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Physical hard drive failure.
I have a no-name (Platinum) 160GB 7200RPM hard drive that has had some
sort of physical failure. The bios sees it, but any reads from the drive result in errors or time out. I have tried many hard drive tools to try to recover the data, but all point to a physical failure. The drive is not making the normal 'clicking' sound, but I can hear a repetitive sound as if it's trying, and failing, to access the same spot. In the past, I've always just RMA'd drives that had physical failures if they were under warranty, or trashed them otherwise. This time, I would like to try and see if I can fix the drive myself. The data on there is not super important, but I would like to recover it if possible. I'm willing to try anything to fix the drive, including opening it, since it is no longer under warranty. So, I guess my questions a 1) Has anyone here ever fixed a drive with a physical problem? 2) Any guesses as to what component on the drive has most likely failed? 3) Any websites detailing the steps to fix a physical hard drive problem? (Google has been no help so far) 4) I know I could probably take this to some place and pay them thousands of dollars to recover the data on it. So I'm wondering what approach they take and if any of their techniques can be done at home without expensive equipment. 5) Any other suggested groups to crosspost to? Thanks. --Phillip |
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#3
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wrote
I have a no-name (Platinum) Not clear what you mean by that. The name should show up on the black bios screen at boot time, and with Everest. http://www.lavalys.com/products/over...?pid=1&lang=en 160GB 7200RPM hard drive that has had some sort of physical failure. Yeah, looks like it. The bios sees it, but any reads from the drive result in errors or time out. I have tried many hard drive tools to try to recover the data, but all point to a physical failure. The drive is not making the normal 'clicking' sound, but I can hear repetitive sound as if it's trying, and failing, to access the same spot. Not all drive click when they recalibrate. In the past, I've always just RMA'd drives that had physical failures if they were under warranty, or trashed them otherwise. This time, I would like to try and see if I can fix the drive myself. Not very likely with a drive that recent. The data on there is not super important, but I would like to recover it if possible. I'm willing to try anything to fix the drive, including opening it, since it is no longer under warranty. So, I guess my questions a 1) Has anyone here ever fixed a drive with a physical problem? Yes, and there is a difference between good enough to get most of the the data back and fixed properly. 2) Any guesses as to what component on the drive has most likely failed? The only thing its possible to say is that it doesnt appear to be able to read the data off the platters properly. That can be due to a number of failures, everything from the read amp inside the sealed enclosure failing to a poor joint in the connection to that, to something more basic on the logic card. Not possible to say which it is without doing stuff like looking at the signals from the heads with a CRO etc. 3) Any websites detailing the steps to fix a physical hard drive problem? (Google has been no help so far) There's a few around, but they're all mostly rather silly. You could try putting the drive in a plastic bag and putting it in the freezer for a few hours and then checking to see if you can see any data on the drive as quickly as possible before it warms up. And repeat the process until you get the data you need. That can work if the fault is a dry joint or a crack in the flexible connection to the heads etc. 4) I know I could probably take this to some place and pay them thousands of dollars to recover the data on it. So I'm wondering what approach they take Everything from checking those basics with a CRO and fixing what is found to be wrong to opening the drive in a clean room and fixing a physical problem in there, to replacing the head amp etc in a clean room. and if any of their techniques can be done at home without expensive equipment. Only really the freezing technique. With older drives you can often just replace the logic card with one off another drive of the same model, but that isnt very likely to work with a drive that modern, even with two brand new fault free drives. 5) Any other suggested groups to crosspost to? This is the best for those questions. |
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Generally data recovery companies replace the drive's board first, then
the preamp board inside the HDA. If that doesn't help, they may check if a head needs to and can be replaced. The last step is taking the drive apart, putting each platter on a spin stand (like a turntable) and reading the analog data with a high performance head and converting the flux changes into user data with software. This can generally recover anything that's not physically erased or damaged but takes a lot of time. Your drive clearly has problems reading data since you hear it retrying, but you won't be able to do anything about it (except maybe trying various temperatures.) If it was easy data recovery wouldn't be so expensive. Don't waste your time. An open drive makes a nice paper weight or bookend. |
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"RPR" wrote in message ups.com
Generally data recovery companies replace the drive's board first, then the preamp board inside the HDA. If that doesn't help, they may check if a head needs to and can be replaced. The last step is taking the drive apart, putting each platter on a spin stand (like a turntable) and reading the analog data with a high performance head and converting the flux changes into user data with software. This can generally recover anything that's not physically erased or damaged but takes a lot of time. Your drive clearly has problems reading data since you hear it retrying, but you won't be able to do anything about it What exactly did you not understand in "It's recognized by BIOS". (except maybe trying various temperatures.) If it was easy data recovery wouldn't be so expensive. Don't waste your time. An open drive makes a nice paper weight or bookend. |
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RPR wrote: Generally data recovery companies replace the drive's board first, then the preamp board inside the HDA. If that doesn't help, they may check if a head needs to and can be replaced. The last step is taking the drive apart, putting each platter on a spin stand (like a turntable) and reading the analog data with a high performance head and converting the flux changes into user data with software. This can generally recover anything that's not physically erased or damaged but takes a lot of time. The technology you described does not exist, no data recovery company or intelligence/law enforcement agency recovers data by reading analog data off platters on a spin stand. |
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lazinator wrote:
RPR wrote: Generally data recovery companies replace the drive's board first, then the preamp board inside the HDA. If that doesn't help, they may check if a head needs to and can be replaced. The last step is taking the drive apart, putting each platter on a spin stand (like a turntable) and reading the analog data with a high performance head and converting the flux changes into user data with software. This can generally recover anything that's not physically erased or damaged but takes a lot of time. The technology you described does not exist, no data recovery company or intelligence/law enforcement agency recovers data by reading analog data off platters on a spin stand. And of course you are privy to the internal workings of every law enforcement and intelligence agency in the world. -- --John to email, dial "usenet" and validate (was jclarke at eye bee em dot net) |
#10
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Previously lazinator wrote:
RPR wrote: Generally data recovery companies replace the drive's board first, then the preamp board inside the HDA. If that doesn't help, they may check if a head needs to and can be replaced. The last step is taking the drive apart, putting each platter on a spin stand (like a turntable) and reading the analog data with a high performance head and converting the flux changes into user data with software. This can generally recover anything that's not physically erased or damaged but takes a lot of time. The technology you described does not exist, no data recovery company or intelligence/law enforcement agency recovers data by reading analog data off platters on a spin stand. HDDs have long since switched to analog reading and decoding, so there is no advantage left in doing so. With classical digital decoding doing maximum likelyhood decoding would gain you some signal improvement (1.5dB better S/N ratio, if I remember my coding theory course correctly). Not anymore. Arno |
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