Any advice on HDD recovery?

[lumis]

A week ago my 40GB Maxtor HDD died on me. I've tried recovering the data on it to no avail.

It detects in the BIOS, but after POST it says "HDD Failure press F1 to resume".

It doesn't show up in windows at all (even through drive manager).
I've tried it in 3 different computers, with similar results.
I've tried putting it in an external enclosure, not detected.
I've tried using SpinRite 6, not detected.
I've tried the MaxBlast software, not detected.

I'm pretty sure the drive is dead and I would really like to get the data off of it, but it's all MP3's so I don't think data recovery specialist would recover it for me and it would probably cost hundreds of dollars.

The only other thing I could think to do would be to purchase another drive exactly like it and try replacing the controller board, or moving the platters in to the working drive.

Does anyone know the difficulty or plausibility of performing such an operation?

[budz]

have you tried using MAXTOR POWERMAX UTILITY? it will test the drive if it's failing.

[lumis]

Yes, it did not detect the drive either.

[Heywould3]

there are a few posts close to this on here.. one talks about the freezer trick.. the other about drive recovery.. try r-studio.. thats my part of on post.. it even finds drives that OS's dont see.. do a search or look around

[kimco52]

If your board is bad, you can replace it. I would not try replacing the disk itself because the clearances and tolerances are so tight. Also, you probably don't have the clean room needed.
there is a trick to replacing the board. I don't have one in front of me right now so I can't give you the details. However, look on the top of the disk drive and you will see some numbers... model and revision numbers. Those are important. If you can find that model number on Ebay, look to see that it has the same revision number (or whatever it is called). That is important. If you can't, Maxtor has a link to where you can get replacement boards. I tried once but the cost was more than I wanted to spend at the time so I have a drive sitting on the shelf waiting till I get an option. Until then, I guess I dont need the data that bad.

[ark]

You could try the following - I have used it once quite successfully to recover data from a similar defective HDD:-

Use another good HDD as the primary (and booting) HDD

Install your defective HDD as the secondery on the same IDE channel.

Start your PC and check if the bad HDD shows up now. If it is visible, then copy allthe data to the new HDD

[Bjs]

Ark has a good point , but I would grab puppy (a bootable mini linux os)
Support's fat32 and ntfs partition's , and burning backup data to cd .

From this , if both hd's show up , you can use the puppy os once up and running to transfer file's from the bad drive to the other .

Another issue come's from jumper's on hd's ... I have seen many drive's that dont fully work unless all are set to cable sellect ... western digital is a right pain for this .

Next time , keep a close eye on the hd's temp , should it ever become hot , it's a good sign the formatting from raw was not done properly when originally installed , and should be done properly using older tool's , and not those provided by the hd's manufacturer .

These tool's are fdisk (partition wipe / create) , format (format's partition to fat32) , and delpart (do a seach , remove's ntfs info from drives) .

Delpart first to remove ntfs partition's , save , reboot .
Fdisk , reset up patition's as required , reboot .
Format , format all partition's to fat32 , reboot .

Now install xp using fat32 , and not ntfs .... this is far easier to recover file's from ...

As for replacing the control card ... it is not the control card that is replaced ... but the platter's are exchanged from bad drive , to good working drive .

It mean's not messing about with desoldering and resoldering of the control card ... unless you are very confident and have good solder technique's .

[lumis]

Ark & Bjs,

If I can't even get the drive to detect on any computers or through any programs, I don't see how any software solution would work. Thanks though.


kimco52 & Heywould3,

I'm going to try the freezer trick. I don't think it will work though. But if it doesn't work work I'll purchase another drive exactly like it and try replacing the board. If that doesn't work, then I'll try to replace the platters, which I'm sure is a risky proposition, but it will be my only choice left.

[Marty2003]

if it detects in bios it's more likely that it's a physical platter problem than a controller board problem. My WD drive went dead a few months back and it wasn't detecting in the bios. I took off the controller and one of the chips was clearly burnt out. I got another board off eBay and had to solder the firmware chip from the old controller onto the new board for it to work properly.

[lumis]

I tried the freezing and I heard it clicking and whizzing. But nothing after that. I guess I'll be purchasing an identical drive soon. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

[Doramius]

I tried the freezing and I heard it clicking and whizzing. But nothing after that. I guess I'll be purchasing an identical drive soon. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

did you make sure to place it in a plastic ziplock bad removing all air and making sure there was no moisture. Just placing it in the freezer won't help it very well. You gotta leave it in there for at least 24 hours. If you had any moisture in there, you're gonna have a hard time getting your data off it now.

If you know anything about HDD construction, you could probably switch assemblies, but I would really suggest against that. Even people who REALLY know what they are doing don't get it working properly most of the time.

[ark]

lumis

Since you are anyway going to spend on a new HDD, I would still recommend trying out my suggestion. The reason is, you have mentioned that it is detected in your PC bios. So the Mother board does see the hard disk. When it tries to boot next, it cannot see the MBR - probably track-0 is damaged. However, when the computer would boot with another hard disk, it may be able to see the rest of the tracks in the defective HDD.

[Delta2]

200 ways to revive a hard drive :

http://www.governmentsecurity.org/forum/index.php?act=Attach&type=post&id=4036

[Doramius]

most of the answers seemed to have culminated out of them getting mad at one point and beating the HDD in frustration.

IE: Methods Described -

Freeze it
Hit It
Drop It
Smack it with something hard
Use Hair Dryer (probably discovered by a female IT professional)
Beat it with a piece of plastic from a computer chair
Roll it down a decline?
Tap hard with fingers once power is turned on

[moviebuff2]

I cannot ignore all of these witty posts here. So here's my contribution: how about some Viagra for a non-functioning hard drive.

[Doramius]

We're looking to get it working, not increase the RPMs from 5400 to 10,000.

[Heywould3]

:edit: wrong thread

[ark]

Hey lumis
We all waiting for the outcome of your project of saving the HDD or at-least the data.
Did you succeed? If yes, what method was useful. It would be good for all of us to know.

[jollyjohn]

Yep.mate.
John

[julitomg]

The other day I also had a HDD problem, maybe it´s not the same (then sorry for posting in a wrong thread)
I took a 160 Gig IBM Deskstar out from my editing computer(where it was used as video/audio storage for my video projects, not a system drive) and put it into a USB 2/Firewire external case, to be able to move the data between my two PCs. Everything worked as it was supposed to and I spent a couple of days making tests (mainly encoding .avi to .mpg/DVD, some video capture, etc...) then something hapened; I couldn´t access a video file and got stubborn about it..only to get a sign that I could´t open it probably due to a disk surface error or damage (or something like that), I went to windows explorer, selected it and tried to do a chkdisk/defrag, etc..It wouldn´t and after I restarted the comp and although the HDD is recognized by both BIOS and OS, it now only shows a "local disk" tag, instead of the one it originaly had(I had called it "VIDEO")and by no means will let me access any of the information in it. I took it off the ext. case and replaced it into the PC (connecting everything correctly), and the same thing happens, the disk is there but I can´t "open" it. Windows´drive manager shows it as active. I thought about formatting it(since I don´t really think there is anything wrong with it physically)but I just can´t lose all the 100+ Gigs of video /audio that´s still there(or I hope is still there)
Any ideas?..thanks in advance

[ark]

Looks like your HDD had a head crash. It is unlikely you will be able to even FORMAT it. THe disk surface might have been SKORED as well - so I doubt you will succeed in any data recovery.
To avoid this type of calamity, it is always better to keep multiple backups on removable robust media at separate geographical locations. Even durning the floppy days, I al;ways used to keep minimum 2 backups of my data, with 2 sets kept in different locations.
Banks and others even go to the extent of flying out their weekly data backup to a different continent of the world.

[Xylob the Destroyer]

I used FileScavenger to recover my data from a hard drive that Windows said wasn't there.

[lordsmurf]

This http://www.ontrack.com/software/

[SLK001]

I used FileScavenger to recover my data from a hard drive that Windows said wasn't there.

How was that possible? If Windows doesn't see it, a Windows program won't see it either.

[TBoneit]

As Lordsmuf suggested try
Easy Data Recovery pro from www.Ontrack.com The trial will only let you see what can recovered but if it finds nothing.... The drive is spinning ?

I just used it last week on a drive that disappeared from windows and in Windows XP it only appeared in the Disk Management tool of Computer management as if it were a new never used drive.

Easy Data Recovery pro let me see the proper NTFS file system that got lost somehow and copy the contents to a spare 100Gb drive. I ran it two ways and one could find the files by examining the entire surface of the drive and assigning names and the other way was much faster and recovered with proper filenames.

Of course if the drive won't even spin no software can help.

[TBoneit]

I used FileScavenger to recover my data from a hard drive that Windows said wasn't there.

How was that possible? If Windows doesn't see it, a Windows program won't see it either.

Regular windows programs won't see it. Suppose the FAt table or partition table is blown, then wondows can't tell the drive is there.

OTOH a Proper Data Recovery porgram can examine the entire drive looking for directories and files and recover them.

[Xylob the Destroyer]

'zactly.

[Nelson37]

Have replaced a number of controller boards on drives, no soldering necessary. Be VERY careful with the Mylar ribbon cable, if present. Also have Never seen any drive that would not run unless jumper was set to Cable select, Standalone setting with drive alone on channel is safest way to do this.

Do NOT write to this drive except as a last resort, anything which writes to it could screw you completely. If anything has already done that, I would not spend much cash on further attempts unless you are desperate for the data.

Ontrack is decent, several others. GetDataBack has recovered 3 drives for me that nothing else would touch. Not necessary with most of these utilities for drive to be recognized in Windows.

Listen carefully to the drive when powered up. Does it spin up repeatedly? Power to motor, board replacement will probably solve this. Make a series of repetitive, fairly slow knocking kind of noises? Possible stuck head, slamming may help. No noise at all? Possible power or fried motor or chip, again board replacement. If carefully handled, you can replace test controller on new drive and no harm done.

While clean room is recommended for replacing platters, it is not absolutely necessary. Recommend disassemble older, similar drive for practice as you want to be fast. Be prepared to sacrifice replacement drive and broken drive as well. Clean air, no smoking, no dog or cat hair, get that cover back on ASAP. Don't touch those platters, be careful not to scratch. And Good luck, whatever happens, take some time to formulate a backup strategy. Your house has burned to the ground, get fire insurance for next time.

[ark]

lumis
You got many answers from all of us but we haven't heard back from you. Did you succeed in getting your data out of the defective HDD? If yes, then what was the method used by you?