u/larossmann

I have a hard drive that is no longer connecting. The light flashes and then stops flashing instead of constantly flashing when it’s connected to my laptop. You can hear the fan whirring in it when it’s plugged in despite not working, and just before it disconnected for the last time it successfully copied over some pictures.

I took it to Secure Data Recovery in London and they did the diagnostics and said they will be able to successfully recover. In my humble opinion it doesn’t seem that broken so surely shouldn’t be too hard? They quoted me 1600!! So I said no, and they’ve dropped it to 800. I have said yes but haven’t signed anything yet, I’m starting to feel like I’m still being scammed at 800.

Does anyone have some second options? The data is very important so I obviously do want it back but don’t want to be swindled

I have a 500 GB Segate HDD that I'm trying to recover for my mother-in-law. I've tried running DMDE to scan the volume, but it's taking a very long time (days for a full scan). I've stopped the operation after a couple of days becuase I didn't want to keep running my PC for days on end trying to scan it as I don't want an obnoxiously high electric bill. I see what looks like all BAD sectors and I keep getting a WinError 1117 popup error (see photos). Is this something that anyone has seen before and was able to fix, or should I just send it to a professional?

Any feedback is appreciated.

Edit:

• Make/brand and exact model number - Seagate Barracuda 500 GB
• Filesystem (NTFS, exFAT, APFS, EXT4, etc.) - NTFS
• Operating System (That your device was used with and/or you are using for recovery) - I'm on Windows 11 and the device was on Windows 7 and had been upgraded to Windows 10
• Specific symptoms that your device is exhibiting, describe the problem. Images you post support the description, they're not in lieu of a problem description. - The device wouldn't boot up. I hooked it up to my PC and the PC isn't able to initialize via Disk Management

Hi,

I never thought that this specific issue would happen to me, because everythig seemed fine. I moved to a new apartment 6 months ago and packed up my gaming PC. I kept it in storage until today when I finally needed it again, only to realize my PC wouldn't boot. It wouldn't even POST, not even a splash screen. It would hard lock instantly.

After A LOT of troubleshooting I've found my Samsung 860 EVO to be the culprit. A bit unfortunate, because I have some files on there that I didn't backup yet (dumb I know, but I just didn't get around to it). I've tried using a SATA -> USB drive adapter that I know works but as soon as my computer detects it, it completely locks itself. I could be sitting in BIOS, connect the drive with the USB adapter and after a few seconds I can't do anything anymore. I'm kind of baffled as to what might be causing this. I've tried switching USB ports, SATA ports, power cables, SATA cables etc. but it seems to be that this is the only drive that's completely borked.

I've done a bit of digging, one user has had an issue with the eFuse and I did find another video where a shorted cap seemed to be the culprit. However, I've also seen some suggestions that leaving the drive on for a while might also fix it.

Has anyone come across the issue where it just completely locks a computer?

My girlfriend’s iPhone 15 pro got badly damaged in a car accident, she didn’t have any iCloud storage so her pictures of her baby never got backed up. I was just able to recover the phone from the car.

I had an old PC in which the motherboard suddenly died. So I took out the hard drive, put it in an enclosure case, and plugged it into my new PC via USB.

I couldn't access the files in the old hard drive because it was locked by Windows local user account password. So I attempted to change the ownership of the files. The drive was in the process of changing the ownership, but it was interrupted and it froze and crashed.

Now whenever I connect my old hard drive to my PC and try to click on the drive, it freezes the whole computer. The drive also gets louder. If I unplug the drive, my PC unfreezes and goes back to normal. My PC recognizes the drive and I see it, but I'm unable to access it because it freezes immediately when I click on it. It does this every time.

What is going on? And how do I fix it? I just want to recover the files in the old drive.

If someone could help, I would greatly appreciate it.

I accidentally Shift+Deleted a folder from a 4TB WD My Book (WDBBGB0040HBK-BESN i think) NTFS external HDD. I performed a full scan using DMDE.

DMDE found the deleted folder, but after recovery every file has the correct name and size while the hex values are all 00. Images and videos don't generate thumbnails or open.

The odd part is that the recovered folder structure is not the version that existed when it was deleted. It's an older version of the folder. I can tell because the files that I had previously organized into subfolders are back outside those folders. This makes me think DMDE reconstructed an older deleted directory rather than the latest one.

Has anyone experienced this? Would increasing More/Less Results or do I use another tool (UFS Explorer, R-Studio, etc.) help locate the newer directory record?

I haven't written anything to the source drive since the deletion.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi all!

I recently had some water damage to my iPhone 14pro. I opened up the phone to dry it out and then used 99% isopropyl alcohol as well.

I removed the rear cameras as well as the top speaker.

Initially, when the phone got wet, it was still functional, so I turned it off. When I turned it on the next day the phone still worked, but then the screen turned white. At that point I decided to open the phone myself to check the extent of the damage. When I removed the rear cameras, there were a few tiny water droplets there. So I proceeded as I mentioned above.

Fast forward, I bought a new lcd replacement screen to begin the trouble shooting process. When I connected the display screen flex cable, the phone booted to apple logo, and then to the “swipe up to recover” screen. (Also worth noting, when the iPhone is plugged into my MacBook Pro, finder recognizes it and there is an option to update or restore. I chose update and it was able to successfully complete the update to the current iOS for iPhone 14pro.).

When I went through the “swipe up to recover,” it then went to “passcode” screen, then it went to “attempting data recovery” once there, it the progress bar began to move, but then it would stop at around 10% and go back to the “swipe up to recover screen.” I tried again and it stopped in the same section. I then waited a day to try again and it got to around 25% then it went back to the “swipe up to recover screen.

The next thing I tried was unplugging the charging port flex. When I tried attempting data recovery again, the progress bar began increasing past the 25% mark, but once again, the screen briefly turned pink/purple, and went back to the “swipe up to recover” screen. I put a stopwatch on and the loop is ~3minutes or ~3:20.

My question is: what are the necessary flex cables that need to be attached to the motherboard in order to bypass the loop and complete the data recovery? I bought a new battery, charging port flex assembly, and a front sensor cable (proximity flex because the original tore when I took the original display screen off), to troubleshoot.

I’m hoping that these parts will help, but if they don’t, I’m sure it’s a board level issue.

Some files on my thumb drive are no longer visible. No idea why. They are pretty important data files. My compyuter is a Macbook M3 Pro.

More context: I've been transferring files to and from the Cruzer Glide thumb drive on and off all day. I opened the very files that have disappeared earlier in the day. I did get a notification earlier today that the drive was full so I had to move some files to my desktop to make room, but the files in question I saved to the thumb drive after I completed this action. Also I work in a science lab so I've been plugging the thumb drive into a few different types of machines, but I've used these machines before and never had issues.

Please help! Thanks everyone

EDIT: Sandisk Cruzer Glide 8GB SDCZ60-008G

Filesystem MS-DOS (FAT32)

Macbook M3 Pro Sequoia 15.6.1

Hello. I’m hoping someone with IT tech experience can help me please.

Firstly, I‘m sorry for the long post and I need to say I don’t have much knowledge of IT and I don’t always understand how things work or technical language.

Basically, I’d like to know if permanently deleted files from an iPhone can be recovered in any way.

I‘ve done lots of research and there’s so much conflicting information out there. Some people say when they’re gone, they’re gone forever and can’t be recovered. Some say they can be recovered by third party apps, and some even say that expert forensic software like cellebrite can recover anything.

I’ve always thought that nothing is ever really gone and can always be recovered. But I’ve read that iPhones work differently to PCs and that Apple encrypt the data so it can’t be recovered by any means. Even by the FBI!

Then I’ve read about flash drives and TRIM which says this shreds deleted data (or something) which also means it’s not recoverable.

Is any of this true please?

To add context I have an iPhone XR and do not have ADP enabled.

So, are my files truly lost? Really appreciate any help.

I had a computer back in the day with Windows Vista and then I installed Windows 7 on it. It ran okay but since I work with music production I obviously needed something better, which I eventually got. This old laptop lasted about 10 years, probably from 2007 to 2018. It was okay for what I was doing at the time. When I decided to get a new computer I didnt even want to clone the old disk, I just wanted the newest windows and a couple of files from the old drive. I bought one of those SATA adapters and started getting some files: the most important ones first. I got them out but suddenly the disk started misbehaving. It froze my explorer and my computer would sometimes eternally try to read it forever. Then I just unplugged it and never looked back since I had gotten what I needed from it.

It's 2026 and two new computers later, I remembered some old tracks I really liked were trapped in the old SATA. I decided to give it another shot and it was the same with this computer. Frozen explorer window trying to read it. But I just let it do it's thing and I guess it kinda worked because now I could see new the drive letter E: and G: but I couldnt access to it. It said:

E: Is not accessible, the parameter is incorrect. Same for G: (which is the actual drive where the data is)

I went online looking for some answers but it gets very technical and deep. I am absolutely no expert but I usually can hold my own when stuff like this happens, I've fixed some drives in the past but this one... it seems like I really hit a brick wall, I start seeing topics and words Im not familiar with and well. I wouldnt like to damage the HDD way further, if not already dead.

I thought of running a chkdsk but afaik it might ruin the disk beyond repair. I tried other recovery software but couldnt even read the disk. I also tried to check the health status with CrystalDiskInfo and something very strange happens: It takes like half an hour to open the software. If I unplug the drive it opens instantly and shows my 2 healthy local drives. As soon as it tries to read the HDD it won't open for about 25~30 mins, then it shows the drives, including the faulty one and when I click it, it takes about 5 mins to show the info. Disk still spins (I think) because of the noise I hear coming from it, but I can't for the life of me access the files. I need some good help. There are no people in my city who knows any of this. Disk seems to be on the verge of dying since it says "Caution". To be honest I don't really care if I screw this drive further or beyond repair, I've always considered the files in that drive lost forever and just moved on, but it would be nice if I could recover some more.

Edit: I dont know how but now when I try to acces the drive it says:
Location is not available. The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error.

I have an older MyBook Live that will no longer recognizes the installed drive due to SMART errors. Can anyone recommend a recovery service in the Colorado Springs or Denver area to use to attempt recovery? Only looking to recover old photos.

I discovered the issue after attempting to boot in an effort to transfer the photos to a recently acquired TerraMaster NAS for preservation.

I’ve had this easystore 2TB portable external hard drive for, give or take about 5 years now, and I absolutely loved it, it never failed me. However, fast forward to yesterday when I kept hearing the mechanical sound of something just like beeping and whirring around, at first I thought nothing of it, thinking maybe it was just something that guests were watching on the living room tv, but it was only today when I realized my drive wasn’t showing up on my PC that I put two and two together and found out where the sounds from the video came from. I’ve been looking around online for a solution, and unfortunately I think I know the only outcome of this but I really just want someone to give it to me straight, am I cooked doc?

so the back of my iphone 14 pro max shattered, so cute ! i went in and was eligible for a trade in so boom i get a 17 pro max. im out of icloud storage so they tell me to upgrade, then do a backup through my settings, then i can transfer the data from one phone to another. take as old as time i’ve done it before yada yada.

i am missing 11k pictures from my old phone which was wiped by my provider. i still have the phone as im yet to send it in due to some problems at the store (unrelated to current issue, wtv)

i called apple support and they said they could see my backup that was done (27GB) but that they cannot see the content or recover anything from their end.

i have already

1) checked deleted and hidden folders
2) resynced my new iphone with icloud to see if anything new loads in

i am missing 11k photos intermittently between April 2025 and May 2026. There’s some pictures but not most, which is why im so confused. is there any way to get the data off my wiped iphone 14 pro max? or anything i can do here? i am absolutely heartbroken so pls if anyone can help 💔

My younger brother didn't bother to remember any of his passwords and relied entirely on the Opera GX password manager for all of his passwords, including to his gmail. Apparently this is tied to your online Opera account, which, of course, he doesn't remember the password for either. He just tried running this debloat program which caused him to be signed out of all accounts: https://www.revi.cc/

Is there anything to be done to recover any of the passwords? I suggested running a file recovery program to see if anything can be located in the Opera GX folder but it hasn't turned up anything so far.

Hi there everyone!

I've looked through this sub and online and haven't been able to find anyone with the same set of issues as me so here I am. Please help :(

A few nights ago I attempted to offload photos from my iPhone to my Lacie Rugged harddrive. For honesty's sake my LaCie is probably 5+ years old, holds a decent amount of my photography work (some is backed up on other drives but not all....), and during this transfer I was attempting to move a LOT of images from my phone. 10,000+... PROBABLY DUMB I KNOW. I checked it intermittently and it was running fine and over half way done in a pretty short amount of time. (I was running SimpleTransfer if that matters.) I fell asleep and when I woke up there was a message from Windows saying there was a "malfunction" with my harddrive. It was quick and couldn't grab a screenshot so "malfunction" is all I can remember from the message in the bottom right.

Background : I used to be a Mac user and have since switched to PC and have been using MacDrive 11 to get my PC to read the files until I can afford another hard drive to transfer the files to and reformat this LaCie to exFAT.

Upon looking into my PC, the Lacie only appears in the following locations: Devices & Printers, Device Manager, and in Disk Management (but says 0MB, No Media, but also "This device is working properly." which is hilarious). See pics attached.

It does not show up in File Explorer.

I did try to reletter the hard drive, uninstall it/reinstall and update drivers from device manager. No dice.

I included images that other people have asked for on this sub.

Today I got access to a Mac computer and it also did not recognize the dive, did not show up in finder :/ So I may need to move on to recovery.

This is unfortunately very very important to me so I think if it can't be fixed on my own I would greatly appreciate your best advice on who to bring it to / send it to for potential recovery (I'm northeast US based).

I flew far too close to the sun and of course in hind sight now see that I should have been WAY more careful. Alas, nothing to do about that now, only continue forward with all the hope I got left!

Thanks for any help folks, trying to be very calm about all the damage I did. :)

Model: CPH1951

CPU: Mediatek 6779

Storage Chip: H9HQ16AFAMMD ARKEM 128+8

which options should i go to recover data like photos?

1. Chip-Off and recover data on pc method

2. Swap the uFs chip and CPU to a working mainboard

3. Slim chance recovery. Repair Mainboard. PMIC chip is physically damaged and couple more damages in mainboard that i don't know and its hard to track it down

Hi ! I have 2 old drives - one is a WD Discovery 1tb drive from 2008-09, then another is a glyph mini from around 2012 also 1 or 2tb I believe.

The ports all seem ok but after they initially powered up they didn't mount at all and then the second time around they just didn't even power up. It seems like an internal issue or maybe not enough battery power...im at a loss. These drives are formatted for macs and still do not show up on my new mac studio. I tried different adding a power source to the glyph and it just didn't help power it up or support it. I am wondering if not using the original battery source had an impact on the WD / and also the glyph. I took off the WD's enclosure but left the mini glyph as is. I am confused as to why they both had the same reaction with this computer since they have worked ok although a bit slowly in the past.

Any idea of what to do? Should I take them to a data recovery service or is there something I can do at home?

I am really hoping they aren't fried and i don't have to pay $500 for recovery....I do have a lot of what is on them backed up but after spreading out data for many years it sucks to lose some things.

I made a 26:25 screen recording using the built-in macOS screenshot tool. It completed successfully and appeared as the floating thumbnail in the corner. I accidentally dragged that thumbnail toward the Trash and the recording disappeared. I do not believe it was ever manually named or saved. It is not in Trash, Desktop, Movies, Recents, or Finder searches for large .mov files.

The recording was approximately 5.67 GB. The device is an Apple Silicon MacBook with an internal APFS SSD; the exact model/year and macOS version are currently unavailable because it has been powered off to minimize further writes.

I understand that the internal SSD uses TRIM, Share Disk in Recovery is file-level access rather than raw block access, and installing recovery software could overwrite data.

Could the video still exist in a temporary screen-capture directory because it disappeared from the floating thumbnail before being formally saved? Are there any safe locations or filesystem records worth checking from Recovery mode?

If not, does a professional recovery lab have any realistic chance with an encrypted, soldered Apple Silicon SSD, or is the file effectively unrecoverable after TRIM? I am looking for technically informed advice before powering it back on.

Hi everyone,

I’m hoping someone here has an idea because these voice notes mean the world to me.

I had WhatsApp on an Android phone and switched to an iPhone in 2023 using the official transfer process. All of my chats transferred successfully, but some voice notes from 2021—sent by my parent, who has since passed away—did not.

In the chat, the messages are still there, but they show a download icon. When I tap it, WhatsApp says “Unavailable.”

Someone please help me

I sent in my SD card since it had a crack in it and they sent this, should I get a 2nd opinion?

So, I've been trying to recover 2 .mkv files I may have accidentally deleted (they're gone, but I genuinely don't remember deleting them) and when I've tried using Windows File Recovery and Recuva (because they're the only ones that I can actually recover the files without paying first) the files have come back corrupted so I can't even determine if the files are what I needed.

I've tried recovering them from two different hard drives I know they were on (a 1tb HDD NTFS and a 500gb SSD NTFS) however they files were made in 2025 and there's the possibility that they've just been rewritten over.

Should I still try to recover these files and are there better programs to recover these files (ones where they won't just scan my computer, claim to found all these files, only to force me to pay to see if any of them are the ones I need)