Catastrophic situation

[stampe]

ah so it is an external drive

you can find vids on yt how to open it. like this one for the mybook.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0aui4jMuac

also keep in mind that if you shuck an external drive, you may have to fix
the 3.3v sata pin:
https://www.ionhowto.com/wd-hdd-not-wor ... -sata-mod/

[ctaulbee]

Of note SSD digital drives fail too... eventually same as physical ones wear out... and they are impossible to recover at any price.

1. I use the upgrade before fail system.

2. Never buy huge drives that's the old "all eggs in one basket" issue waiting to get you.

Use a nominal size drive for the OS and separate slightly bigger one for data, then upgrade the OS drive every couple years and the data one after maybe three years, disc copy software makes that easy, then your always on a new SSD's.

Save the old ones as archives in case of data and use the old OS discs for backups once you reformat and check them, get a dock so you can easily plug them in and out and keep them labeled.

I have a box full of drives they really are cheap if you don't buy the biggest ones out... that's a scam.

and I have never had a system crash in 20 years, even when I was on physical spinning ones as I never let them age out...

Fact is everything fails after enough time passes, proactive prevention is the only cure.

[bazzah]

Good advice. I too use several drives, so that if one does fail I am not losing too much. Then I back up important data now and then. I also use cheaper brands, which have been great thus far.

If your system can use them, get yourself a NVME SSD. I picked up a 1TB drive for £40 a few years ago. It is lightning fast and is cheap enough to replace if needed.

[chouette]

QUOTE (Bazzah @ Feb 15 2026, 01:37 PM) If your system can use them, get yourself a NVME SSD. I picked up a 1TB drive for £40 a few years ago. It is lightning fast and is cheap enough to replace if needed.

Not so cheap here in Canada. I have EVERYTHING backed up on USB flash drives, a different PC (that I use mainly for back ups) and on the web. If not backed up, it's something that I can get easily again.

P.S. I didn't understand most of what you said Curt, lol

[bazzah]

QUOTE (chouette @ Feb 15 2026, 03:30 PM) P.S. I didn't understand most of what you said Curt, lol

Basically, buy a smallish drive and only install Windows on it. Then have different hard drives for different data. For example a drive for covers, another drive for personal documents etc. And then replace those drives every few years, before they break. Then if you do lose a drive, you aren't losing everything And buy cheap drives, as it doesn't make a lot of difference between a small brand or a big brand like WD or Samsung.
I would also add that you should not use cloud storage, but use the money you are spending to buy a local drive instead.
You can then set up automatic backups, to back everything up for you to your local drive/s

[GlobalCinema]

Sent a PM to you which may or may not help. Good luck rip.

[ctaulbee]

QUOTE (chouette @ Feb 15 2026, 10:30 AM) P.S. I didn't understand most of what you said Curt, lol

Great!

That is the exact response I was hoping for

I forgot to add, there's nothing to it, you can do it, at the end...

Did that help any?

QUOTE (chouette @ Feb 15 2026, 10:30 AM) Not so cheap here in Canada.

The manufactures know where the money is... they know you Canuck's can afford to pay more than the rest of the world!

[chouette]

QUOTE (ctaulbee @ Feb 17 2026, 08:15 PM) I forgot to add, there's nothing to it, you can do it, at the end...

Did that help any?

Nope, but it made me smile.

[ripley]

Thank you for your help boys & girls...
after several days of attempts, nothing evolved, except my legendary patience ;-)

[bazzah]

I am sorry to hear that Ripley