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Hard Drive Failure Advice


UpGrade

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Hi guys,

Ireally need some help/advice i have a secondary hd which i use to store files and then i back my data up on external media every few months, today i was updating some files on the hard drive then i after being on it as normal i went to get a drink i came back and the drive was not visible in "my computer" anymore i hd not rebooted or anything. I rebooted and still the same the drive has no power going to it it makes no noios i tried in an external reader and in another maching but it cant be read at all there are things on this drive that i really need to get back i do have backups but they are a bit old now i have been meaning to do another backup but have been too busy the drive is over 5yrs old so i knew it was going to go at some point and was going to buy a new one but i would really like to recover the data please can anyone help with this is there a way to recover it ?

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21 minutes ago, UpGrade said:

Hi guys,

Ireally need some help/advice i have a secondary hd which i use to store files and then i back my data up on external media every few months, today i was updating some files on the hard drive then i after being on it as normal i went to get a drink i came back and the drive was not visible in "my computer" anymore i hd not rebooted or anything. I rebooted and still the same the drive has no power going to it it makes no noios i tried in an external reader and in another maching but it cant be read at all there are things on this drive that i really need to get back i do have backups but they are a bit old now i have been meaning to do another backup but have been too busy the drive is over 5yrs old so i knew it was going to go at some point and was going to buy a new one but i would really like to recover the data please can anyone help with this is there a way to recover it ?

 

I would turn the machine off, make sure the connections to both the HDD and the MoBo are good. Then I would turn the machine on and see if it mounts. If not, check the disk management option in MMC to see if you can mount the drive. Sometimes they just loose the letter assignment. If that does not work, see if you can see the drive come up with any bootable tool like the windows installation CD or other such utilities. If it comes up you can try to use the sergei strelec utilities to copy data off the drive. If not, the last result would be to freeze the drive for several hours, then plug it back in and recover as much as you can. Unfortunately the freeze technique is not perfect and temporary at best but it has shown signs that it can help if all else fails. Otherwise there are paid services that can get the data off if it is that vital but can be very pricy.

 

If you need anything let me know.

 

Thanks.

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Thanks for the reply

turned off already all connections are good, it is not detected in the bios or from boot up disks i tried with hirens boot cd and i tried from another pc too the drive seems completely dead and makes absolutely no noise, I have never heard of freezing the drive how does this work ? if i freeze it and it still doesnt work would i stll be able to send it to be professionally recovered or would the freezing damage it ? i just need it on long enough to copy the data then i can bin it

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If there is no power then freezing it or putting it in your oven won't probably help you. These insane last minute solutions have more to do if the reading head is stuck.

If you are adventurous, meaning if your data is that precious, I have read that the problem could be a faulty printed circuit board or "PCB" and you can try to replace it with

the PCB sourced from another drive exactly like the model you are using. I'm not speaking out of experience here, mind you. But it would be a less costly solution to try before thinking

of having your data professionally retrieved.

This is where I got my info:

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-diagnose-and-fix-a-dead-hard-drive-to-recover-data/

 

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If you have no power at all to the drive then freezing will not help. That only helps because things shrink with the cold temperature. You can still recover data with a professional. What lurch said could be an option but in my personal experience is a waste of time as the main chip on the PCB board is tied directly to the drive head. You would have to buy a replacement PCB and do some soldering work to replace the main chip.

Hope this helps.

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thanks i found a place near me that will do it do you know roughly the cost for a professional the drive is 1tb

 

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15 minutes ago, UpGrade said:

thanks i found a place near me that will do it do you know roughly the cost for a professional the drive is 1tb

 

 

It depends on how far gone the drive is. It can go for a couple hundred to around a thousand.

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first disconnect this drive and start up the pc without that drive.

then shuttdow the pc and reconnect that drive.

and then look if the drive is back.

if not goto diskmanagement en choose redetect al drives.

look for a drive without a driveletter and give the drive if found.a new drive letter

if not found then you have a problem. then ,  you use hiren bootcd mini xp

and see if the drive is there .

if so backup the data to another drive.

 

if the drive is there with hirens bootcd (then the drive is not lost)

 

 

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11 hours ago, sam3971 said:

If you have no power at all to the drive then freezing will not help. That only helps because things shrink with the cold temperature. You can still recover data with a professional. What lurch said could be an option but in my personal experience is a waste of time as the main chip on the PCB board is tied directly to the drive head. You would have to buy a replacement PCB and do some soldering work to replace the main chip.

 

I once had a dead drive the way he describes (no power, not recognized by BIOS) that I got working again by swapping the circuit board on the bottom of the drive with one from the exact same model.

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Thanks for all the replies guys, im pretty sure its the pcb now i spoke with a guy who does this as his job and even he said it does sound like the pcb i have ordered a new drive which is the exact same model so will try to swap the pcb if that fails i will send to the guy

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The PCB itself is actually just screwed on with wires that come out. I am still saying though from personal experience as a repair technician, for the drive head to work with the replacement PCB, one has to un-solder the main big square IC from the original and solder the IC on the new PCB before it will work. Really depends on how important the data is. lol

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yeah i know a part of it is soldered on but it have a soldering iron and kit so should be no problem at least its something io can try without damaging data if i cant make it work at least i can still send to a pro to recover the data

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I did some more research and the outlook is pretty grim. Changing the PCB is not enough. You also need the firmware from the BIOS unless you can get a HD that was made in about the same time yours was.

So what sam3971 said about changing chips is right. A data recovery company strongly advises against changing a PCB but to what extent it is making a sales pitch I do not know. I'm not a tech.

But from what I can gather it's more of a complicated solution then I first thought. Sorry for your problems. My WD black is 6 years old now. I think I will buy a new one and clone it even if it still seems in perfect working order.

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4 hours ago, lurch234 said:

I did some more research and the outlook is pretty grim. Changing the PCB is not enough. You also need the firmware from the BIOS unless you can get a HD that was made in about the same time yours was.

So what sam3971 said about changing chips is right. A data recovery company strongly advises against changing a PCB but to what extent it is making a sales pitch I do not know. I'm not a tech.

But from what I can gather it's more of a complicated solution then I first thought. Sorry for your problems. My WD black is 6 years old now. I think I will buy a new one and clone it even if it still seems in perfect working order.

 

I have replaced the PCB on hundreds of drives over the years since that is commonly the cause of most problems.  I always buy several drives at a time so if one goes bad I can use a PCB from another to retrieve the data.  The good news is on modern drives there is no soldering required, the PCBs use a plugin cable.  The second leading cause is a bad motor, which is sometimes temporarily fixed by freezing the drive.  The third option requires a drive of the same series and requires a clean room to change the platters from the old drive to the new drive.  This is what some of the professional companies do to recover data.  At one time there was a system you could buy for home that was a table top clean 'room' so you could repair your own drives at home.  It came complete with lessons.  We had a couple at work that we used in emergencies. That was back in the late 90s.  I don't know if they even make them any more.

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i managed to order the same hd but the pbc was newer, i stil ltreid and it was detected by pc so its deffinately the pbc now i just need to find one exactly the same and buy it!

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