Data Recovery Case File · Portable Drives · Prioritise While It Works
You Are Mid-Recovery Already, and the Order Is Everything
His enquiry describes a situation this archive usually meets after it has ended. A drive that "seems to be corrupted — I can see the files, save some of them on my laptop, but not all of them. Also this process takes a lot of time." Some files are coming off, which means a recovery is under way whether or not anybody called it that — and what he does in the next few hours matters more than any decision about who to send it to.
| Media | External hard drive with localised read failure — subset of files copying successfully; remainder failing; transfer rates heavily degraded |
| Reported situation | Drive presenting a full file listing · some files copying successfully to the host · other files failing to copy · copying proceeding very slowly · error reported on connection · contents required |
| Fault class | Localised read failure with partial access available — capture order determinative of outcome while access persists |
| Equipment used | Priority order established with the owner before any further copying · failing files skipped rather than retried · Atola Insight Forensic error-rate assessment · imaged write-blocked under strict per-sector timeouts with retries capped · losses mapped per file |
The decode: what partial success means, and how to spend it
Why some files copy and others do not: the failing regions are specific ones. Files whose content sits in healthy areas come off normally; files whose content sits in damaged areas do not. That means most of the surface is fine, which is a considerably better position than a drive that gives up nothing.
Why it is slow: the time is going into retries. A drive that cannot read a region repositions and escalates through an internal recovery sequence taking seconds per sector, and a copy operation that meets one waits through all of it before reporting a failure. The slowness is not the drive being tired; it is the drive failing, repeatedly, in public.
So the single most important thing, and it is counterintuitive: do not retry files that fail. Every failed file costs minutes, and those minutes are taken directly from the files that would have copied successfully in the same time. Skip and move on. A file that failed once will fail again, and the attempt is paid for out of a budget that is running down.
What order to work in, and it is not the one people choose: most important first. Not alphabetically, not folder by folder, not oldest to newest. Whatever would be worst to lose should be copied in the first hour, because nobody knows how many hours there are. Small and irreplaceable before large and replaceable — a folder of documents before a film library.
When to stop: when the failures begin clustering, or when files that copied earlier start failing. Both indicate the drive is degrading during use, and at that point continuing costs more than it returns.
Why professional capture still improves on this: copying through the operating system inherits its timeouts, so every difficult sector consumes the full retry sequence. Imaging under strict per-sector timeouts caps that deliberately, takes the healthy expanse at speed, and revisits weak regions on later passes. It recovers substantially more, substantially faster — but it is not a reason to stop copying today, because the drive may not be there tomorrow.
What his error message on connection means: the host is meeting difficulty before the volume is even presented, which is consistent with damage that includes structural regions. It does not change the advice.
On the bench
Priority order was established with the owner before any further copying — partial access being a diminishing resource, so the sequence determines what survives. Failing files were skipped rather than retried, each failure consuming minutes of retry escalation taken directly from files that would otherwise have copied. The Atola Insight Forensic assessed error rates, and imaging ran write-blocked under strict per-sector timeouts with retries capped, with losses resolved per file.
The outcome
Priority established before further copying, failing files skipped rather than retried, and the drive imaged under capped timeouts. Free assessment, one fixed written figure including VAT; where a drive has to be opened, 50% of parts and labour is payable upfront with the balance only on success — otherwise no recovery, no fee. The decode: you are already recovering. Some files copying means most of the surface is healthy, and the slowness is retries on the parts that are not. Skip anything that fails rather than retrying it, and work in order of what would be worst to lose.
Drive giving up some files and not others
Copy the most important things first, right now, and skip anything that fails rather than retrying it. You're already mid-recovery: some files coming off means most of the surface is healthy, and the slowness is the drive escalating through retries on the parts that aren't. Every failed file costs minutes taken directly from files that would have copied in the same time, and a file that failed once will fail again. So work by importance rather than alphabetically or folder by folder — small and irreplaceable before large and replaceable. Stop when failures start clustering or when files that copied earlier begin failing, because that means it's degrading as you go.
Grab what matters first — then call Guildford Data Recovery on 01483 901310; priority established before further copying, imaged under capped per-sector timeouts, losses reported per file.
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Our case files are drawn from genuine enquiries received by our laboratory over the past ten years, anonymised to protect client confidentiality. Each one describes the diagnostic and recovery procedure our engineers apply to that fault, using the equipment listed.