Drive Failure - Restoring from Backup

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M2G

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I was bad bad boy and had only part of my image library backed up in duplicate. An external Western Digital 5''GB drive was my main file destination from Lightroom as well as where I've saved other documents. One day recently it was no longer recognized as formatted on my main PC and I plugged it into my Thinkpad to confirm that it was a drive specific problem. It still spins up and acts normal until I try to access the drive letter, when I get the message "Drive is not formatted. Would you like to format it now?" I've since replaced the drive with a external RAID 1 array and have been shooting and exporting to it.

My question is if I restore an old backup of Lightroom, will Lightroom lose the location on everything I've shot and saved since that backup was made or will it add the backup data to what the program knows at this time? Does the backup restore the actual images that were imported from my CF cards or what does it restore?


As and aside, anyone know of a free or cheap data recovery resource that's also dependable? I have to recover the information on that failed drive.


Thanks!
 
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Have you tried removing the drive from its case and seeing if it works with another disk controller/case?

--Ken
 
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[quote author=M2G link=topic=8'76.msg55'92#msg55'92 date=1255358131]
No I haven't. It's an older one of these: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/522'54-REG/
[/quote]The one you show is SATA. Your older one could possible be IDE. You only need to know which 'flavor' it is before proceeding. If you have a Desktop with only one HD, you can probably just open the USB enclosure, remove the HD and plug it into the second SATA/IDE connections in the drive bay if bothe the HD and the computer connectors are the same 'flavor'. Alternately, you can buy a new USB enclosure for ~$2'. If your 'dead' 5''GB is IDE, I would not invest $2' in a new enclosure unless I was sure the old HD is functional. If the HD is SATA, I would risk the $2' knowing I could buy a new SATA HD for less than $1'' to install in the enclosure if the WD HD is truly dead.
 
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[quote author=M2G link=topic=8'76.msg55'5'#msg55'5' date=12552894'7]
As and aside, anyone know of a free or cheap data recovery resource that's also dependable? I have to recover the information on that failed drive.
[/quote]

Data recovery services can often be anything but cheap, especially if they have a good reputation.

I believe that a person knowledgeable in computers should be able to remove your drive and try it with another controller, but this may also depend on the drive technology. If it is possible and its done properly, this should cause no additional damage to your drive. Its a reasonable step to consider before trying more radical, and possibly expensive, solutions.

--Ken
 
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