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Hard Drive Disaster

NickClapper

NickClapper

We are about to complete work on The Flight of the Flamingo (yay!). Well, that was the case.

Joseph (Cracker Funk) our wonderful editor sent me the hard drive with all the footage and project files in the mail a couple of weeks ago. It got help up in customs, for whatever reason, but eventually arrived with me. I then passed it on to Ollie (chilipie) our colour grader to start work there.

Unfortunately, the hard drive wouldn't load and just made a clicking noise. Ollie couldn't get the footage off and has tried different cables, tapping/angling it and freezing it overnight. Nothing has worked.

Joseph can send the footage again, but buying another hard drive plus the postage fee (which came to over $100 with customs charges) is a real financial blow, especially as I would like to keep any further expenses down. So I'm seeking your advice on two issues:

1) Has anyone had a similar problem? Does anyone know any neat tricks for extracting data from an unresponsive hard drive?

2) What are the options relating to large data transfers over the internet? I've Googled a bit but couldn't see anything obvious- are some services better value? Are there risks?

If anyone else has any comments (even just to commiserate) or suggestions then I'd appreciate them :)
 
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What about buying a 128GB thumb drive? I have a couple of USB3 units that are pretty quick for data transfer. You can get 128GB drives for as low as $15.00. Postage should be cheaper because it can go in a regular envelope or the smallest box. Plus, they sell ones that look like key-chains which could help with any customs delays. And, with no moving parts, they are much less likely to be damaged in transit.
 
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wheatgrinder said:
all fixed up then?
Click to expand...

I haven't heard back from Ollie, but the upload was fast and easy. According to filezilla, two of files failed to upload. Short of creating a checklist (which would be tedious and annoying), I haven't quite figured out how to determine which two files didn't upload. Other than that small hiccup, I believe all is well. Many thanks to IDOM! :D
 
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Cracker Funk said:
I haven't heard back from Ollie, but the upload was fast and easy. According to filezilla, two of files failed to upload. Short of creating a checklist (which would be tedious and annoying), I haven't quite figured out how to determine which two files didn't upload. Other than that small hiccup, I believe all is well. Many thanks to IDOM! :D
Click to expand...

I use filezilla and at the bottom where is shows the transfer progress there should be a tab marked 'failed transfers' which will only show you the files that didn't make it.

Unfortunately, it clears once you close the program. Not sure if there's any way to recover it... :(
 
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Dreadylocks said:
I use filezilla and at the bottom where is shows the transfer progress there should be a tab marked 'failed transfers' which will only show you the files that didn't make it.
Click to expand...

Doh! I can be such a tech-dummie at times.

Having missed that opportunity, the best way I can figure is to narrow-down which folder the files are missing from. I've heard back from Ollie, and he is on vacation. When he gets back, after he downloads the entire thing, we can quickly check how many files each folder has. By narrowing it down to which folder(s) don't match, that'll make it considerably easier to just check-list each file in said folders.
 
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wheatgrinder said:
If you just do the upload again, but this time DONT OVERWRITE files, it should just copy the two missing files. This presumes of course the files dint PARTIALLY copy
Click to expand...

He's halfway through the download. Plus, Premiere will tell him which files are offline. This is the first time I've done this, but in theory I think we should be all good. :)
 
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