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1. Do you think the virus in my computer was responsible for my external hard disk crashing?
2. Is it possible to recover that data by virus removal or should I go ahead with a data recovery software?
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A virus is probably not responsible for your external drive issues. Why would it not similarly impact your fixed hard drive?
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3. Where can I get help on data recovery on a crashed disk?
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A local repair shop might be advisable in many instances but that does not guarantee complete satisfaction, either. Otherwise, if you are game, consider the following:
Many data recovery tools can only provide limited hope for recovery. The results can vary widely as reflected by these user experiences and time commitment invested accordingly:
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I crashed my hard drive which held all my essential business data and had no back-ups. Suddenly, I was downloading every HD recovery program I could find. Most wouldn't even recognize the ruined partition more less read my data.
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I downloaded close to two dozen free/trial recovery tools off the net to recover data off one of my bosses' flash drive. Not only did every one of them fail to even detect the drive, but they all were limited [in capability].
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A cheaper, but good, alternative may potentially only yield less than complete success - Scavenger [1]
found nearly all my files and was able to recover most of them. For slightly more cost, you might get a significantly better result –‘SpinRite’ [2] is arguably one of the best tools for this purpose:
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http://www.grc.com/sroverview.htm
Post-Disaster Data Recovery is perhaps SpinRite's strongest and most unique capability since so much more can be done than any other disk utility has ever bothered to do.
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[1]
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/filescavenger.html
[2]
http://www.grc.com/spinrite.htm
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Is SpinRite compatible with USB and Firewire devices?
The best answer to this is a firm "maybe". DOS device drivers are available for most USB and Firewire controllers. If such drivers are added to a DOS boot diskette so that your USB or Firewire drive is "seen" by DOS, SpinRite will also be able to "see" and operate with it. However, the performance of the drive through the DOS drivers and the serial (USB/Firewire) cable will likely be far lower than if the external drive were connected directly to a PC's motherboard controller. If you have the ability to temporarily relocate the IDE drive inside of the external enclosure to a PC— plugging it directly into the motherboard's controller — SpinRite will be able to operate at the drive's highest possible performance.
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Other Possible Data Recovery Tools (ranked by rating):
Read the posted ‘user opinions’ for each product of interest.
SHAREWARE: http://www.snapfiles.com/shareware/s...ecovery_r.html
FREEWARE: http://www.snapfiles.com/Freeware/sy...ecovery_r.html