Hard drive retrieval

dragonworks

Banned
Any way to retrieve data on a hard drive from an HD24. We had a power surge, wiped out the HD24 while the hard drives were in. I hooked up my other HD24 and it cannot read them. The display states drives not formatted do you want to format, Yes or No. I chose no of course but I am afraid all of the data on it is lost for good.
 
The only thing I'd try is pulling the HDD and slaving it to a computer to see if it's recognised, but it seems like a real long shot.
The fact that the HD24 offers to format the drive for you makes me think it can 'see' it, which I don't expect is good news.

They're IDE right? Most modern desktops wont have an IDE port. Core2duo era or earlier might.
If you happen to have an IDE HDD or CD/DVD caddy, it would do the job for testing.

Good luck.
 
The only thing I'd try is pulling the HDD and slaving it to a computer to see if it's recognised, but it seems like a real long shot.
The fact that the HD24 offers to format the drive for you makes me think it can 'see' it, which I don't expect is good news.

They're IDE right? Most modern desktops wont have an IDE port. Core2duo era or earlier might.
If you happen to have an IDE HDD or CD/DVD caddy, it would do the job for testing.

Good luck.

Long shot is probably correct. But I have and there probably still are, IDE to USB docking stations. But, I think the format is a proprietary format or you might get lucky and it is a Linux format (many portastudios used Linux). Either way, I am pretty sure it will not be DOS based.
 
That look promising. Maybe the only issue with the HDs is the FAT file got screwed up and it can't boot up. If you can access the drives and there are tools, there is hope.

Do keep us informed, like to know the results.
 
Here's something else to try:

Put the hard drive in a freezer overnight (wrap it in a plastic bag to keep out moisture from condensation). Then, while it's still cold, re-install it and see if you can read the data from it. This is an old trick, but it works pretty well with a failing drive.
 
Here's something else to try:

Put the hard drive in a freezer overnight (wrap it in a plastic bag to keep out moisture from condensation). Then, while it's still cold, re-install it and see if you can read the data from it. This is an old trick, but it works pretty well with a failing drive.

That would probably be if the drives don't spin. The old IBMs PS2's I think they were, use to have an issue with their HDs not spinning, I would tap them lightly and away they would go.

If I were to guess the FAT file was corrupted and the machine can't find the index (hence reformatting to create the FAT file). But I think when it reformats it will do a wipe out (sometimes they don't) of the data. If the tool kit that the vendor gives may be more forgiving and be able to view the data.

Putting it in the freezer could make the HD freeze up and not work at all (that was just a joke in case I insulted anyone)
 
That would probably be if the drives don't spin. The old IBMs PS2's I think they were, use to have an issue with their HDs not spinning, I would tap them lightly and away they would go.
No, this isn't confined to non-spinning drives. Platters can warp slightly, particularly when warm, and this allows reads off them.

If I were to guess the FAT file was corrupted and the machine can't find the index (hence reformatting to create the FAT file). But I think when it reformats it will do a wipe out (sometimes they don't) of the data. If the tool kit that the vendor gives may be more forgiving and be able to view the data.
Does the Alesis even use a FAT system?

Putting it in the freezer could make the HD freeze up and not work at all (that was just a joke in case I insulted anyone)
Putting it in the freezer gives any music recorded on it a much colder sound.
 
No, this isn't confined to non-spinning drives. Platters can warp slightly, particularly when warm, and this allows reads off them.

Does the Alesis even use a FAT system?

Putting it in the freezer gives any music recorded on it a much colder sound.

Doods... Just chill...

Your incumbent trolling moderator....

:D
 
No, this isn't confined to non-spinning drives. Platters can warp slightly, particularly when warm, and this allows reads off them.

Does the Alesis even use a FAT system?

Putting it in the freezer gives any music recorded on it a much colder sound.

I call it FAT, but it has to have some kind of File Allocation Table (I used the term loosely), but some type of indexing table to show where files are, answer is, probably no, but there is some table to read from.
 
I call it FAT, but it has to have some kind of File Allocation Table (I used the term loosely), but some type of indexing table to show where files are, answer is, probably no, but there is some table to read from.
There's usually 2 copies of whatever system table is used to track sector assignments. You may be right -- it may be a corrupt table. I don't know what OS Alesis uses (though I'll be it's Linux based). The freezer trick won't help with corrupt tables, but the usual problem for failing drives is mechanical, and the freezer trick works with that. It might be interesting to stick it in a Linux machine and see if the drive can be mounted by the OS.
 
I think Alesis calls it SKS file, Not 100% on that. But HDtools is his best bet. great program.

If HDtools doesn't do it for you, go the yahoo hd24 lots of great info there on the HD24
 
when I put the drives in my other HD24 it reads not properly formatted.

Is there an error code for drive failure? Otherwise, the failure code could be so generic that it is more or less useless. Try getting it to a PC so you can give it a better look. I assume there are important recordings on there.

Don't they make a converter kit to remove the hard drive and replace it with an Micro card?
 
from reading the manual for the HD24 tools it looks like I may need a fireport, which I don't have. I have emailed the author of the software asking him. Hope to get a response soon.
I haven't gone at is since last Sunday, I don't think there is an error code, just the drive not formatted properly response plus do you want to reformat yes or no, which I chose no of course.
Alesis no longer makes the HD24 and after emailing them I don't believe they even know that this software exists. I got a response telling me that HD24 Connect will not work which is their
software. I emailed them back with the link to HD24 tools and told them it wasn't their software. Haven't heard from them since. They never were very responsive.
 
Looks like the fireport is for connecting the whole caddy to your pc. It's the quick/convenient solution.

However, inside their caddy it just a standard IDE HDD, by the looks of it.
I'd take that out and pop it in a standard IDE/USB enclosure and forget about the alesis SCSI type connector all together.

If you can get a computer to recognise it and determine the file system you might have half a chance.

Check this picture.
 
Based on this pic, the fireport was just an adapter for the IDE. If you have a desktop and IDE (many do since there are still a lot of DVD/CD drives out there, pop it in the case and hook it up as a regular HD, try the software you mentioned to view the drive as Windows will not natively be able to see it.

Can Apple OS'es view UNIX/Linux formatted drives?
 
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