Trying hard not to freak out

[wayfaringwordhack]

Our external HD, where all of our photos are*, is not responding. When I try to open it, it asks me if I want to format it because, supposedly, it's not formatted. When I open "properties", it shows me an empty disk. ::takes a deep breath:: 

Help?

I can't even scan it to check for problems. Aside from turning off the pc and starting it again with the HD turned on so the check disk runs automatically, I don't know what to do.

In other glorious news, I woke up with swollen, white-spotted tonsils, a congested head, and a wet cough. Something out there really hates me.

*b/c the pc is no longer a reliable place to store. Why oh why have we not burned a cd of photos in the last six months.  Something out there may or may not hate me, but sometimes I hate myself. OK, hate is a little strong, but allow me my self-pity.

Comments

[melinda-goodin.livejournal.com]

Alas, I have no techie knowledge with which to help you, other than to suggest you take it and its cable to another pc and re-check. I've found that I have troubles with a USB device on one computer and not another - may be a dodgy connection in the receiving port of the first computer, but I don't know for sure. Also try another cable if there is one around. Is there a techie in your husband's team who could see if it is recoverable?

Re the icky tonsils, I meant to write to you about that. I had repeated cases of tonsilitis to the point where I was missing a lot of work and a lot of life. Finally my gp said I could consider getting them taken out. I wondered why he hesitated. I found out.

The surgery is pretty quick - the doctor puts you under anaesthetic, scrapes out the tonsils and wakes you up again. The first day or so, when you are still under the healing numbness of the general anaesthetic, isn't too bad. It's days 2-5 that suck. Your throat swells because of the scraping and the forming of scabs. In my case, I had trouble breathing through my nose afterward, so every breath had to come through my swollen, aching throat. Every breath, cough, spoken word and god-forbid swallow, was incredibly painful - to the point where I wanted to stick my head under a bus and was crying with the pain. I handled a burst appendix more easily. Finally my dad, a pain specialist, spoke to the surgeon and they agreed the double-strength panadeine wasn't doing the job. They prescribed morphine. That got me through the really bad couple of days, and by about day 6 the pain was mild enough not to be an issue.

Lost about 5 kilos in just over a week, mind you. Who could eat?
Once I'd recovered I was glad I had the surgery. I still get occasional throat infections, but they're just bad colds. No more swallowing razor blades. I'm glad I had it done, but it was very unpleasant for a few days there.

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

Ugh, that sounds unbelievably unpleasant. We'll have to see what the doc thinks, too, but I'd like to avoid that if I can. :(

[clarentine]

::pats::

Have you tried connecting the external hard drive to a different computer? It might very well be that, if the PC is no longer reliable in some ways, it might also be unreliable in talking to the external HD.

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

*nods* I'm running a file scavenger program now while waiting for the neighbor to get home. Poor guy; we're always asking him about computer stuff. But I have no shame about asking again, not when I think of all our photos, videos, and music...

[stillnotbored.livejournal.com]

Oh man, that is awful. I'm so sorry. I really hope you can get the drive to respond and save all your pictures.

If you can get it all functioning, seriously consider a Flickr account. I use it for offsite storage of all my photos and I'm slowly scanning in all my old, old family pictures too. That way if anything happens, I don't lose them all.

The $25 a year for a pro account is more than worth it to me. It's the same reason I use offsite storage for all my writing. My pictures are just as important to me and I don't have the glorious pictures you do.

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the advice. I was thinking that it's a good thing that I have at least some of my pics online. I need get the rest of them up there, too--if I can recover them that is.

And Happy Birthday a day late. Sorry I missed it yesty. Been a bit frazzled.

[pjthompson]

Nothing helpful to say except good luck and I feel for you.

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I know the data is there. I'm just having a hard time getting it back. I think I'm going to pay for File Scavenger since that seems to be the software that is finding the files.