Need Hard Drive Advice Badly - Urgent.

[reallyscrued]

So my laptop hard drive died a while ago,

I connected it to my desktop while it was on and while I put the power SATA cable on,
the computer shut off.

I turn it on again, and the Terabyte desktop hard drive rail makes noises like its trying to spin up, the computer doesn't recognize it at all.

I have irreplacable information on this harddrive. If I buy the same model from newegg and switch the controller boards, is there a chance it will spin up?

 

[RebateMonger]

If the data is "irreplaceable" (does that mean valuable?), I recommend you leave the drive alone and hand it to a professional data recovery house. It's my understanding that large-capacity drives have custom programming on their controller boards and, even if the problem is the PC board, a replacement board won't necessarily fix the problem.

 

[corkyg]

What laptop drive are you talking about? What is the brand and model, and capacity of the laptop drive in question. You are getting us confused with the possible 1TB external drive. What model and make of laptop?

 

[ChaiBabbaChai]

You've had major issues before I guess with a nick like "reallyscrued". Why would you plug something in to an internal connector while the computer was on? That was really unintelligent. And not have a backup of your important data... WHY??

I think each HDD's firmware is set at the factory for the specific platters that are in the drive case, so that the heads know where everything is (this is my very basic understanding). In other words, the board from a different HDD (even if it is of the same model and same origin) will not be familiar with the different platters.

Again, the most important factor is your nick ("reallyscrued").

 

[lxskllr]

It sounds more like physical damage to me, and a new board most likely wouldn't fix it. If you don't want to spend the big bucks for professional recovery, you could try putting it in the freezer overnight. If it's a stuck arm or something, that may be enough to get everything working again. It's worked for me in the past.

 

[0roo0roo]

lol yea backup. trusting your data to a spinning disc....not so bright. if the drive cannot physically be accessed in use that its more than simply a small corruption but as said, physical problem. dealing with that requires professional lab, they may have to buy a identical drive and swap boards and or do far more in a clean room. if it goes to that level, u are talking buy yourself a new laptop money or worse. cheap quotes are for software recovery where the drive still functions. more involved recovery=$$$, companies don't even bother listing prices. too scary

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
lol yea backup. trusting your data to a spinning disc....not so bright. if the drive cannot physically be accessed in use that its more than simply a small corruption but as said, physical problem. dealing with that requires professional lab, they may have to buy a identical drive and swap boards and or do far more in a clean room. if it goes to that level, u are talking buy yourself a new laptop money or worse. cheap quotes are for software recovery where the drive still functions. more involved recovery=$$$, companies don't even bother listing prices. too scary

To expand on that. If the price quoted is cheap, you can do it yourself. Real recovery will probably be $500 minimum, and up to a couple thousand.

 

[Slugbait]

Originally posted by: reallyscrued
If I buy the same model from newegg and switch the controller boards, is there a chance it will spin up?

Yes.

But as Han Solo once said, "Never tell me the odds."

My mom paid $400. She got $300 worth. She was thrilled with the $300 worth, but misses the other $100 worth.

 

[pcgeek11]

I connected it to my desktop while it was on and while I put the power SATA cable on,

WOW!

People always amaze me with what they will do.

And no backups ... WOW!

And that Nickname is priceless! reallyscrued

Yeah Really Screwed.

pcgeek11