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Fried Hard Drive - Seagate Expansion 500gb

Tags:
  • Power Supplies
  • Storage
  • Hard Drives
  • Seagate
Last response: in Storage
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April 16, 2014 3:57:02 PM

I used the wrong power supply for a seagate expansion 500gb.
I posted previously on the seagate boards and followed fzabkar's advice about the 12V TVS but could not get it to work (and since seagate changed the forums section, I can't get access to it anymore to follow up there.)
I decided to take it to a professional recovery place. They had to order parts several times to find a match but when they did, they discovered that the chip was fried and there was no way to recover the data. He said it was not a matter of price just not possible based on current technology.
Anyone out there that has another suggestion possibly?
Any other data I can provide that would would be useful?

More about : fried hard drive seagate expansion 500gb

a b ) Power supply
April 16, 2014 4:12:45 PM

Get a new hard drive and transfer your data disk (the magnetic cylinder inside your HDD) into the new one.
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a b ) Power supply
a c 921 G Storage
April 16, 2014 4:15:36 PM

okcnaline said:
Get a new hard drive and transfer your data disk (the magnetic cylinder inside your HDD) into the new one.


WHAT? That will not work. Opening a hard drive except under clean room or clean box conditions pretty much ensures it will never work again.
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a b ) Power supply
a c 921 G Storage
April 16, 2014 4:17:32 PM

@OP - it depends on exactly what got fried.

If it is just the external enclosure that is cooked, you may be able to take the hard drive out of the case, and connect it either internall or via a different SATA cable/dock enclosure.

If it was the circuit board on the actual drive...it may well be toast.
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a b ) Power supply
April 16, 2014 4:18:08 PM

Never mind then. But that's seriously the only good guess at trying to fix the issue, as the hard drive's basically dead (fried).
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April 16, 2014 4:22:04 PM

USAFRet said:
okcnaline said:
Get a new hard drive and transfer your data disk (the magnetic cylinder inside your HDD) into the new one.


WHAT? That will not work. Opening a hard drive except under clean room or clean box conditions pretty much ensures it will never work again.


USAFRet said:
@OP - it depends on exactly what got fried.

If it is just the external enclosure that is cooked, you may be able to take the hard drive out of the case, and connect it either internall or via a different SATA cable/dock enclosure.

If it was the circuit board on the actual drive...it may well be toast.


If it is the circuit board, there is absolutely nothing out there that can save this? My knowledge of this is limited at best, but if the data is on the physical drive, it seems like there should be some way to retrieve it.
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a b ) Power supply
a c 921 G Storage
April 16, 2014 4:25:29 PM

mg12345 said:
[

If it is the circuit board, there is absolutely nothing out there that can save this? My knowledge of this is limited at best, but if the data is on the physical drive, it seems like there should be some way to retrieve it.


In some cases, buying another exact copy of that drive....swap the circuit board may work.
Exact copy = make/model/firmware. Maybe will work, maybe not.

But try taking the drive out of the enclosure first. Connect it via SATA or USB dock or cable and see what happens.
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April 16, 2014 4:31:33 PM

USAFRet said:
mg12345 said:
[

If it is the circuit board, there is absolutely nothing out there that can save this? My knowledge of this is limited at best, but if the data is on the physical drive, it seems like there should be some way to retrieve it.


In some cases, buying another exact copy of that drive....swap the circuit board may work.
Exact copy = make/model/firmware. Maybe will work, maybe not.

But try taking the drive out of the enclosure first. Connect it via SATA or USB dock or cable and see what happens.


When I first used the wrong power supply and it stopped working, I plugged it into my PC and then it really started to smoke. The recovery place said they tried everything. I was just hoping they were wrong. Can you recommend a recovery place in NYC to give this another shot?
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a b ) Power supply
April 16, 2014 4:31:46 PM

If the circuit board is fried, it's basically done. There's only a very few things you can do. Sorry! :`(
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Best solution

a b ) Power supply
a c 921 G Storage
April 16, 2014 4:35:16 PM

mg12345 said:


When I first used the wrong power supply and it stopped working, I plugged it into my PC and then it really started to smoke. The recovery place said they tried everything. I was just hoping they were wrong. Can you recommend a recovery place in NYC to give this another shot?


If you took it out of the case, connected it....and then it smoked more...it is pretty much done.
No, I don't know any recovery services, NYC or otherwise.
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April 16, 2014 4:36:02 PM

okcnaline said:
If the circuit board is fried, it's basically done. There's only a very few things you can do. Sorry! :`(


I guess what's hard for me to grasp is that if the data exists on the actual physical drive why it can't somehow be retrieved. Just one of the countless things about tech I'll never understand.
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a b ) Power supply
April 16, 2014 4:38:44 PM

It could be, but ridiculously hard. Like USAFret said, "Opening a hard drive except under clean room or clean box conditions pretty much ensures it will never work again." The circuitry on the HDD is simply sending data on it's way to the motherboard. Since you fried that, anything won't be transferred, as there's no communication between disk and PC. So the only way is to take out the magnetic disks from the HDD and reinstall it to another PC. But again, "Opening a hard drive except under clean room or clean box conditions pretty much ensures it will never work again."
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a b ) Power supply
a c 921 G Storage
April 16, 2014 4:42:49 PM

mg12345 said:
okcnaline said:
If the circuit board is fried, it's basically done. There's only a very few things you can do. Sorry! :`(


I guess what's hard for me to grasp is that if the data exists on the actual physical drive why it can't somehow be retrieved. Just one of the countless things about tech I'll never understand.


It 'maybe' can, but the platters do not exist by themselves. It also needs the now-fried circuit board.

With some drives, it is theoretically possibly to swap the circuit board with an exact duplicate, as noted above. A coworker did that once.
Some external enclosures encrypt the data on the drive, and will not work without that original circuit board.

In this apparent fried condition, sending it somewhere may be well north of 4 figures. How much is the data worth to you?
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April 16, 2014 4:44:48 PM

okcnaline said:
It could be, but ridiculously hard. Like USAFret said, "Opening a hard drive except under clean room or clean box conditions pretty much ensures it will never work again." The circuitry on the HDD is simply sending data on it's way to the motherboard. Since you fried that, anything won't be transferred, as there's no communication between disk and PC. So the only way is to take out the magnetic disks from the HDD and reinstall it to another PC. But again, "Opening a hard drive except under clean room or clean box conditions pretty much ensures it will never work again."


Just to be clear, I had no intention of doing this myself (I couldn't even use the correct power supply...) Do you know of any companies that will do this? Or is it something so rare, it's not worth looking for?
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a b ) Power supply
April 16, 2014 4:51:52 PM

It's basically a DIY project, unless you're going to somehow lie and RMA.
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a b ) Power supply
a c 921 G Storage
April 16, 2014 4:56:23 PM

There are some companies that can maybe do it, but they will be very, very expensive at this point. How much is the data worth to you?
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April 16, 2014 5:10:03 PM

USAFRet said:
There are some companies that can maybe do it, but they will be very, very expensive at this point. How much is the data worth to you?


Sorry for the vague answer but it's hard to put a $$ figure on it. Is "very expensive" $500, $1K or a lot more? It's stupid to say, but I think I'd have to get a quote and then react to it.

There are companies I found online that claim to have clean rooms. Are they worth trying?
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a b ) Power supply
a c 921 G Storage
April 16, 2014 5:15:59 PM

'very expensive' is relative to you.
If they come back with $10,000, will you go for it? $500?

For me, anything above $100 is too expensive. That's what the backup drive(s) cost.

Are those companies worth it? No experience with them, so I can't say.
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April 16, 2014 5:26:52 PM

USAFRet said:
'very expensive' is relative to you.
If they come back with $10,000, will you go for it? $500?

For me, anything above $100 is too expensive. That's what the backup drive(s) cost.

Are those companies worth it? No experience with them, so I can't say.


Got it. I would pay $500 to get this data back. It wasn't just a back up, I stupidly had some info on there that wasn't anywhere else. Is there anything specifically I should look for in any of these recovery companies? Meaning is there a set of questions I should be asking to make sure they understand the problem?

Thank You for all the help. (I don't want to sound like an inconsiderate and ungrateful b*startd. I really do appreciate everyone taking the time to answer all these questions.)
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a b ) Power supply
a c 921 G Storage
April 16, 2014 5:42:30 PM

mg12345 said:


Got it. I would pay $500 to get this data back. It wasn't just a back up, I stupidly had some info on there that wasn't anywhere else. Is there anything specifically I should look for in any of these recovery companies? Meaning is there a set of questions I should be asking to make sure they understand the problem?

Thank You for all the help. (I don't want to sound like an inconsiderate and ungrateful b*startd. I really do appreciate everyone taking the time to answer all these questions.)


Questions to ask? Reputation, independent reviews. I seriously have no experience having to use these companies.
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June 25, 2014 5:44:39 AM

okcnaline said:
If the circuit board is fried, it's basically done. There's only a very few things you can do. Sorry! :`(


i think you re right probaly have to ditch it
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