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anyone knows how to repair damaged hard disks?

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craxtech   07-18-2002 at 01:22:19 PM

I had a 13G seagate hard drive and lots of data in it. But one day my computer cant detect it. I tried to check all the conenctions but still it wont work. I tried it on another PC and knew that my drive is busted. Can it still be repaired? I have lots of precious data and mps there..... can any body help me?

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poorboy   07-18-2002 at 01:28:45 PM
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Busted huh? Does it spin up when you power-on? If it spins there is still hope - and I would ask what did you do just before it stopped being detected... If not, well, it's probably history. If stuff is REALLY important, you can get it professionally recovered by a specialist, but be ready to pay for it.

<i>Do I look like I care?</i>

Reply to poorboy
Hoolio   07-18-2002 at 05:44:47 PM
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WARNING THIS METHOD EVENTUALLY DESTROYS THE DRIVE
-------------------------------------------------

If the drive spins up or makes some funny noises (even in some cases where it dont spin up).

I would try this as a last resort once you have got another hard drive.
1. Place the affected HDD in the freezer and leave for several hours. This causes certain metal parts that could cause the drive to jam to contract.
2. Boot up the computer with both the new HDD and the cold hdd. Start copying files quickly, the old HDD will run for about an hour at maximum. Afterward the drive is likely to be useless afterwards, but it will give you a chance to get your data off the drive.

I personally have not used this method, but I have a friend who did, it was meantioned in a copy of PCgamer and a UK computer magazine. I will try to dig up the article if you need it.

Reply to Hoolio
buddry   07-18-2002 at 06:42:43 PM
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Contact the Manufacturer for a RMA.

<font color=red>God</font color=red> <font color=white>bless</font color=white> <font color=blue>the</font color=blue> <font color=red>U</font color=red><font color=white>S</font color=white><font color=blue>A</font color=blue>

Reply to buddry
phsstpok   07-18-2002 at 06:51:56 PM
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I've seen the same tip (even recommended it once and it worked) but it's for mechanical failure. Craxtech's drive is not being detected by the BIOS. I think he has a logic board failure.

<b>I have so many cookies I now have a FAT problem!</b>

Reply to phsstpok
phsstpok   07-18-2002 at 07:04:41 PM
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If it's really crucial there are data recovery services but they are extremely expensive. The first thing they will do is try to determine if your drive has a logic board failure or mechanical failure. If it's the former they will swap in a replacement logic board and charge you a flat fee (usually). If it's a mechanical problem they have to disassemble the drive and use special equipment to recover data. The cost is outrageously high for this, they usually charge by the megabyte. Typically only businesses are willing to pay for this kind of service.

<b>I have so many cookies I now have a FAT problem!</b>

Reply to phsstpok
Vince0000   07-19-2002 at 05:26:43 PM
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If you happen to have a 2nd Drive EXACTLY like it (same model etc) what I have done in the past is REMOVE the board off the bad drive and replace it with the board from a good drive...

Fire it up, copy the data off, swap the good board back to the good harddrive and get rid of the old one.

Worked for me in the past if it is a board problem.

L8r,
Vince

Reply to Vince0000
Crashman   07-19-2002 at 09:48:41 PM
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Vince2000 is right, I've rescued many drives by changing the logic board. Some drives don't even need a board from an identicle unit, many of my WD drives would detect the new mechanical units without problems. In fact, I put a board from a 1.6GB drive on a 3.1GB drive and it worked, but they were from the same drive <i>series</i>.

<font color=blue>At least half of all problems are caused by an insufficient power supply!</font color=blue>

Reply to Crashman
Black_Cat   07-20-2002 at 03:10:05 AM
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Interesting posts. I've tried the freezer method on a couple of occasions but without success. Each time it sounded as if the actuator arm was flapping in the breeze. I wonder if there is a way to actually remove the platters, mount them onto a generic spindle/actuator arm assembly and retrieve the data? If somebody could invent something like that or at least draw up plans so one could build something like that then we wouldn't have to pay the big bucks to retrieve data. All drives will fail eventually. It would be a nice tool to have.

To start press any key. Where's the "any" key? --Homer Simpson.

Reply to Black_Cat
Crashman   07-20-2002 at 05:38:31 AM
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I've tried changing the platers with no luck at all, several times.

<font color=blue>At least half of all problems are caused by an insufficient power supply!</font color=blue>

Reply to Crashman
phsstpok   07-20-2002 at 05:13:20 PM
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Very good tip which I overlooked!

Only once did I try what you suggested. It was with an NEC laptop hard drive. The company was in the process of reclaiming all the laptops from the sales force so I had lots of spares on hand. It worked but then the customer called back and said he found his backups, argh!

One word of warning. Take care handling the 2nd logic board. Damaging it would leave two hard drives useless.

<b>I have so many cookies I now have a FAT problem!</b>

Reply to phsstpok
Hoolio   07-20-2002 at 07:17:52 PM
- 0 +

Removing the platters is highly dangerous, as unless done in a air filtered enviroment (eg Chip Prefab).
A piece of dust could destroy several clusters on a platter. Bad idea to remove them.

Reply to Hoolio
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