Portastudio 2488 HDD crash recovery

[JulieL]

Hi Everyone, I have the 2488 portastudio and recently a power cut caused the unit to not write to the disc before powering down. It now has a HDD error when I start up again... replacing the HDD is easy and works fine but I really need the files that are already recorded on the original disc. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks in advance, Julie

 

[Tom Boyles]

@JulieL - First of all, sorry to hear about the HDD crash. It is something I am always paranoid about and back up files to an external resource every time I get a chance. (Sorry, I know that doesn't help with your situation.)

A HDD not able to be read in the 2488 any longer doesn't leave a lot you can do without consulting a HDD data specialist.

I don't recall off the top of my head, but I think a 2488 formatted drive, connected to a computer via an HDD-converter to USB will only read the single partition for transferring files. The partitions the 2488 records to are not readable on a standard computer. Again, if I am remembering that correctly.

You may be able to find a specialist that can do a 1:1 copy of the drive if the drive and data is in tact and the system files for the 2488 is all that got damaged.

 

[JulieL]

Thanks Tom,

Does that mean that if someone can copy the files to another IDE drive the 2488 will (hopefully) recognise the new drive? My thoughts are the system files are corrupt due to power supply issue.

Cheers, Julie

 

[Tom Boyles]

Only if what is recovered is able to recover the format of the IDE drive as well.

The issue is two-fold:
1) The format of the drive
2) The files that may be corrupted/damaged

If a recovery can be done to keep the format of the replacement IDE drive the exact same and all the files are recoverable (including system files the 2488 need that are instructions for the drive to be read by the 2488) then it could be a successful recovery.

Or the drive may be able to be scan and possibly corrected if it is just files that got messed up and not something like any of the heads in the drive itself banged against the platters while they were spinning.

The cause of the 2488 not being able to read the drive any longer is many and the cause is just ideas on maybe what has happened.

The ultimate issue comes down to that the drive is not a PC/Mac standard format that a computer data recovery service may be able to diagnose. The format of the drive is proprietary to the 2488 and only one partition will be recognized on a PC/Mac system.

In the case of recovery, it has to be the entire drive and that includes the exact formatting of the drive and being able to access the files on all partitions, etc.

Although I haven't experienced a complete drive failure and trying to get the whole drive and data recovered before, I am theorizing that it is possible but it will depend on what has actually happened to your specific drive. Data file damage is a completely different approach from a hardware failure of the drive.

It is very possible that a single file corrupted during a state of reading or writing at the time of the crash could mean all content is a complete loss. I hope that's not the case for you, but it is also a possibility as well.