(OT) HD took a fall

Lo-Fi Massahkah · Post by **Lo-Fi Massahkah** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 6:46 pm

Hi guys,

Certainly off-topic, but considering how many computer savvy people are around here...

A friend of mine managed to drop his external HD on the floor. A 3.5" IDE in a USB housing, as far as I know. He can't get his data - at all. So he went to the local computer store/repair man, who said there was no way off restoring it through software. Physically tampering with it might give results - but that has to be done in some sort of lab environment. And would cost him 500 Euros.

Any of you have any last-try-lifesavers up your sleeves? He won't put down the 500, so there's really nothing to loose (anymore).

We'd be thankfull for any ideas.

Cheers,
-M

tylenol · Post by **tylenol** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 9:02 pm

On the remote chance that it is the electronics, not the mechanical components that are damaged, I've read that you can try switching out the electronics for an identical hard drive. But this isn't very reliable, because it has to be the _exact_ same circuit board, and you can't always tell.

Also, I've seen many people swear by putting the thing in the freezer for a while. Be warned that if this works you will probably get only a short window to copy off stuff (20-40min). I've only ever seen anecdotal evidence about this though so it might just have been people being lucky. But google "hard drive freezer" and you will get a lot of information.

Nod · Post by **Nod** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 9:20 pm

Remove the drive from the case and connect it directly via normal IDE interface and see if it works. If you're lucky, it's the USB adapter. If it is the electronics Tylenol is correct that you can swap the circuit boards over - but to reiterate it has to be the EXACT same make/model of drive and you'd better have some real dandy soldering skills.

If the damage occurred to the, for example, system areas of the disk, leaving the data zone intact, those data could be theoretically, and (in some cases) practically, recovered by a professional. But, if the data zone is damaged, the data in the damaged area will not be recovered since the loss of data has already taken place. In this case, one can only rely on the back-up...assuming one exists.

These guys are supposed to be pretty good - and, iirc, they do a student discount.

http://www.disklabs.com/home-data-recovery.asp

Lo-Fi Massahkah · Post by **Lo-Fi Massahkah** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 9:23 pm

Thanks so far, guys!

We're in Sweden so Disklabs probably won't happen...

-M

adventurepants_ · Post by **adventurepants_** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 9:38 pm

Unplug it from the USB case. Plug it directly into your motherboard on the pc, set it to master, and just use the cable from your CD drive for the moment.

If its a windows box, then load up start - programs - administrative tools - computer management. go to disk management and see if the drive appears.

If it appears, but doesnt mount, try running this soft from here:

http://www.pcinspector.de/Sites/file_re ... language=1

ive had great success with this for corrupted and damaged drives. depending on the damage you may be able to get more or less of the data recovered.

If its physical damage to the heads or platters, youve got no hope of recovery under several hundred dollars. the forensic data recovery places charge a lot. If its the hard drive controller electronics, then you may be able to get by finding an exact same controller board as the poster above suggested.

bgone · Post by **bgone** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 11:43 am

When I used to work in IT, we would see a fair number of hard drives die. One method we employed was called the "Slap and Tickle" which essentially is taking the hard-drive and slamming it against your hand or another hard surface making sure to hit it flat so as not to dent the casing. This actually worked surprisingly often enough to justify doing it. When it worked, it would get the drive to boot up just long enough to get any important data off and then toss the drive. However, it should be noted that many times it did no good either. I'm pretty sure this only worked when the problem was a stuck plate and I certainly would never do this unless an absolute last resort and the disk is otherwise going to be tossed into the trash...hope you find a solution.

Cheers,

B

Lo-Fi Massahkah · Post by **Lo-Fi Massahkah** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 1:38 pm

Thanks people!

We'll probably try and approach the drive soon. My friend is re-tiling his kitchen, but after that...

By the way - I love the nick "Adventurepants". I'd love a pair of those.

-M