WD My Passport Ultra - can't access drive

mta999

Actually yes a 3rd - I was going to.suggest (in case you had overlooked it) that if you did have a backup that you make it a priority to make a copy of that drive ASAP in case that fails

LightFlare

as above - I was always advised that unless data is in 3 separate/independent places, then it isn’t safe

debitcardmayhem

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81884059#Comment_81884059

Unless you test it for recovery it's as much use as a chocolate teapot.

B0bbyEwing

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81884017#Comment_81884017

It's on the list to do (go through the MANY drives I have & see if I have a copy).

There's actually only 1 thing that I'm semi-sure was on that drive & I'd be pretty upset if it's totally gone but then the files will be on a laptop at my mothers house. Thing is, that laptop wont have been powered up in around 15yrs. I imagine the battery is goosed. It's whether it'll power off the charging lead only & whether the hard drive (which WONT be an SSD) will work. If so then all isn't lost.

As for whatever else might've been on that drive, I've absolutely no idea so hopefully I never remember & find out it was something important.

But, as I know there's some thread diggers on the board here (and if any are in this thread) you might've seen I've another issue that's interfered with the weekend - and that's a leaking boiler so I'm having to spend time faffing about trying to get that sorted too. Waiting on someone coming out, hopefully today.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81884059#Comment_81884059

I wonder about that….

Obviously it costs what it costs but I have many (MANY!) TBs of data across numerous drives.

I'd bet there's TB's of duplicates too where I've lazily backed things up. Made a copy of various folders on 1 drive to another. Forgotten & then repeated on ANOTHER drive, so on & so forth. No real backup system in place, just making random multiple copies.

Once I de-duplicate, I wouldn't be surprised if there's still over 10TB of data.

So the good old 3-2-1….

So I have it on a hard drive. (1) I make another copy on another hard drive (2) except the thing is unless I get 1 hard drive that spans the lot then I'll need multiple hard drives to cover the data amount which will then need multiple hard drives to make backups of the original hard drives (staying with me here?). This then needs to be in the other location because what if the house burns down right?

So what other location? Family?

Hey mum/sibling, here's my stack of hard drives, can you store them somewhere for me.

But then they need updating right, so do you take them back off them to do a 'new backup' or do you have additional drives so you can back up to those & then exchange those with your relative in a weeks/fortnights/months time?

And then the other one as you need it on differing media they say …. cloud.

So once you've spent what will be many £100s on hard drives, you'll then need to empty your pockets for at least 10TBs worth of cloud storage. That'll be subscription based no doubt (detest that!! Absolutely hate subscriptions!).

Big time expense!

Not too bad if you only have 10GB of backup but I'm talking about having probably 10TB or a tad more. Maybe I wont have but I bet it'll be close. I can think of a 6TB drive right from the off. Actually it could be an 8TB, I can't remember.

To which some will say to me "you're overthinking this".

Well no not really, because I don't actually know & so this is how someone who doesn't have a clue thinks.

wongataa

My other location is a cloud backup solution. Yes it is a subscription. The provider I use doesn't have storage limits and access is easy as long as you have an internet connection. It is a lot less hassle than stashing hard drives in different locations myself and periodically making sure they are working.

B0bbyEwing

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81884648#Comment_81884648

How do you make sure the cloud storage is as it should be, nothing is corrupt, everything copied over etc?

I remember trying to do iPhone restore from the cloud in the past - nightmare.

mta999

One way to do it is to divide your data if you can into:

1. things that never change, for example old photos, old videos, downloaded films and music -whatever. you can then take a backup and x copies and stash them where you want. Obviously because they never change you won't have to update them.
2. Data that changes or gets added to. Again this will be up to you to decide what it is but it might be things you are working on, documents, latest 2026 photos etc etc. Work out some rotational backup system eg disks one two and three

B0bbyEwing

Apologies if it's been answered but -

SSD / USB / SD card - you store something on there for years, say some images, then years after this you plug it in & you've lost your files. Some may look ok in thumbnails, others not - part of them shown up with the other section blacked out, greened out, whatever. But of those that look ok in thumbnail, once you open them - they look like all the other dodgy thumbnails did. Not a single image is usable. This is bit rot?

Question - is the drive knackered or only the images?

As in if you then format the drive (be it quick or full, whichever) - is the drive then Ok to use like no problem at all or is it still knackered & only fit for the bin. Don't store anything on it even for the short term?

mta999

run chkdsk /f /r first...

wongataa

How do you make sure the cloud storage is as it should be, nothing is corrupt, everything copied over etc?

Well you just have to trust the provider has suitable hardware and maintains it properly. You can just logon and make sure the files mirror what is on your computer. With all backup strategies you have to have some faith in stuff copies properly. Verifying everything is not an easy task.