recovering data from crashed HD

[Steve-S]

I have a hard drive that crashed that I would like to try and recover some data from. I can't afford the prices charged by data recovery services and am only interested in recovering my MP3's and WAV's anyway. :-) Defrag reported that it had "lost contact with motor" and it hasn't worked since. I can feel it spinning up but it only clicks. I can't boot with this drive hooked up either as cable select (master or slave) or has hard jumped to master or slave either as individual or with another drive. I've even tried it on 2nd IDE as master & slave and still no joy. It's a Maxtor model:92732U8. Anyone have any ideas on what I can try? I've tried running it on all 4 sides as well as upside down.

Thanks
Steve-S

[daveleau]

Sorry man... I hate to say it, but unless you have a wad of cash laying around, it is not a good situation to be in. There is really nothing that can be done that you have not done. Maybe try it in a nother system to see if it might be alittle more tolerant towards a bad hdd, other than that, see how far it can fly.
Dave

[Steve-S]

Actually I'm going to try it again tomorrow with the top off so I can see what's making the clicking noise. Maybe (a small chance is better than none at all right?) I can see something to fix. Yea right. :-)

Steve-S

[EastSt]

You say it's a Maxtor. Then go to there site and d/l some of their programs. They may be able to save something.
Hard disks are put together in clean rooms, once you open them up, its probably all over.
Good Luck.......

[spuck]

i run a 500mb seagate that crashed, without the top on. it grinds sometimes, but now works.
jim

[daveleau]

If you take the top off, it will void the warranty. if it is less than 3 years old, they wil replace it with a new one...
Dave

[Steve-S]

The cover plate says the warranty ended 3/3. Doesn't say what year but I've already opened it anyway. I thought about the warranty thing but decided I'd rather try and get my MP3's of it. :-)

Steve-S

[Cavalier Ed]

Sorry man but once you open your HDD forget it. The space between the reading heads and the surface of the discs is o small that airborne dust particles can screw up the reading process. I think your dat is gone forever. But arent the discs nice and shiny!. Use them to make a hanging mobile or something.

[Steve-S]

Well, I gave it a valiant effort. If I'd thought about it sooner I "might" have been able to manage something. After I had destroyed the R/W heads, well most of them anyway, I thought about cleaning the PC board that's attached to the back of the drive. Oh well. The platters are VERY shiney. ;-)

Steve-S

[gr8vfr]

For some of you , future reference.

THere is a progie called Lost N Found,

http://www.streettech.com/archives_Special/lostAndFound.html

I used it at work to recover formatted HDDs.
and other lost data.

Also, Sometimes you can wack a HDD on a desk and get some extra life out of it.

If you freeze a HDD for 1/2 hour It sometimes will spin for a short while. Usually time enough to get some data.

Just so proven tip I have used in the past.

[sharder8]

If I'd of thought of it earlier, I have a 109kb (zipped) .rtf document from Tech Republic titled "200 Ways to Revive a HardDrive" that I could have e-mailed you.

I hang on to it for the time my hard drive crashes (it's saved on a CD). If anyone wants a copy of it, let me know and I'll e-mail it to you. You might still be able to download it from Tech Republic if it's still available.

Harder

[Steve-S]

Sharder,
I would like a copy of that file in case this happens again.
Thanks
Steve-S

[sharder8]

Steve --

It should be in your e-mail now!

Harder

[Dave_H]

sharder8,
If it's no trouble, could you send that my way too?
Dave

dave_h55@hotmail.com

[sharder8]

Dave --

It's on it's way!

Harder

[Dave_H]

Thanks Harder http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif
Appreachiate you taking the time to do that for me.
Dave

[ZENYO]

Hey Sharder8.

Would mind sending me a copy.

stix26@home.com

Thanks

[Steve-S]

Sure wish this thread had gotten this much attention before I totalled my HD trying to fix it. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Steve-S

[sharder8]

ZENYO --

It's on the way!

Steve-S --

To tell you the truth, I had forgotten I had it! I decided last night to re-do my special programs CD and ran into it again. (I put programs on the CD that I down load and want to keep for emergencies and friends.) I had to add a couple of programs to the Utilities file and there it was at the top of the folder.

Since I had been following your thread, I jumped on it to let you know I had it and would e-mail to you or anyone who wanted it.

I'm sorry I didn't remember it sooner http://www.sysopt.com/forum/frown.gif , maybe you would have been able to save some or all of your data. Now there are some more of us who have it and if it's needed again, will be able to supply it quickly if I forget again. (**** it's sad to be getting old! http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif )

Harder

[tinwindow]

Hey Sharder,
Can ya' send 200 ways to me also?

[giant69]

Me too please ! That will be a handy addition to my "emergency" tool kit. Thanks...steve http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

ynot_it@hotmail.com

[This message has been edited by giant69 (edited 03-31-2001).]

[sharder8]

tinwindow --
giant69 --

It's in your mail!

Harder

[This message has been edited by sharder8 (edited 03-31-2001).]

[Steve-S]

No problem Harder. I had all but written it off before hand. Considering the way it was acting before I destroyed the heads & platters I'd be surprised if anything other than a new PC board would have been effective. The armature with the read/write heads on it was darting back and forth from one stop to another. That's where the clicking sound was coming from. I got the impression that it was looking for the platers. Since it didn't find them even though they were there I assume that either the PC board had become damaged, an open circuit somewhere, or the circuits from the heads to the PC board were damaged. Either way I don't think any of the ideas in that document would have been of any help had you found it before I trashed the HD. It's certainly something I'm going to keep on hand for future reference though.

Steve-S

[Neil51]

G'Day
I would like a copy also
Thanks
neil@acay.com.au

[jwells25]

I downloaded the same document from Tech Republic last year. Not a week after I had read it, I had a customer's old Compaq with a Quantum 4.3G Bigfoot hard drive. Hard drive wouldn't do anything. Tried diagnostics from the floppy drive, no go. Old Compaq would not find the hard drive no matter what I did. Finally, I pulled it out and installed in a 1 gallon ziplock bag and threw it in the freezer for a couple of days. Pulled it out, hooked it up to my test computer, BIOS recognized it, booted up and copied everything on it to my computer. Left it running for several hours. Ran it thru all of Norton diagnostics, marked a few bad sectors, defraged and such, put it back in their computer, and it's still running. This was back around Christmas. Got them a new 20G to install but I don't think they are going to bring it back until it dies for good.
Sorry such long a story. Just thought it was an experience to share.
Jeff

[Hoopla]

I too would like a copy of that please.
gunk8@hotmail.com

[Mr Miyagi]

I have quite a few hard drives that are busted. If it isn't too much trouble could ya send me a copy too?

mr_miyagi14@hotmail.com

[araaraara]

We could sure use that at school!

ara99999@hotmail.com

[Donkey]

me too please http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif
phyrm@phynov.leeds.ac.uk

[beard]

dvd drive fell off of pc and landed on top of segate 2.1gb hdd. drive made funny noises (whirring and clicking loudly).

any way of fixing it?

[voogru]

Sharder could i get one too http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

voogru@hotmail.com
voogru@softhome.net

(use the hotmail one)

Thanks! http://www.sysopt.com/forum/biggrin.gif

I suggestion would be to put it on a webpage! im sure you would get quite a few hits http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

-voogru

[Steve-S]

Since so many folks are asking for this file I thought I'd add post it on a web site. You can grab it at http://stevesarlls.homestead.com/200ways.html

Thanks to Sharder for providing the file in the first place.

Steve-S

[This message has been edited by Steve-S (edited 04-07-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Steve-S (edited 04-07-2001).]

[seeker205]

Just Don't open it! I work at Komag, we make the actual hard drive disks for Western Digital (Which is now owned by them), SeaGate, and Maxtor. The space between the head that reads the disk and the actual disk itself is smaller than a dust particle!

[Bunnyh]

Could you send me that file too? The link you gave doesn't work.

[Steve-S]

Link works now. Sorry I typed it in wrong the first time.

Steve-S