I've got an old external HDD that has been giving me problems as of late, I want to copy everything on it, and format it. The problem is that most files seem to have cyclic redundancy check errors! I've had issues like this before, and you could fix it by burning the files to dvd or cd and copy it from there, but I don't want to burn 300 GB's worth of files. Too much time to be honest. I tried to compress it, as I thought it would be pretty much the same as burning it, but to no avail.
You won't be able to do a lot with this. It has bad sectors. DO NOT use it again - hopefully it is under warranty still and you can send it back. You need a tool that will recover the sectors without destroying data if it is going to work at all. You might try Spinrite as many recommend it, although personally I'd run HDD Regenerator. It is a time-consuming process, though! Oh, chances are it has overheated, so if it is out of warranty, you might want to remove the drive and connect it directly to the motherboard, save it cooking!
Well that was my conclusion too, so I did indeed take it out of the cabinet but that means my warranty is void. Will try HDD regenerator, thanks for the tip.
Depends where you bought it, and how well you took it apart. If it's your average high street chain electronics store, they might just take it back without inspecting it much! I've known that to work before now!
