HDD Disk Failure

[jkang89]

Hi all

Recently, I have cleaned my PC which had a lot of dust inside of it.
I took most of the components out and disassembled them in order to clean most of the dust out of them.
The reason why it had a lot of dust was my PC was kept on a carpet floor and I could not take care of.
Anyway after I booted up and using the windows, suddenly everything disappears but the desktop background image.
Mouse pointer seemed to working fine but as described above, there was nothing to click on.
Then I rebooted my PC again to see if the motherboard reads my HDD, but did not.
Later I let the PC cooled down to try again to see if its working or not and it was able to read HDD for a few minutes like before.

After testing out with a different PC, I found out that the HDD with the problem was very hot compared to the exsisting one.
So I am guessing the problem is caused by the temperature of the HDD.
Another guess from mine was the PSU. I am guessing that the cable for the HDD might have damaged while I clean it after disassembled. But I found out that it was not it as I have tried with different PC and worked just like above (working then not after a few minutes).

I am now curious, I have seen quite similar diagnose from other PC users on the web, but I was not sure it was the exact same problem or not and still have not found a solution for it.
I have chucked my HDD in the freezer which I see that the best solution to restore some data for a limited time, but I am seeking a permanant recovery of the HDD.
If there is anyone who knows how to fix this problem, that would be appreciated.

Many Thanks.
Joel

 

[jkang89]

Specifications of my PC:
MOTHERBOARD: Gigabyte GA-G33M-DS2R
CPU: Intel Core Quad Q9300
RAM: Apacer 2x2GB
GPU: Gigabyte GeForce 8800 GT
HDD: WD Carviar Green 500GB WD5000AACS

 

[chesteracorgi]

A HDD that is running noticeably HOT (and not just warm) indicates that it is defective and on the verge of absolute failure. The heat is generated by friction, which should be minimal in all circumstances.

You may cool the HDD for recovery purposes, but it is likely more expensive to replace than to repair. You should avoid freezing the HDD lest some condensation ruin the media.

Cool it, back up the disk to another drive then toss the old one.

 

[duxducis]

thou logic would tell, nice cool Hard drive would last longer, sometimes i found hot HD's 50oc in small dusty cases last 5 years, and nice cool 20oc with coolers attached fail in few month.
I always say things fail, best to keep UP to date back up, and replace failed parts without giving to much care,

(tested many HD's and yes freezing works to recover data on specific failed drives, but its like 50/50 depending what broke inside)
Unless your data forth a lot of $$$, its very hard to impossible to do it in home,

 

[jkang89]

Thanks for the suggestion duxducis. After I zero wipe with wddlg, it seems still has a problem. I guess I need to go for a new HDD, but I am worried about the price right now as you know it hit the roof recently. Maybe I should just get SSD...

 

[chesteracorgi]

HDDs are still cheaped per unit of storage than SSDs, but depending on the size of the SSD they are OK in price and fast.

 

[jkang89]

Thanks chesteracorgi. Guess no one knows how to fix it...