IBM 75 GXP DIED?

[SXMP]

Oh gosh guys, the time that I have dreaded has finnaly came. My IBM 75 GXP which has been so nice to me, just decides to die. I was just "exploring" in explorer, when I go to open my downloads folder, BAM: I hear a repetitive: CLICK chik-chik-chik..... CLICK chik-chik-chik........ Thats the best I can immitate the sound, its a lound CLICK, followed by a bunch of short clicks. I checked out IBM's website and it appears closest *but not exact) like "Bad Head 2.wav" . My question now is: A) Is there any way to "fix" or do anything to try and make this drive work again, (there was LOTS of information that I really really needed, phone lists, reports, emails, etc.) B) if no way to fix on own, will IBM RMA? and if so, do they check the contents of the drive? (besides the important stuff like emails and reports, theres quite a bit of stuff "backed up" ahem ahem) on their that I sure wouldnt want them to come back to me with the fbi =) C) do I have any other options other than to just give up??

THNX guys in advance in a time when I need it most!

sincerly sxmp

 

[SXMP]

ne one?

 

[beer]

They don't check data. As for your data, it's more than likely gone. You MAY have some luck letting the drive sit for a few hours then booting to DOS and copying all your REALLY important files - phone lists, etc. I have seen people that have gotten lucky enough to copy some small DOC files and Outlook PST files doing this method. I wouldn't think you'd be able to copy anything large (your "data" files.) because that drive is more or less dead.

The IBM RMA should be able to hook you up with a new drive.

 

[Raincity]

Sorry for your loss, I have been through a dozen 75 GXP losses of my own this year. Yes they will RMA it with ease. You dont even have to call IBM, There is a place to enter the serial # of the drive at the IBM website and they will issue you a RMA via email. I doubt if IBM looks at the contents of the drives. They probally just replace the platters and drive arm while saving the motor and controller.

Rain

 

[jldodge]

I had a similar experience a few months ago. I found a sofware package (I believe it is called Easy Recovery) that saved the day for me. It was able to "see" my drive when my operating system would not recognized it. They have a demo version which will restore up to 15 files onto another hard drive. It's expensive ($495) if you decide to buy (which I did) but it worked remarkably well and was very user friendly.

I found it using a search at Download.com. Other, less expensive programs did not work for me and since I had a lot of data that would be expensive and time consuming to recreate (assuming I could), I did a simple analysis and paid the money!

Good luck ....

 

[thorin]

Hey I was hunting for that IBM page with the drive death noises can you link it up please.

A)
Completely seriously I just read a big huge document on this composed by hundreds of IT pros. I'll dig up the URL for you but in the mean time here's the suggestion. Put the drive in a ZIP LOCK bag then in the freezer for a few hours. Pull it out and plug it in quick, remove all your needed data and then RMA it.

Update:
Here's the URL (200 Ways to Revive a Hard Drive)
If you don't have a tech republic account use:
UID: at2001@my.net
PASS: at2001

B)
Yes IBM should RMA it no problem. I doubt they'll try to check the content of the drive but don't know for sure.

C)
See A and B. (All of the above)

Thorin

 

[Yossarian]

<< I checked out IBM's website and it appears closest *but not exact) like &quot;Bad Head 2.wav&quot; >>



Would you please post a link to these sounds? I'm poking around on IBM's site but I can't find them. **NEVER MIND, THERE THEY ARE***

Sounds you don't wanna hear

 

[thorin]

Thanks PipBoy

Thorin

 

[SXMP]

THNX SOO MUCH GUYS!

TO THE FREEZER I SHALL GO! (crosses fingers and prays <---something i havent done in a loooonnnnggggg time =)

Hopefully I shall be able to back up that stuff! Thnx again! You guys are sooo more than helpful.

 

[beer]

muahahhaha that &quot;Head stuck to platter&quot; is hilarious...I could just imagine hearing that out of my computer...

 

[SXMP]

Ah vey.... Well its over, its really over, the 75 GXP is soo dead. Well, the freezing, dropping, &quot;rapping&quot; (which i assume was just another word for tapping?), none of it worked. Every time I got the same sound. Eventually I started shaking it violently as it made this sound, this caused it to make a wierd high pitched &quot;screeech&quot; lol, so its soo geting rma'd.. I just wish I couldve saved at least something! Oh well thnx guys

night
sxmp

 

[splice]

Well you probably shouldn't have violently shaked it .... most likely the platters hit each other or the heads.... which is not good.

 

[subman]

SXMP

I had 3 IBM 75GXP's die on me the same way as yours.... the same click sounds... the first 2 were new drives and the third was a RMA return drive.

I found that the local IBM people were just running the IBM low level format utility &quot;Drive Fitness Test - Erase Disk&quot; on the drive and marking out bad sectors which were created by the heads crashing on the platters which was causeing the click sounds. So with the third drive I connected the drive as a slave to another drive and the system booted fine, I then could access the IBM drive and backup all the data except one sub directory from Windows which had damaged sectors. This was not a problem as I had a current Ghost image of the drive and got this sub directory back.

After this I used IBM's low level format utility and ran it on the defective drive. I heard it making some sound when it reached the bad sector and in a couple of minutes it marked out these sectors and contnued. I feel that the IBM 75GXP drives have spare sectors on them as after the low level format and regular format I found that the size indicated was the same. It has now been about 2 months since I ran the low level format and this drive is now permanently kept as a slave to another Seagate Baracuda drive. No problems so far.