Recovering Data from Dead drive

[CrazyCrusher]

Had anyone ever got a dead drive to work? I have my borther in laws which I picked up in ireland this week while on vacation, the drive stopped working for him and I told him id take it home and see if I could get the data from it, I have ran into some problems the drive when installed onto my system causes the computer to hang on boot up, so I took the drive out and used my external HDD connector when i connect the drive I get the signal sound from my PC informming me that the drive is connected, when I go into my computer I dont see it but I can see the drive showing as a USB Mass Storage device, the only reason Im doing this is that my brother in law has picture of his brother who passed away some time back and he does not have copies of the pictures. I have tried to use Get Data back without success, below is an attachment that shows an error when I try to use the software to locate the drive.

my last opition would be to take platters themselves out of the drive and put them in a drive that works, the only problem I have with that is there has to be more than one platter which makes it a little trickier. If you have one platter, you are in pretty good shape, you can take it out, put it in a different drive, and still have a slim chance of it working. If you have multiple platters, you can not take them out and have any realistic chance of ever recovering your data. because the tracks on the hard drive are placed on at the factory, and you can't modify them etc etc, Im sure you all know, but anyone who hs any suggestions, I would be most greatfull.

[Train]

200 ways to revive a hard drive3.

http://www.hddrecovery.com.au/downloads/200ways.pdf

[rmanet]

Believe it or not less than a year ago I had a friend who kept using an old 386 (windows 3.1, DOS based WordPerfect....ancient) which had two HDDs - one a 40 meg, the other a 120 meg (the backup using an old DOS batch program).

So the first drive fails - then the controller on the old board whacks the second one. Legal files on board so I wasn't going to take accountability - referred him to 3 different "data recovery services." Why was I surprised when all 3 said it was a clean room fix and costs were anywhere from $1200 to $3000 with no guarantee of how many files would be recovered - forgive me but what a racket.

We both went into denial, and they returned the HDDs to him - I waited a few weeks before braving the task of using some software because my XP did detect both drives - occasionally when connected as slaves. This was last winter and there is some credibility to letting drives cool in a refrigerator, whatever...because when the first one was at room temperature I could never get the puppy to even fire up.

Long story short - and after I tried various software demos, took a flier on the one that seemed to work best - $80 bucks later and literally 5 minutes into the process, I had everything (intact) from both, burned to my drive then to a CD.

I'll post back when I get home to tell you what I used. Hope it helps.

[rmanet]

EASUS Data Recovery Wizard Professional

link here (http://www.easeus.com/buynow.htm)

[CrazyCrusher]

Well I just about tried every thing I could sotware based, so Im not going to remove the platters, I think ill try replace the PCB first. if that dosent work we shall see what happens.

[Lgbpop]

I've used the freezer method successfully four times out of nine attempts. No guarantee, but fairly good odds to work with.

If you DO get the drive to cooperate, WORK FAST. Your window of opportunity will not be much more than ten minutes or so, so be prepared to start recovering files within seconds (after the "Hey, it actually worked!" reaction wears off).

[CrazyCrusher]

I did try that I left it in the freezer for about 2 hours,,,should I leave it in for longer?

[rmanet]

ditto on speed - I cooled both drives and knew sooner or later the most damaged drive would simply stop firing up so I only turned it on as needed.

The first one entirely dead unless it was cool and it would stop running altogether after 10 minutes or less. In fact when I did the recovery on both I had the windows open, wearing a hooded sweatshirt in the middle of "winter"

must have been 50 degrees in that room ;)

[Lgbpop]

After 2 hours the HDD ought to be good enough to try. Another 12 hours might cool things down a few more degrees, not worth the extra time unless you have the time to play with. I always let it sit overnight when I went to bed, but that's probably unnecessary.

[rmanet]

I did try that I left it in the freezer for about 2 hours,,,should I leave it in for longer?

I'm a little confused - I've tried to resurrect "dead" hard drives a couple of times but there's two definitions of dead. If it's dead mechanically you give it power nothing happens and all you've got is the option to recover data from the media or try a mechanical repair.

You say the drive's being recognized by XP so the HDD is working mechanically isn't it?

[CrazyCrusher]

You would think that right but its not spinning, but windows see it as a USB mass storage device, the drive doesn't spin at all. it does not show up in my computer etc

[Midknyte]

USB mass storage device would be the adapter, not the drive itself. sounds like the drive is mechanically dead.

that freezing trick has never worked for me. it could actual be worse if you live in a humid place, since it could cause condensation.

don't try to open the drive either. dust or a fingerprint could ruin your data.

i'd start getting quotes from recovery companies. drivesavers or ontrack are a couple I've heard of. maybe someone knows a place closer you.

[Lgbpop]

If it's not spinning at all, that's probably a seized bearing. Short of the data-recovery (clean-room) companies, there's little you can do yourself. The bright side of this is that - as long as you don't open it up - you can try a lot of things without doing any more damage to it. You could try giving the drive a blast from a CO2 fire extinguisher; the extreme cold might free up that seized bearing.

Hard drives are assembled in controlled-climate environments, so any condensation you might get would (should) be on the oputside only.

[Baddog]

If it's not spinning at all, that's probably a seized bearing.
It may sound silly...but you are going to do it anyway....get a rubber or plastic trash can(Empty).....hold the hard drive about 3 foot in the air and drop it in the trash can. Then get it out. Reinstall it in the enclosure. If it works, OK. If not repeat step one but leave it in the trash can.

PS: The drop may jar the stuck arm lose long enough to read your data.:t
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[Train]

Do not reinstall in the enclosure, slave it into a computer. The enclosure maybe the flacky item.

[Sterling_Aug]

Hard drives are assembled in controlled-climate environments, so any condensation you might get would (should) be on the oputside only.

Hard drives are NOT sealed. There is usually a small hole with a really, really fine micro filter inside so only cleaned aire can keep the air pressure inside of the drive balanced with the air pressure outside of the drive.

[CrazyCrusher]

ST is right all HDD well most of them have a small hole in the side of them, Anyways I tried every thing and nothing seems to work, So I have ordered a PCB for that make model and year HDD, I should get it next week I'll let you guys know if this works.