SATA Hard Drive Crash

[whizzo355]

We have a Dell Dimension XPS with 2 hard drives. During start up the computer went to to the Dell page with F8 and F12 option, then a black screen. When I tried the F8 key, nothing happens. When I tried the F12 key, with both drives in, I chose #6 and ran the IDE Drive Diagnostics and got these results:

IDE Drive Diagnostics
Primary SATA Drive 0: Maxtor 6Y120MO Pass
Secondary SATA Drive 0: Maxtor 6Y120MO Fail - return code: 7
Primary IDE: Drive 0: No Device
Drive 1: No Device
Secondary IDE:
Drive 0: HL-DT-STDVD-ROM GDR8162B -
diagnositics not supported
Drive 1: _NEC DVD+RW NP-2100AD -
Diagnostics not supported
Test complete, press ENTER to reboot

I also tried F12, Ctrl I and received the following:

Disk Vol Info
Raid Volumes: None defined
Non-Raid Disks:
0 Maxtor 6Y120M0 Status - Normal Bootable: yes
1 Maxtor Status - Smart Event Bootable - yes

And yes, I've read all the messages about bad Maxtor drives, unfortunately not 3 years ago.

I also neglected to back up the digital family video that is on the D drive. My bad, very bad!

A friend came over and removed one of the hard drives, which happened to be the "d" drive. Once it was out the operating system worked on the "c" drive and all files are on that hard drive.

I need to know if software like Spinrite will work on the damaged hard drive? Is there something else I should try? I would really like to save the video if at all possible.

I've read that I shouldn't go to Best Buy or similar to have data recovered, and that the places you send hard drives off to cost several hundreds of dollars. I would like to know what you would try and how I do it.

Thank you for your expertise!

 

[RebateMonger]

You might want to view these free video presentations on hard drive failure and recovery. At the least, you'll have a better idea of the sorts of problems encountered.

Many Maxtors seem to have problems with their controller boards. There are numerous photos of burned Maxtor controller chips online. Unfortunately, if the drive controller doesn't work, software like Spinrite can't help.

 

[Bob Anderson]

Will the machine boot if the D drive is put back in? If so, and if the drive can be seen in the BIOS, and if the Max controller is working, and if the D drive is spinning, then yes, Spinrite can recover the data. It has a 30 day no questions asked guarantee, so if Spinrite can't see it or recover the data, then ask for your money back.

-Bob

 

[whizzo355]

Thanks for thee responses. I haven't put it back in yet to see if it will boot.

I plan to do that this evening.

 

[whizzo355]

I just tried http://myharddrivedied.com/presentations.html again and it opened this time. The first time, I clicked the link it didn't work.

Thanks.

 

[xgsound]

Try to do no writing to the drive until data is recovered. Here is a link to birdpups thread on data recovery procedures complete with program (some free) recommendations. I believe "get data back" is one popular recovery program. http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=32&threadid=1687590&arctab=y


Jim

 

[whizzo355]

I've removed the drive and resinstalled a few times. No luck it having it just work for a brief time to transfer the data.

I've also tried Spinrite, but it doesn't seem to work for SATA drives. I tried it on my old computer and it worked, but when I put the diskette into the new computer that has issues, it doesn't work. Sprinrite boots up, and then it goes to the page where it is searching for the mass storage devices, and there it stays searching. I removed the damaged hard drive to see if it would make a difference, and it still didn't find the hard drive that does work.

So, I'm searching for software to try.

If you have any ideas on how I can recover the data, please let me know.

Thanks!

 

[MadAmos]

If it is important try Here but it will cost you. On the positive side he is great to work with and for me was much less than the "big" name data recovery services.

Good luck

amos

 

[Bob Anderson]

Originally posted by: whizzo355
I've removed the drive and resinstalled a few times. No luck it having it just work for a brief time to transfer the data.

I've also tried Spinrite, but it doesn't seem to work for SATA drives. I tried it on my old computer and it worked, but when I put the diskette into the new computer that has issues, it doesn't work. Sprinrite boots up, and then it goes to the page where it is searching for the mass storage devices, and there it stays searching. I removed the damaged hard drive to see if it would make a difference, and it still didn't find the hard drive that does work.

So, I'm searching for software to try.

If you have any ideas on how I can recover the data, please let me know.

Thanks!

Well that's a bummer, but just to set the record straight, spinrite does work on SATA drives. I've run it on both mine at least a half dozen times in the last year.

I have no idea why you can't get it to see your C drive. Something is fundamentally wrong.

-Bob

 

[whizzo355]

That's interesting. I wonder why it doesn't see mine?