CRC Error

[RubberDuckie]

I have a HDD that was pulled from my daughters computer. It was giving a CRC error. Installed new HDD and re installed OS. What is the best way if possible to recover data off this disc? Is there a recommended software to recover data? When connected to a computer it says HDD not formatted would you like to format? Obviously NO... I would like to recover her photos if possible.

Thanks,

[FlyingPenguin]

CRC error (Cyclic Redundancy Errors) are usually caused by bad or weak sectors.

The fact that it's not appearing as formatted means that there's file system corruption.

You need to FIRST fix the bad sectors, and then fix the file system.

Spinrite is the best tool for repairing bad sectors (do a level 2 scan). Second option is any utility that does a sector scan and recovery like CHKDSK x: /r

BE AWARE that CRC errors are usually corrected internally and the sector scanner may not detect anything but that's okay - it still forces the drive's internal error correction to work on every sector and swap out any bad ones.

Then after that, do a file system repair: CHKDSK x: /f

Then cross your fingers and see if the drive is readable. If the drive is in really in bad shape you may get a CRC error on individual files, but just copy whatever you can and skip the bad ones.

Hope this helps.