corrupt external hardrive

[mrjunes]

hi all, i came across this forum on my desperate search for a solution to my brothers faulty external hardrive, he accidentaly dropped it, now when its connected to a pc it just says that it needs formatting but he has all his photos on it. i suspect the hardrive is now faulty is there away to still recover the data or is it no good. any hlp would be really gratefully received. many thanks jon.

[GDH]

If it says that it requires formatting, it is actually a positive sign. It suggests that the drive is still working correctly (i.e. spinning) and that you computer detects it when it is connected.

What does it say in Windows device manager? If there are no physical problems, and the computer can see it, then you should be able to get all the data back by following the instructions in this post:

Recover a Formatted Drive with Recover My Files v4

[mrjunes]

hi, i have run the software and it has found the required data, can i load this software directly onto a usb data stick without installing it on to a pc, after buying the required licence key to use on others pc,s so if i wanted to find deleted info on another pc/laptop i could just excute the software directly from the usb stick. many thanks.

[GDH]

Hi,

To do what you describe you need a 'Data Recovery Technician' license of Recover My Files where the activation key is provided to you on a hardware dongle so you can move the license from one machine to the next.