HD problem on WD7500AAKS (750GB WD) : iregular power random

[Michael REMY]

hi !

while i was working (office activity so not very HD work/copy) on my computer, i have a strange freeze problem : my browser (where i worked) was frozen . It was the hard drive where the mozilla cache was.
After a short moment i quickly understood my whole hard drive will go failure !
and i heard strange noise : run and switch off motor/head/power.

now my HD does not run at windows boot... (i'm crying my heart of 750GB of personal data !!)

i got back the HD off the case and now i'm trying it with USB access using usb-sata cable connector.

When i switch on the HD, it's running a very short time (5s), but the OS (win7 x64) did not have enought time to rightly discover it (and all its partition) because the drive always switchs off on first USB drive detection !

then i unplug and replug the HD and the drive can very hardly (random i guess) been recognize by windows. Only one time i success to see again my partition/files list but not enought time to copy the files.

what should i do know ?

do you think if i access it with linux live CD, the HD may work better (enough time for a backup) ? Maybe linux will check/boot/discover the USB drive more quickly than windows does ? Maybe the HD mecanical system is less solicited under linux ?

thanks for help (sorry for my expression, i'm not born english)

my hard drive is :
brand : western digital
model : WD7500AAKS-00RBA0
DATE : 04 jul 2007 (so almost 4 years)
DCM : HBRNNA2ABB
SN : WCAPT0126312

 

[John_VanKirk]

Hi Michael,

If you heard noises from the HDD, almost certainly it is a mechanical failure.

You didn't mention but is this drive your boot drive where your OS and data is stored? Or is it partitioned with your data saved separately?
Also, when you apply power to the drive, does it spin up OK, make unusual noises, or sounds OK now?

If it spins up OK, you could connect this SATA drive directly to a desktop computer, and using a data recovery program, like Aeseus Data Recovery Wizard (free edition) see if you can off load your data to another HDD.

You can try Linux, but the most expedient way would be to have a data recovery program loaded on a windows computer, connect this HDD to it. and see if you can copy your files to a second HDD>

 

[Michael REMY]

it is (it was?) my secondary internal hdd, and not even the boot one, only a storage drive but i placed on it the brswer cache (temp file), that why i discover the freeze while i'm surfing the net i guess

once the drive is switch on (using external usb on into the case on sata), it can spin (ven the bios said it is ok, smart ok).

first disk access under windows make it power down (during logo animation).

once i unplug it, and replugit (to reload the windows usb detection) , then the disk can stay power on.

some little second si can click on partition letter and see the first root.

once i dbl clik into a folder, the disk goes in power donw ! (i tried 2 times) .

 

[John_VanKirk]

Hi Michael,
Boot up your desktop, then with the USB drive connected, go to Disk Management, and see if this external HDD is listed in the lower graphical area.

Should read something like Disk 1 Basic Online, and under the blue band there should be a VolumeName, DriveLetter, size, Healthy(Primary Partition)

If it is listed there, right click on the Volume Status under the blue band, and choose 'change drive letter or path' and see if you can Assign it a DriveLetter on this computer, not as a mount point.

If you can assign it a drive letter, see if you can access it in Windows Explorer. If that's not possible, then I would copy off the data with a Data Recovery program to another HDD.

 

[Michael REMY]

well,

guess what...i'm back with pretty good news :

1 - Four hours after my last post, i burnt a ISO live CD of linux (kubuntu 11.04 x86, KDE because very look like Win7 for no-gnome user !)
2 - i boot on the live CD (my fail drive is out and switch of, and no link USB yet)
3 - once linux is full CD-loaded into memory, i run the explorer (its pretty name is Dolphin, no more Konqueror like at my work on my old machine)
4 - i plug the HD on power (i remind you my HD is now a external usb because bring it out quickly of the case since the first failure)
5 - i wait the power look stable (like about 10s to be sure it will not suddenly auto-random switch off itself)
6 - then i connect the usb link to my case
7 - then...miracle...god is an opensource savior !
8 - linux autodetech my usb harddrive quickly (i'm pretty stomached because it did that at least x4 faster than Win7 usb detection and most wonderful of that : no more need to do the dish-mount thing in console with hand, last KDE release does that auto and quickly ! God must really be an opensource melting of strange things)
9 - now i can see the file structure, and begin to browse it, open subfolder (here i got a big fear because once i click on one file, linux try to read it instantly to make a preview thing, or catch details on the install. Why can't it just read the fXXXking mdr & fat to just display the file listing...well more fear that bad thing )
10 - then tadaaaaa, i can copy and paste elsewhere my folder (even ot the need to install ntfs writer, it runs/can wxrite on ntfs at start ! damn, my old-work must be very old....)
11 - i was able to copy/paste my precious data for about 20 minutes then.......the power supply was off again before my entire backup !!! damn it Opensource linux god is not a full savior, just an enticing people!)
12 - i decided to unplug and replug, redo the whole procedure, step by step .... but it won't run anymore ...not bad at all because i successed to backup around 70% of my very important work (most part of the rest was on a old bakcup of 1 month dated)

It could be the end of my story but....no !

13 - i came back under windows
14 - i redo the exact same procedure...
15 - and it ran again !!!!! Yeah !!!! god can be an opensoure thing at all ! it was just a question of time, hazard (principle of heretism, eclipse act...etc..)
16 - quickly i gone on my backup.............then about 5-10min later the hard drive switched off random again.... (i guess satan does exist in all case )
17 - i went to bed and told myself it must be tired like me !
It was really like something was heat, become hot (but no strange small at all, my nose is very good in that).
18 - now, during the morning (7 hours after last success windows boot), the hard drive rans again 20 minutes (same procedure), and i finished my backup.
and the drive shut down again, power supply is sleeping again....

Now, i'm waiting the opening of the IT-shop to quickly buy a new disk because i'm stressing of haveing my whole life on only on support.
Oh, by the way, the hard drive was not placed "à plat" (in french), guess i can translate by "not lay down", but it was stood up and the front connector panel was on the high (to the up).
Last time i checked the random power shutdown, i had notice it had better chances to run when the disk was in stand up position...strange behavior...strange failure for a not-mobile hard drive maybe it depends on the number of heads/platters (four in my case i think)

Thanks for all you message and help, and advice.
Even if God is not opensource, it still have improve linux since my last installation at my work ! Glory to Kubuntu (i know people hate KDE, not me..., Joke, kidding..)