Long Shot: Data Recovery people?

[Spooner]

One of my drives recently went the way of the dodo bird. Doesn't seem to spin at all, and does not post to BIOS, it's not even recognized at all. This drive had all my pictures and important documents on it. And, no, I did not back it up

I've looked around quickly and received quotes of $500-$1,000 to recover the data.

Anyone have any hookups or know anyone working in this industry that could get me a better deal?

It's such important data, I'd really hate to lose it

 

[LOLyourFace]

there are data recovery programs but obviously you have to be able to boot into the HD..

sorry to hear ya..

 

[conjur]

If it's so important, why did you not have backups?

Have you tried the drive in another PC and use something like R-NTFS to recover it?

 

[Spooner]

Originally posted by: LOLyourFace
there are data recovery programs but obviously you have to be able to boot into the HD..

Yeah, I'm beyond using a drive utility.

 

[Spooner]

Originally posted by: conjur
If it's so important, why did you not have backups?
Have you tried the drive in another PC and use something like R-NTFS to recover it?

Why no backups? Cuz I suck

I've tried the drive in numerous machines. I get the dreaded BIOS beep and it never gets recognized as a drive.

 

[NogginBoink]

If it doesn't spin up, professional data recovery is going to be your only shot.

 

[Spooner]

Originally posted by: NogginBoink
If it doesn't spin up, professional data recovery is going to be your only shot.

i think i understand this, what i'm asking is if anyone is in this area or knows a company where i can get the best deal?

the total data to be recovered wouldn't even be a gig.

 

[Codewiz]

Another possibility if you want to waste a little money. Buy the EXACT same model. Then swap that platters in the HD. It is pretty easy to do. Do it in the cleanest place you can and once you have it together and running. Get your data off as fast as possible. The smallest amount of particles can screw it up.

You would then have your data and two dead drives. Probably cheaper than a data recovery service.

 

[Spooner]

I wouldn't know the first thing about "switching platters" on hard drives

Sounds risky

 

[dman]

Stick it in the freezer overnight, in a plastic bag, and hook it up as soon as you take it out. Copy data off to another drive asap, if it comes up.

There's a webpage that had hints on how to get them running again, with varying degrees of danger... maybe someone has that link.

Suggestions such as tapping on it, a light drop to get the motor to spin, etc. To be honest the tapping thing hasn't worked for me since the 400MB days... so I don't suggest it, seems to make it worse. (I tried it on some drives I didn't care one way or the other about the data).

one hit
linked to = Stories/Tips

good luck. And PayPal me if the tips work. You know you should.

 

[Jeraden]

I'm in the same boat as you Spooner. Dead drive - won't even show up in BIOS, also with all my pictures on it. Doesn't sound like its spinning up, but I can feel that its getting hot. My understanding was that if BIOS doesn't even recognize it and it doesn't spin up, then it might be a problem with the controller card on the bottom of the drive. If it just didn't spin up then BIOS should still recognize it. But maybe I'm wrong, I dunno. I actually ended up buying the exact same HD and am going to try to swap controller cards on the bottom. I got the new one yesterday but realized it has wierd star-shaped screws in it, so I need to go out and buy a different kind of screwdriver first before I can give it a shot. I'll let you know if the controller card swap works. If not then I'll try the freeze trick - but it sounded like that was a 1-shot deal. If the controller is dead the freeze won't work, and then you might have screwed it up from ever getting fixed any other way, so thats the last resort.

 

[LemonHead]

Originally posted by: dman
Stick it in the freezer overnight, in a plastic bag, and hook it up as soon as you take it out. Copy data off to another drive asap, if it comes up. There's a webpage that had hints on how to get them running again, with varying degrees of danger... maybe someone has that link. Suggestions such as tapping on it, a light drop to get the motor to spin, etc. To be honest the tapping thing hasn't worked for me since the 400MB days... so I don't suggest it, seems to make it worse. (I tried it on some drives I didn't care one way or the other about the data). one hit linked to = Stories/Tips good luck. And PayPal me if the tips work. You know you should.

I wouldn't leave it in the freezer overnight. That's too long. You would only need about 20 min or so. The idea is just to cool off the component that is heat sensitive to come "on line" for a short enough time to get the data back. And that's assuming the problem is heat related. If the drive won't spin up, then yes, try to "bump" it. I've had success where you hold the drive freely in your hand while it's conneced to the pc via power and data cable and "spin" it, so to speak, with a quick snap of the wrist, while holding the drive all the time. The idea is to just give the platters some horizontal motion in the direction of their normal spin to see if you can induce some motion for the motor to spin up. Good luck!

 

[dman]

Originally posted by: Jeraden
I'm in the same boat as you Spooner. Dead drive - won't even show up in BIOS, also with all my pictures on it. Doesn't sound like its spinning up, but I can feel that its getting hot. My understanding was that if BIOS doesn't even recognize it and it doesn't spin up, then it might be a problem with the controller card on the bottom of the drive. If it just didn't spin up then BIOS should still recognize it. But maybe I'm wrong, I dunno. I actually ended up buying the exact same HD and am going to try to swap controller cards on the bottom. I got the new one yesterday but realized it has wierd star-shaped screws in it, so I need to go out and buy a different kind of screwdriver first before I can give it a shot. I'll let you know if the controller card swap works. If not then I'll try the freeze trick - but it sounded like that was a 1-shot deal. If the controller is dead the freeze won't work, and then you might have screwed it up from ever getting fixed any other way, so thats the last resort.

Screws are most likely torx (=star pattern), although they may have a 'peg' in the middle, if so they are security torx... and you need a special bit to remvoe them. Sears sells a precision Torx Set (probably other hardware stores too)... might want to bring the drive with you and then you'd only need to buy the one that fits. But that could bite you if they have additional screws hidden underneath in a different size (that's uncommon).

Changing the controller is not so reliable anymore--the link I included above describes why.

 

[dman]

Originally posted by: LemonHead

I wouldn't leave it in the freezer overnight. That's too long.

20 Minutes might work. Surely you can try it, if not, might as well try for overnight. Doubtful that will make it any worse. But it's all a gamble anyway. Moral is to backup your stuff. The more important it is to you, the more work you should put into backing it up. My stuff I backup across the LAN to my wifes PC and viceversa. That way if a PS or controller failure takes out my PC her's is still ok. The extra drives are cheap insurance. All systems are on UPS so I'm not worried as much about house power hits... but... it is still a possibility, so when I get to the 640MB or 4.7GB point, Real imporant stuff I archive to CD/DVDR.

If you only have one PC, buy an external Drive kit (USB 2.0) and backup to that instead of what I do to the other PC.

 

[crisp82]

me thinks cheaper thing to do is by a new drive (exactly the same one) and swap the logic boards over...if it works, you saved the data, if not, u got a new drive

 

[Jeraden]

I gave it a shot just switching logic boards but it didn't work. My original drive was manufactured in 2001, and the new one I got was manufactured in 2003. The logic board looks a lot different in the new one than in the old one. When I try to boot up with the new logic board on the old HD, I can at least hear the drive trying to do something, but its making a clicking noise. Still isn't recognized by BIOS either. I still think its a controller board problem since the old one doesn't do a thing. I don't think I'm going to have any luck finding a duplicate drive of mine that was made in 2001 with the same logic board. There is no firmware revision number or anything on it, so not sure what to even look for, although there are several numbers printed on it.

I think I'll try the freezer trick as a last resort and see if that does anything.

 

[amdskip]

Originally posted by: Jeraden
I gave it a shot just switching logic boards but it didn't work. My original drive was manufactured in 2001, and the new one I got was manufactured in 2003. The logic board looks a lot different in the new one than in the old one. When I try to boot up with the new logic board on the old HD, I can at least hear the drive trying to do something, but its making a clicking noise. Still isn't recognized by BIOS either. I still think its a controller board problem since the old one doesn't do a thing. I don't think I'm going to have any luck finding a duplicate drive of mine that was made in 2001 with the same logic board. There is no firmware revision number or anything on it, so not sure what to even look for, although there are several numbers printed on it.

I think I'll try the freezer trick as a last resort and see if that does anything.

You need to use very similar boards to have a chance of this method working. Best to match the model numbers up.

 

[Codewiz]

If the motor isn't working then swapping the logic boards will probably not work.

Swapping the platters isn't hard at all if you have the correct tools. The hardest part is keeping everything as clean as possible.

EDIT: When I worked for my university I did this a time or two because idiot Ph.D students would lose their thesis and didn't have a backup when their drive died.

 

[Thegonagle]

Originally posted by: dman

Originally posted by: Jeraden
I'm in the same boat as you Spooner. Dead drive - won't even show up in BIOS, also with all my pictures on it. Doesn't sound like its spinning up, but I can feel that its getting hot. My understanding was that if BIOS doesn't even recognize it and it doesn't spin up, then it might be a problem with the controller card on the bottom of the drive. If it just didn't spin up then BIOS should still recognize it. But maybe I'm wrong, I dunno. I actually ended up buying the exact same HD and am going to try to swap controller cards on the bottom. I got the new one yesterday but realized it has wierd star-shaped screws in it, so I need to go out and buy a different kind of screwdriver first before I can give it a shot. I'll let you know if the controller card swap works. If not then I'll try the freeze trick - but it sounded like that was a 1-shot deal. If the controller is dead the freeze won't work, and then you might have screwed it up from ever getting fixed any other way, so thats the last resort.

Screws are most likely torx (=star pattern), although they may have a 'peg' in the middle, if so they are security torx... and you need a special bit to remvoe them. Sears sells a precision Torx Set (probably other hardware stores too)... might want to bring the drive with you and then you'd only need to buy the one that fits. But that could bite you if they have additional screws hidden underneath in a different size (that's uncommon).

Changing the controller is not so reliable anymore--the link I included above describes why.

Menard's and better hardware stores sell security torx bits, so they're really not that secure. I think they're mostly used to keep the kiddies and ultra-casual tinkerers out.

 

[draggoon01]

out of curiosity what hard drive was it?

brand, size, model, retail bought?

any warning signs, anything out of ordinary? anything happen that might have brought this on (power surge in area, heavy overnight usage [defragging])?

 

[Jeraden]

Mine was a WD 60gb 7200rpm drive. WD6000-BB or something is the model - I did get the exact same model, so I'm not sure why the 2 boards are exhibiting different behavior other than one is slightly different than the other. I think I killed mine by plugging the power cord into it backwards. Got a new case and was moving stuff over to it. Normally you can't put power connectors in backwards based on their shape, but this case had a pass-through power connector for the one case fan and it lets you plug the connector in backwards to the passthrough. So I think I shorted something out on the logic board. Stupid mistake but I wasn't really paying attention.