

[jessica31876]

DVD holds like 7 gigabytes (around that Im not sure exactly how many) and cd's hold a little less then one gigabyte

[ColleenSwerb]

I'd love to know what DVD's you're using Jessica, lol. I never get more than 4GB on a DVD, lol. Maybe you're using double sided?

[jessica31876]

Really mine might be 4 as well then. I always thought they were around 7 LOL. Id check but my dvd drive has not opened in like 2 months LOL. I push the button and the light comes on and I can hear the whirring inside like its trying to open but then it just stops. I was just guessing from what I could remember the last time I burned a DVD.

ETA: I looked it up and DVD's are 4.7 gigabytes. Double layer are 8.5 gigabytes. CD's are 700 megabytes. bluays hold 25 gigabytes.

[Milmomma]

Fit more yes, work better with files. More stable, not nessacarly. Its another way to back up. I have heard bad things about online places.

ETA, mine too are 4.7 I just get a round stack of them and keep them in the stack labeled.

[WalkersMommy]

Thanks for the info, girls