My hard drive just crashed -- hope?? Options?

10 years ago

There's either professional data recovery or this...

HDD platter Swap, NOT Pro - YouTube

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seasoned

10 years ago

Clicks are often because of soft errors, and you have a period during which you CAN back up! It may be SHORT but if you KNOW what you want to back up, you might be able to.

Switching platters out can be dangerous for several reasons.

Steve

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Kay King 10 years ago

When that happened to me a couple years ago on my desktop - I took the tower straight to a local computer repair shop that I trust.

They were able to retrieve a large amount of my data - not all, but some very important pieces including all my photos. It cost me about $80 but was well worth it.
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yukon

Banned 10 years ago

I had a hard drive start clicking a few years ago on an XP PC, the PC wouldn't boot up. I pulled the hard drive out, took the cover off the drive, daisy chained the drive to a working PC with the broken drive set as slave, booted up the working PC & I bumped the little arm on the broken drive with my finger, the drive started working so I moved the contents of the broken drive over to the working PC. Worked for me.

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tagiscom

10 years ago

Originally Posted by yukon

I had a hard drive start clicking a few years ago on an XP PC, the PC wouldn't boot up. I pulled the hard drive out, took the cover off the drive, daisy chained the drive to a working PC with the broken drive set as slave, booted up the working PC & I bumped the little arm on the broken drive with my finger, the drive started working so I moved the contents of the broken drive over to the working PC. Worked for me.

Yep, there are great videos online concerning how to do this, but just remember to touch the casing before fiddling around inside!

If your finger static charges on the chip for example, then that is $100 dollars down the drain!

I tend to backup everything on a 3TB external drive. I gave it a year to see how reliable it was, but a year later l am using it as a storage device as well as a backup.

I have used half so far, but almost 500 Gigs is taken up with Microsoft OS backup service.

Although that takes a day to do, and doesn't seem to work after the initial backup of everything, so l periodically backup key projects regularly.

So if my Laptop has serious kittens, it is not a major blow, only a tem, inconvenience!

Shane

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seasoned

10 years ago

Originally Posted by tagiscom

Yep, there are great videos online concerning how to do this, but just remember to touch the casing before fiddling around inside!

If your finger static charges on the chip for example, then that is $100 dollars down the drain!

GOOD ADVICE! A lot of "EXPERTS" don't even realize that, though professionals have known it for like 40 years. When they made circuits smaller and faster, they also tended to be FAR more sensitive to static.

I tend to backup everything on a 3TB external drive. I gave it a year to see how reliable it was, but a year later l am using it as a storage device as well as a backup.

I have used half so far, but almost 500 Gigs is taken up with Microsoft OS backup service.

Although that takes a day to do, and doesn't seem to work after the initial backup of everything, so l periodically backup key projects regularly.

So if my Laptop has serious kittens, it is not a major blow, only a tem, inconvenience!

Shane

Yeah, it used to be the tiny drives cost FAR more, and were pretty fragile, and now they do amazingly well. I would STILL suggest treating them as if they were going to break though.

My current computer started acting erratically, and I figured it was likely my disk drive. I IMMEDIATELY got a 1TB drive(to replace my possibly dying 640GB). I backed up the 640GB to the 1TB one, and swapped them. BOTH turned out to be good, and I have over 300GB more on my laptop, and a 640GB backup!

I upgraded ALL on my laptop. APPARENTLY there are some capacitors that might be blown, so sometimes it might not boot correctly. Otherwise, it is GREAT!

Steve

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temlawn

10 years ago

take your hard drive you best buy geeks... they should be able to recover it.. its a little pricey, but they can get into it and recover it, put it on a new hard drive of your choice.. and get things back in order... your in business...same with a camera or data card... you dont loose your data it just puts a different... permissions.. if you would, then over writes it... there is software out there that will rechange the permissions.. all data back... but for starters, take it to a best buy or somebody who knows the permissions or data packs on the hd for recovery...
Thx

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seasoned

10 years ago

Originally Posted by temlawn

take your hard drive you best buy geeks... they should be able to recover it.. its a little pricey, but they can get into it and recover it, put it on a new hard drive of your choice.. and get things back in order... your in business...same with a camera or data card... you dont loose your data it just puts a different... permissions.. if you would, then over writes it... there is software out there that will rechange the permissions.. all data back... but for starters, take it to a best buy or somebody who knows the permissions or data packs on the hd for recovery...
Thx

MAN, some people are REALLY confident. Almost all hard drives have ONE head moving mechanism, and the only reserved area they have is for mapping bad blocks. Bad blocks are BOUND to happen, so many remap them at the manufacturer so you can have a drive with the advertised space. And deleting, whether on flash or hard drives often flags the directory entry as deleted and releases the space. With the right software, you CAN, IF it isn't already overwritten, map the space as allocated and restore the directory entry. Until that space is mapped as allocated, it is FAIR GAME to be wiped out by defrags, swap files, memory dumps, text files you write, etc....

This is FAR from the "click of death" though. Personally, if YOU know what you are doing, your chances of recovering such an error are FAR better than the average third party non clean room company. Best buy and the like DON'T have clean rooms. WHY? SIMPLE! They have TONS of people that are AMATEURS! They will QUESTION you and go through blasted checks to confirm much of what YOU already know. The drive DOES NOT CARE! A second is a second and each one may be VITAL to recovering your data. The first time THEY boot it up may be YOUR last chance!

Steve

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4 replies

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tagiscom

10 years ago

Originally Posted by seasoned

GOOD ADVICE! A lot of "EXPERTS" don't even realize that, though professionals have known it for like 40 years. When they made circuits smaller and faster, they also tended to be FAR more sensitive to static.

Yeah, it used to be the tiny drives cost FAR more, and were pretty fragile, and now they do amazingly well. I would STILL suggest treating them as if they were going to break though.

My current computer started acting erratically, and I figured it was likely my disk drive. I IMMEDIATELY got a 1TB drive(to replace my possibly dying 640GB). I backed up the 640GB to the 1TB one, and swapped them. BOTH turned out to be good, and I have over 300GB more on my laptop, and a 640GB backup!

I upgraded ALL on my laptop. APPARENTLY there are some capacitors that might be blown, so sometimes it might not boot correctly. Otherwise, it is GREAT!

Steve

Thanks Steve, yep, l have built a few!

Yep, l got a Seagate 3 TB external drive, which has been very reliable!

Since it is the same size as the one in my PC, (which has run for around 5 years) and l treat it like royalty, it should behave!

I also got a USB multiport, that can let you unplug it without disabling it first!

I have to admit l don't have the nerve to try it, but it is good to know if l accidentally do it!

I have used the external one for downloading trial intro videos, and will use it for photo images soon, so it has been a great resource.

Seagate is a good one, but get a decent sized one, the smaller it is the more it could break down?

Shane

Thanks

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tagiscom

10 years ago

Originally Posted by seasoned

MAN, some people are REALLY confident. Almost all hard drives have ONE head moving mechanism, and the only reserved area they have is for mapping bad blocks. Bad blocks are BOUND to happen, so many remap them at the manufacturer so you can have a drive with the advertised space. And deleting, whether on flash or hard drives often flags the directory entry as deleted and releases the space. With the right software, you CAN, IF it isn't already overwritten, map the space as allocated and restore the directory entry. Until that space is mapped as allocated, it is FAIR GAME to be wiped out by defrags, swap files, memory dumps, text files you write, etc....

This is FAR from the "click of death" though. Personally, if YOU know what you are doing, your chances of recovering such an error are FAR better than the average third party non clean room company. Best buy and the like DON'T have clean rooms. WHY? SIMPLE! They have TONS of people that are AMATEURS! They will QUESTION you and go through blasted checks to confirm much of what YOU already know. The drive DOES NOT CARE! A second is a second and each one may be VITAL to recovering your data. The first time THEY boot it up may be YOUR last chance!

Steve

Originally Posted by seasoned

GOOD ADVICE! A lot of "EXPERTS" don't even realize that, though professionals have known it for like 40 years. When they made circuits smaller and faster, they also tended to be FAR more sensitive to static.

Yeah, it used to be the tiny drives cost FAR more, and were pretty fragile, and now they do amazingly well. I would STILL suggest treating them as if they were going to break though.

My current computer started acting erratically, and I figured it was likely my disk drive. I IMMEDIATELY got a 1TB drive(to replace my possibly dying 640GB). I backed up the 640GB to the 1TB one, and swapped them. BOTH turned out to be good, and I have over 300GB more on my laptop, and a 640GB backup!

I upgraded ALL on my laptop. APPARENTLY there are some capacitors that might be blown, so sometimes it might not boot correctly. Otherwise, it is GREAT!

Steve

Thanks Steve, yep, l have built a few!

Yep, l got a Seagate 3 TB external drive, which has been very reliable!

Since it is the same size as the one in my PC, (which has run for around 5 years) and l treat it like royalty, it should behave!

I also got a USB multiport, that can let you unplug it without disabling it first!

I have to admit l don't have the nerve to try it, but it is good to know if l accidentally do it!

I have used the external one for downloading trial intro videos, and will use it for photo images soon, so it has been a great resource.

Seagate is a good one, but get a decent sized one, the smaller it is the more it could break down?

Shane

Thanks

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tagiscom 10 years ago

Thanks Steve, yep, l have built a few!

Yep, l got a Seagate 3 TB external drive, which has been very reliable!

Since it is the same size as the one in my PC, (which has run for around 5 years) and l treat it like royalty, it should behave!

I also got a USB multiport, that can let you unplug it without disabling it first!

I have to admit l don't have the nerve to try it, but it is good to know if l accidentally do it!

I have used the external one for downloading trial intro videos, and will use it for photo images soon, so it has been a great resource.

Seagate is a good one, but get a decent sized one, the smaller it is the more it could break down?

Shane
- Thanks
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tagiscom

10 years ago

Originally Posted by seasoned

GOOD ADVICE! A lot of "EXPERTS" don't even realize that, though professionals have known it for like 40 years. When they made circuits smaller and faster, they also tended to be FAR more sensitive to static.

Yeah, it used to be the tiny drives cost FAR more, and were pretty fragile, and now they do amazingly well. I would STILL suggest treating them as if they were going to break though.

My current computer started acting erratically, and I figured it was likely my disk drive. I IMMEDIATELY got a 1TB drive(to replace my possibly dying 640GB). I backed up the 640GB to the 1TB one, and swapped them. BOTH turned out to be good, and I have over 300GB more on my laptop, and a 640GB backup!

I upgraded ALL on my laptop. APPARENTLY there are some capacitors that might be blown, so sometimes it might not boot correctly. Otherwise, it is GREAT!

Steve

Thanks Steve, yep, l have built a few!

Yep, l got a Seagate 3 TB external drive, which has been very reliable!

Since it is the same size as the one in my PC, (which has run for around 5 years) and l treat it like royalty, it should behave!

I also got a USB multiport, that can let you unplug it without disabling it first!

I have to admit l don't have the nerve to try it, but it is good to know if l accidentally do it!

I have used the external one for downloading trial intro videos, and will use it for photo images soon, so it has been a great resource.

Seagate is a good one, but get a decent sized one, the smaller it is the more it could break down?

Shane

Thanks

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bizgrower

10 years ago

I almost had http://eprovided.com as a client.

I think they know what they are doing.
(So does NASA.)

I have no current business relationship with them.

https://www.google.com/search?undefi...NqnP2wX-xoDACQ

Dan

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laurencewins

10 years ago

I back up my work on an external drive AND a USB drive. Just in case.
If you don't back up your important stuff, you'll never get it all back.
I also regularly create system restore points as that can help if you have hard drive issues.

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David Beroff

10 years ago

Originally Posted by TimothyW

Any experts out there with any advice/experience?

I'm no expert, but these people were able to help me with 100% recovery when I got into a similar jam. (One of the cats knocked an external drive off my desk.) Yes, they have a clean room and the right equipment. That's not an affiliate link, but please mention my name as a prior satisfied customer.

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Sarevok

10 years ago

I remember a long time ago I had an external case with two hard drives.

Long story short, I plugged an electric heater into the same power strip where the external device resided and the hard drives short circuited (roflz).

As a result: the drive's would spin, but were clicking.

I put the hard drives in a plastic bag, then put them in the freezer overnight.

Sure enough, in an "ice cold state", I was able to access the data for a few minutes and was able to recover much of my data.

True story.

(I have read many reports on this over the years, and many "experts" claim that the freezer method doesn't work, however I can testify before the good book that I was able to retrieve data from a short-circuited drive when it was frozen, when before I was not able to access the data).

My hypothesis: A component on the hard drive spindle short circuited, and the freeze somehow enabled the spindle to spin.

That being said, and in my opinion, the reason for the majority of mechanical drive failure is the result of the "head" of the drive being unable to magnetically read the platter, and as a result, the head keeps slamming into the spindle, because it cannot magnetically locate the data on the platter, therefore it never stops and keeps "reaching". - In this case, freezing the drive will not do any good.

Anyway, don't try to remove the platters on your own, because you will probably lose the data.

And don't take it to best buy, because IMO they suck.

If the data is valuable to you? Have someone with a static free environment remove the platters and extract the data.

Just my $.02. Whatever you do, don't turn the drive on and fiddle with it.

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seasoned

10 years ago

Originally Posted by Sarevok

I remember a long time ago I had an external case with two hard drives.

Long story short, I plugged an electric heater into the same power strip where the external device resided and the hard drives short circuited (roflz).

As a result: the drive's would spin, but were clicking.

I put the hard drives in a plastic bag, then put them in the freezer overnight.

Sure enough, in an "ice cold state", I was able to access the data for a few minutes and was able to recover much of my data.

True story.

(I have read many reports on this over the years, and many "experts" claim that the freezer method doesn't work, however I can testify before the good book that I was able to retrieve data from a short-circuited drive when it was frozen, when before I was not able to access the data).

My hypothesis: A component on the hard drive spindle short circuited, and the freeze somehow enabled the spindle to spin.

That being said, and in my opinion, the reason for the majority of mechanical drive failure is the result of the "head" of the drive being unable to magnetically read the platter, and as a result, the head keeps slamming into the spindle, because it cannot magnetically locate the data on the platter, therefore it never stops and keeps "reaching". - In this case, freezing the drive will not do any good.

Anyway, don't try to remove the platters on your own, because you will probably lose the data.

And don't take it to best buy, because IMO they suck.

If the data is valuable to you? Have someone with a static free environment remove the platters and extract the data.

Just my $.02. Whatever you do, don't turn the drive on and fiddle with it.

In theory, different temperatures, even COLD ones CAN work. It isn't permanent OR reliable. In fact, some heat and cool electronics to find sub par components, etc... because it can HURT stuff ALSO!

As for static? It CAN be bad for electronics, but dust is even WORSE for a hard disk drive! And it can be dust you don't even see.

Steve

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Sarevok

10 years ago

PS: I've bought dozens of hard drives over the years, and have serviced quite a few.

WD is by far my favorite brand, for what it's worth.

-knock on MF wood- (MF as in "major force")

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seasoned

10 years ago

BTW different temperatures can ALSO fix track alignment and the like. If a drive were formatted in the cold, it is less likely to have a problem in the cold, simply because the tracks will be closer to how they were created.

Steve

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Joe Mobley 10 years ago

And afterwards, realize that Dropbox and a USB drive can be your friends.

[Note to self: clean, defrag and backup tomorrow. ]

Joe Mobley
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- Sarevok 10 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Joe Mobley
  
  And afterwards, realize that Dropbox and a USB drive can be your friends.
  
  [Note to self: clean, defrag and backup tomorrow. ]
  
  Joe Mobley
  
  Don't forget https://one.ubuntu.com
  
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rodyroon

10 years ago

Hello,
Don't worry about your data as you can recover them from a crashed Hard Disk. Now a days there are several professional application available for this task like Kernel for Windows Data Recovery Tool . With the help of this proficient application, you can smoothly repair and recover data from Hard Disk.

Thanks

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serryjw

10 years ago

It happened to me TWICE until I got smart and backed up my computer! Both times everything was recovered. Find someone good.

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measolutions1

Banned 9 years ago

[DELETED]

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whateverpedia

9 years ago

Originally Posted by measolutions1

The best way is to restore the computer to previous dates. Once the computer is restored we can copy the important files and images data. System Restore does not affect any data or pics in the hard drive.

Why are you digging up old threads that have long since been solved?

Posts in the OT forum don't get counted on your post count, so you are engaging in an exercise in futility.

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Richard Van

9 years ago

Originally Posted by whateverpedia

Why are you digging up old threads that have long since been solved?

Posts in the OT forum don't get counted on your post count, so you are engaging in an exercise in futility.

I think it's all about a misguided belief that by doing this measolutions1 will build up his post count so he can put in his signature a website probably called something like 'Mean Solutions One', though I have advised him to add the n onto mean in another thread for credibility purposes.

Trouble is dragging up old threads that have needed solutions but have now blatantly found solutions also indicates a lack of reading capability so one is shooting oneself in the foot before ones even started.

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David Beroff 9 years ago

Please don't feed the trolls.
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dewalds86

9 years ago

If your hard drive shows in the bios there is still hope with recovery software like Zar, zero assumption recovery

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Richard Van 9 years ago

Originally Posted by dewalds86

If your hard drive shows in the bios there is still hope with recovery software like Zar, zero assumption recovery

Have a quick look at the 3 posts before yours.
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FreedomBlogger

9 years ago

I would highly suggest you to go to a professional for this!

Go to a computer store and ask for help. I'm sure there are ways to recover the files from a crashed hard drive. The operating system might not work any more but the files are still in there!

I hope this helps!

I wish you the best of the best!

Cheers!

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Richard Van

9 years ago

Originally Posted by FreedomBlogger

I would highly suggest you to go to a professional for this!

Go to a computer store and ask for help. I'm sure there are ways to recover the files from a crashed hard drive. The operating system might not work any more but the files are still in there!

I hope this helps!

I wish you the best of the best!

Cheers!

Ok, I give up.

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My hard drive just crashed -- hope?? Options?

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