First hd failure

e v o

I guess I'm lucky in some ways that this was my first hard drive failure, but I did loose a ton of music that I can't seem to recover. The drive started with I/O errors and eventually would cause my computer to hang. If i pressed the restart button it would hang in the "detecting ide drives", it would show the hd, but wouldn't proceed from that point.
Now, it will be detected, but at boot, it will start with a series of violent clicking noises (which i assume is the drive trying to spin) and then make a "powering down" noise. I can't get into windows if the drive is connected. I've tried Spinrite, but it said it couldn't do anything. Does anyone have an suggestions. I don't think paying 500 dollars for a recovery is an option. Thanks guys.

ChaosMinionX

get a copy of ERD Commander by Winternals, its what I use when the sh*t hits the fan.....

Dyre Straits

Just to be sure: Is this a SATA or IDE HDD? Whichever it is, have you tried using a different cable?

Now, if you've already put Windows onto a different HDD, try this:

Put the problem HDD into a ZipLoc sandwich bag and make sure the ziploc is tight. Now, place it into the freezer compartment of the refrigerator for about an hour.....long enough to make it good and cold!

Have your PC ready and don't bother trying to mount the drive into any bay or anything. Just take the drive from the freezer, remove it from the sandwich bag, hook it up as a storage drive, boot into Windows and see if that drive will be recognized long enough to recover the data you want.

If it works, it might stop working once it heats up again. So, repeat the above until you get all your data or can't get anymore.

Good luck!

e v o

The HD was my 2nd, so it was not the OS drive. I will look into ERD Commander, but software based stuff is looking less and less likely to work. I finally got into Spinrite and it started up but soon stopped and wouldnt move forward. I'm actually in the process of freezing the drive. I tried for an hour, so i'm going for 24ish hours. It's really frustrating to say the least. I'm also going to try a USB external enclosure. I've heard stories that maybe if i can get into windows with the drive i could use R-studio to make an image of the drive and go from there. I don't know though, I'm not expecting much now. Thanks for the replies guys.

ChaosMinionX

First HDD that needs LN2 cascade to run?

Judas

That's brilliant Dyre.. i've never heard of such an experiement..

But i think that would be related to the drive being to hot.. (course metal expands and several other factors to consider)

Dyre Straits

Believe it or not, I've read about this particular 'freeze a bad hard drive' for a few years now.

Here's an interesting link I found just now:

http://geeksaresexy.blogspot.com/200...over-data.html

e v o

yeah i found that link too, the comments are definitely interesting.

technonerd

Yeah it works pretty well for a limit of time. Somebody had a problem with the laptop hard drive, did tried to use recovery tool and Ultimate Bood Cd on our backup machine, still couldn't retreive any data. Left the hard drive in the freezer for 4 good hours and then immeidiatly retreive data asap. HDD lasted about 15 mins, finally got most of the data that the customer want and was sastified.

So I waited 2 months to see if the customer come back in order to get their leftover data. I decided to take the HDD apart and I found two scratch on the plate. When you put in the freezer the frost must have cover the scratch... interesting eh.

Also check your manufacture to see if the HDD is still under warranty, you may be able to trade it. Most HDD would have up to 5 years warranty.

e v o

yeah, the freezer trick works, but actually smacking it on its corner helped even more (i know, but i had heard it helped with the clicking noises, which it did). I was able to get into windows quickly this time. the drive gives the (needs to format), but r-studio shows the data. As soon as i get my samsung t166 drive, im going to recover all the data, i can't now as the drives i have arent big enough. The drive that failed was a wd5000ks. I have another as my main hd, which i'm going to clone and replace ASAP. The WDs run extremely hot as well (40s idle), while my older samsung p120 runs 10 degrees cooler.

edit: on a similar note, what would be signs of hard drive failure. I had just removed the drive that failed and stuck it back in the freezer until i got my new hd, and restarted to find that i had no sound. I restarted again and the sound was back. Could this be a sign? Knowing my luck, the drive is going to fail right before i can clone it. Adding on, I have never cloned a drive, does it work well? Thanks

Zelig

After my first important HDD died, I learned the importance of quality backups.

e v o

I agree, but the sheer size of the data is almost impossible to backup. it's a 500 gb drive almost full. Maybe once TB drives become the norm, itll be easier...