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Am I screwed? bare hard drive dropped 2 feet to bare floor

D

darqice

Senior member


Well, after partitioning a brand new WD 120JB for a new system, (aquired for $44 AR/AC @ OM) and copying over all 60 gbs of my data (music, progs, documents etc) to the data partition, I set it down to finish building my new system. The original drive I had copied all my data from was formatted and installed as the main HD in my girlfriends new budget system. There goes that.

Then, before I even get a chance to install the 120JB in my new system, I inadvertantly bumped the bare drive off the side of the bed where it fell to a bare tile floor from no more than two feet. When I have it in my new system, the bios recognizes it as a WD80BB, (which of course is wrong) but it does not show in windows or even a dos prompt. Booting with the data lifeguard disk does not recongnize or fix the disk either. (am i doing it right?) Worst of all when i hold the drive up to my ear and wiggle it back and forth a couple times it sounds like something is loose like an unparked head skimming over a platter?

I guess my question is, has this happened to anyone and is there any "quick fix" or something I can try to get that head reaparked (assuming thats the problem). I've tried the drive in multiple machines with the bios still recognizing it as only an 80 gb, rather than 120 gb HD, and the OS not showing the drive at all, not even in disk managment. Any programs to download or anything?

or am i just screwed.

maybe I should drop it again..?

i guess i can at least return to OM, or take advantage of the WD 3-yr warranty. and there goes all my data. *sniffle*
 
I'd say don't shake it, It's not like you are going to fix anything by doing so. The first thing I'd do is call Western Digital and see what they have to say, or maybe start at their webpage. I've never had a problem with WD tech.
 
Chances are high that you're screwed. I would do a RMA and not drop it anymore in order to reverse the effect though. 😀
 
If you're shaking it hard enough that you hear something inside or if something inside has been jar'd from it's normal position that you can hear it.....you've probably scratched the platter(s) with the heads and toasted the drive. (Why would you ever shake a drive?)

Thorin
 
That seems rather weak for a drive. Aren't most of them geared to absord that shock when they're not operational? Hell, I've seen laptops dropped from four feet in the "Great Torture Test" and they worked fine.

- M4H
 
About a week ago I was hired to extract the hard drives from about 40 computers previously used by my towns police dept., for security reasons. They never needed to be used again, so I found it funny to read the label "Warranty void if exposed to 80lbs of force" while throwing them about 10 feet onto solid concrete.
 
Screwed is my vote...

Might be a chance a HD recovery company can get your data but it depends how much it's worth to you.
 
Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
That seems rather weak for a drive. Aren't most of them geared to absord that shock when they're not operational? Hell, I've seen laptops dropped from four feet in the "Great Torture Test" and they worked fine.

- M4H
Click to expand...

But the hard drive in the laptop benefits from the shock absorbing effects of the laptop case itself. A hard drive dropped onto a solid floor decelerates MUCH quicker than the hard drive encased in the laptop. Metal on tile - there's not a lot of cushioning going on there. Drop something off a desk, and note how fast it goes. It goes from that speed to zero in like a thousandth of a second, or even less. And it does it a little bit again when it bounces. Now, for a more "real" experience, take your head, and smack it into the ground at about the speed of the drive. You'll probably want an ice pack first.🙂
 
Does the spindle motor spin up if the disk gets power?

Any valuable data on the drive?

Professional data recovery is most likely your only option at this point.

-DAK-
 
Here is some information I found about the drive from Western Digitals Website

Shock 1
Operating 20 G, 2 ms (read, write)
Non-operating 200 G , 2 ms
Vibration
Operating Linear: 20-300 Hz, 0.75 G (0 to peak)
Random: 10-300 Hz, 0.004 g2/Hz
Non-operating 5-20 Hz, 0.195 inches (double amplitude)
20-500 Hz, 4.0 G (0 to peak)
Sweep Rate 0.5 octave/minute minimum
Click to expand...

There is no possible way that the drive hit 200G from a drop like that. Although the Vibration(assuming a sudden jolt might be a vibration) might have broken 2 g's.
 
Hmm... I've dropped my WD800JB on its side from four feet and it bounced and rolled and cartwheeled away and it works fine, but that was on carpet.
 
First rule of thumb, don't toast an old hard drive you're upgrading until the new one is in place and working...

Since it's too late for that and if it's indeed bad from the fall...technically WD doesn't have to replace the drive as it's not a manufacturer defect but you can always lie.

I'd wonder if the pc is detecting the wrong kind of drive if you just need a BIOS flash on your mobo. Just a thought.
 
Well, I would say you're screwed. Did you buy it locally at OM, or online? Some may not agree with me, but i'd take it back and claim it's defective, unless of course it has marks all over it. I don't think two feet should have killed it anyhow, in which case it may have already been toast. I can justify anything.
 
Originally posted by: JohnPaul
Well, I would say you're screwed. Did you buy it locally at OM, or online? Some may not agree with me, but i'd take it back and claim it's defective, unless of course it has marks all over it. I don't think two feet should have killed it anyhow, in which case it may have already been toast. I can justify anything.
Click to expand...
Yet people continue to wonder why HD manufacturer's switched to a 1yr standard warranty instead of 3.

Thorin
 
Man I feel really sorry for you. I dropped a new(2 day old) Dell modular cd drive about 4 feet on solid tile. =( Poor drive died instantly. It was still under warranty though, and after an embarassing phone call to dell, I got shipped a replacement.

That was a year ago. I still get nervous when handling optical/hard drives now. =( The guilt still lingers as well...
 
Originally posted by: galt
Man I feel really sorry for you. I dropped a new(2 day old) Dell modular cd drive about 4 feet on solid tile. =( Poor drive died instantly. It was still under warranty though, and after an embarassing phone call to dell, I got shipped a replacement.

That was a year ago. I still get nervous when handling optical/hard drives now. =( The guilt still lingers as well...
Click to expand...

murderer.


anyway, so, darqice, did you rma the drive yet?
 
Originally posted by: thorin
Originally posted by: JohnPaul
Well, I would say you're screwed. Did you buy it locally at OM, or online? Some may not agree with me, but i'd take it back and claim it's defective, unless of course it has marks all over it. I don't think two feet should have killed it anyhow, in which case it may have already been toast. I can justify anything.
Click to expand...
Yet people continue to wonder why HD manufacturer's switched to a 1yr standard warranty instead of 3.

Thorin
Click to expand...

heh thorin was saying the same thing i was thinking...
"(Why would you ever shake a drive?)"

darqice: "i guess i can at least return to OM, or take advantage of the WD 3-yr warranty. and there goes all my data. *sniffle*"

hmm. sniffle goes to WD which ultimately has to send you a new drive...

but yeah use common sense. it's a hard drive so don't place it near the edge. same goes for do not eat hot ramen noodle near an opened computer case.
 
Lol, I dropped my 160GB by an inch onto tile (not really a drop, but it was in a bracket that I placed on the floor in a pretty unstable position, and the bracket tipped).

It started detecting as 31GB in both bios and windows after I had it rehooked up (this time to slave). I was very freeked. After factory recertifying and low level formatting (it passed recertify), it was still 31GB.

Switched jumper from slave to cable select, and boom! 163GB! 🙂
 
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