Hard Drive's "totaled" - any way to revive?

[LocutusX]

Well it's about time that my foolish "never backup anything" ways comes back to bite me in the ass. My 3 year old Maxtor DM+ 60 just bit the dust, after serving well as my main OS and "everything"-drive on my main rig. What irks me is that it lasted only 3 years, and in fact the warranty expired just 5 days ago (it ended July 2004!).

But I bought a Seagate about a month ago and shifted my OS, apps & games to it, leaving the Maxtor for my data only - but some very precious data indeed. What are my chances of recovering it? The drive never showed any signs of corruption, CRC errors, bad sectors, or anything, but it did start taking twice as long to spin up after a power-on about 2 weeks ago. Guess that was the first sign...

Since it looks like the motor/spindle/whatever just refuses to spin-up now, does this make it easier to possibly recover the data? Can Maxtor help since it's only 5 days out of warranty? What if I jumped up and down on the drive and loosened it up with a sledgehammer, will that help?

 

[spherrod]

The freezer method may work as a last resort

http://www.meetmyattorney.com/slink/mt-archives/000275.html

Are there any Maxtor utilities that came with the drive? If not, it might need to go to professionals if you really need that data back

 

[LocutusX]

well the thing is, Promise Ultra100 bios won't detect the drive, and I tell from listening that the drive doesn't even turn on. it always made a distinctive whining noise. my case is so much quieter now. :/

 

[spherrod]

hmmmm, I can't see much hope to be honest - might have to try the freezer

 

[chocoruacal]

Spend $1000+ and have a data recovery firm do it. Sure doesn't make the $100 investment in a DVD burner and some disks look so bad, now does it Maxtor will do nothing to get the data off for you. Even if it were under warranty most likely they would replace the drive, not repair the one you have.

 

[CraigRT]

Never put anything important on a Maxtor drive... my DM60+ failed a long time ago... and the D740 was not far behind.

 

[Czar]

Originally posted by: CraigRT
Never put anything important on a Maxtor drive... my DM60+ failed a long time ago... and the D740 was not far behind.

<-- running 1x60gb and 1x120gb maxtor disks on a file server 24/7... the 120gb for 2 years, 60gb for waaay longer

and I had a 80gb maxtor in there as well but it died on me
didnt surprise me, my friends 80gb maxtors had been dying before it happened

also have a 10gb maxtor that works great, was in my router computer for .... 4 years at least and before that in my main computer

 

[BuckNaked]

drivesavers... get ready to pony up the big bucks though... We lost a HD at work, and it was about $2300 to recover the data... You do get a free mouse pad though!

sadly, it was a maxtor as well...

 

[zephyrprime]

This drive sounds recoverable. The fact that it's not recognized is a blessing is disguise. Just do a board swap with another hard drive of the exact same model from EBay. Try to get a drive that's built at the same time for best odds.

 

[cw42]

Originally posted by: Buck_Naked
drivesavers... get ready to pony up the big bucks though... We lost a HD at work, and it was about $2300 to recover the data... You do get a free mouse pad though!

sadly, it was a maxtor as well...

wow, what are these people doing to revive that hd's to make it cost that much??

i was wondering, after u delete something from ur recycling bin, is there any possible way for a typical user like myself to figure out how to recover it?

 

[chocoruacal]

Originally posted by: cw42

Originally posted by: Buck_Naked
drivesavers... get ready to pony up the big bucks though... We lost a HD at work, and it was about $2300 to recover the data... You do get a free mouse pad though!

sadly, it was a maxtor as well...

wow, what are these people doing to revive that hd's to make it cost that much??

i was wondering, after u delete something from ur recycling bin, is there any possible way for a typical user like myself to figure out how to recover it?

Well...for one they have the experience and equipment to recover your data under EXTREME circumstances such as fire, physical damage, etc. Can you do that? Hell no. Not everyone uses their comp for pr0n and surfing Anand. People do have businesses to run, and if you're in a pinch, I'd imagine its well worth the $$.

As for your second question...of course. Format your hard drive and send it to me...I bet I can still see all the pr0n you've been looking at you little perv Aside from physically demolishing the drive, there isn't a whole lot that a casual user can do to truly wipe out the info.

 

[LocutusX]

good news! when i powered on my computer today after work... the Maxtor came back from the dead!

IT'S ALIVE, IT'S ALIIIIVE...

so i hurriedly copied over all that important *stuff* to the new Seagate. um, YES, I will be burning them to both CD and DVD, multiple copies, onto Taiyo Yuden and Maxell-Japan discs... before you even ask

So now the drive appears to be functioning, but while I was copying some large digital photos over, the "clicking" noise came back and the system paused for a few seconds. I quickly checked Event Viewer and found the following events which happened at that exact moment:

System Log:

Type: Warning / today's date and time / Source: Disk / Cat: None / Event: 51 / User: N/A: / Computer: this one

Desc.: An error was detected on device \Device\Harddisk1\D during a paging operation.

another one right under it:

Type: Error / today's date and time / Source: ultra / Cat: None / Event: 9 / User: N/A: / Computer: this one

The device, \Device\Scsi\ultra1, did not respond within the timeout period.

SO do i keep the ah heck running until it exhausts all of its nine lives or throw it in the dumpster now?

hmm, i wish this damn thing could have stayed "alive" until i had bought my new A64 rig, i was planning on buying a Raptor, but this crappy AXP doesn't have a serial ata controller obviously...