HDD going *thud*

[Vinska]

Hello!

So, today one of my HDDs did a loud *thud* (the whole computer case jumped a little when that happened). Now my computer won't go past POST if that HDD is attached. And while it is attached it makes a strange dull noise while spinning, and it seems like it suddenly stops (with weak dull *khrrr* sound) every couple of seconds.

I suppose that means it is quite irrecoverably dead.
Yet, any ideas? It was holding a lot of important data, and I don't really feel like using those ultra-expensive data recovery services ~___~
Maybe there is a way? (a fool's hope prolly, but still...)

[de.das.dude]

its dead.

that thud was the head catching onto the platter.
what was the manufacturer?

[Vinska]

Originally Posted by de.das.dude

its dead.

that thud was the head catching onto the platter.
what was the manufacturer?

Bummer.
It was Seagate. It was ~6 years old. *sigh* I was about to get a new HDD next week, to backup all my important data just in case. And that "case" happened. A little "ahead of schedule".

[Black Panther]

DDD is right, the HDD is dead. My brother's HDD did exactly the same thing recently.

Now for a solution..
(Warning - this is going to sound very ghetto but it worked for me to retreive info from my brother's HDD).

Remove any other HDD's you might have in the pc except the faulty one.

Have a screw-driver and a hammer ready. I'm serious. A flat-bladed screw driver (as opposed to phillips or star shaped) is better for the grip.

Place the screw-driver somewhere on the HDD where it won't slip off easily.
When the disk starts making that 'krrrr' sound every couple of seconds, while the pc is booting up, hit the screw driver with the hammer. Start gently at first. Hit it like once every second timing it with the 'krrr' sound and keeping your eyes on the monitor.
Stop hitting the HDD as soon as the 'krrr' sound stops, and the pc POSTS and Windows loads.

The HDD should work fine until you power off the computer again.

[Vinska]

@Black Panther
If that is going to work for me, I will owe You big time!
(and that solution does sound plausible!)

I will try it as soon as I get an empty HDD.

[Black Panther]

Perhaps you could wait until someone comes up with a less extreme solution.

The only other solution I know of is putting the drive in a zip-lock bag and freeze it for at least 2 hours. But that's extreme too.

To give you an idea how my brother's drive looked (I had shutdown the pc several times after getting all the data, but then I kept testing if the method would work every time so I did it like 6 times more and the drive still ran):

[de.das.dude]

back up on pendrives,
i dont think they are as perishable as hard drives.
i kinda expected it to be a seagate

i Knew a seagate that did the same thing

[JrRacinFan]

@BP

Awesome recovery method you have. Will for sure use it if needed.

[FreedomEclipse]

another seagate bites the dust

Sorry - Im trying so hard to to troll. people know i dont like to touch anything made by seagate exactly due to reasons like the one here.


Next time buy a Western Digital hard drive. Im not saying their drives dont breakdown but people generally seem to have much more success with WD then Seagate.

IMO they are the more favorable brand after Samsung sold their department to seagate.

[micropage7]

Originally Posted by Vinska

Bummer.
It was Seagate. It was ~6 years old. *sigh* I was about to get a new HDD next week, to backup all my important data just in case. And that "case" happened. A little "ahead of schedule".

yeah for 6 years thats pretty old
you should back it up more often

[de.das.dude]

i have a hitachi 80gb drive thats 5 years old and without a bad sector. so good, its my OS drive

i prefer w.d > hitachi.
never a seagate.

[FreedomEclipse]

Originally Posted by de.das.dude

i have a hitachi 80gb drive thats 5 years old and without a bad sector. so good, its my OS drive

i prefer w.d > hitachi.
never a seagate.

GG.

but unfortunately Hitachi's HDD department were aquired by WD not long ago for $4.8billion

so its end of the road for you when this one craps up....

[theoneandonlymrk]

im with freedom here, WD Hdds all the way, ive had a WD or two fail but they deffinately exceeded 6 years everytime ,and that will do for me in raid 0 too, so they were thrashed, and hot 45+ all there lives, ive since learned to keep them within 32-39 degrees and they last even longer, none have since passed in fact, ones goin on ten a wd 250 blue

[bmaverick]

I have had 7 WD HDD over the years. Out of the 7, 6 died between 3 and 5 years. One died after 2 years. I'm not partial to any brand. However, I must say, the Samsung drive has last the longest.

As for recovery, two of the WD drives, the "place in freezer bag" in the freezer over night trick worked. About 95% of the data was recoverable. After the drive is taken out of the freezer, let it warm up to room temp naturally. Then place it back into a computer as a "slave" drive. Transfer the files over to the main drive or a jump drive. Do not try burning the files from the bad drive directly to a DVD/CD. It puts too much stress on the bad drive and can corrupt your data being pulled off.

[Black Panther]

Originally Posted by FreedomEclipse

another seagate bites the dust

people know i dont like to touch anything made by seagate exactly due to reasons like the one here.

Next time buy a Western Digital hard drive.

Sorry couldn't help it.

I have a Seagate which has been running fine for nearly 6 years.

And my brother's HDD, the very one pictured above.......
is a Western Digital..

[FreedomEclipse]

Originally Posted by Black Panther

Sorry couldn't help it.

I have a Seagate which has been running fine for nearly 6 years.

And my brother's HDD, the very one pictured above.......
is a Western Digital..

I owned a 80GB seagate barricuda for less then 2 weeks and it died. that happened longer then 6 years ago

Ive had maxtor's that lasted longer then 3 or 4 years - long enough to be sold on when they were not required. afaik some of them are still working. Ive only had about 2 of them go down on me but by that time they were long out of warranty.

Every manufacturer makes a bad batch of drives every now and again. theres no avoiding it. Ive heard horror stories from both sides. but one of the most re-occuring stories i hear about is about a seagate & their drives dying.

Some people might say my opinion is bias. infact one member of this forum would probably argue with me about it because he works as a tech at a shop and he hasnt had that many returns on bad seagate hard drives even though he services the tech & PC needs of hundreds of people.

Some people are just that damned lucky.

for instance.... I have some Senheisser CX300's headphones. Ive probably owned them longer then 4years. they have been discontinued for a long time, but when i dig up reviews about them I see plenty of people complaining about how the cord is weak and it breaks or snaps so easily. My CX300s have had very very heavy use since I unboxed them within minutes of their purchase. apart from some dirty sound isolation rubbers they are working great and sound still comes out in stereo and not only one headphone like when you break a cord inside.

[Black Panther]

Originally Posted by FreedomEclipse

Some people are just that damned lucky.

So true, I think it really depends on luck.
My dad's 2TB Seagate died within a month. He wanted it replaced with another brand and the seller agreed.
Maxtors are notorious for running hot and having a short life-time. I've still got a couple of 80GB IDE Maxtors in working condition.
Then as I pointed out, my bro's was a WD which have a great reputation.
Well.... it should be elevated to sainthood and martyrdom now with all the beatings I gave it

____________________

But let me not derail this thread anymore..

Vinska let us know if you managed to get your HDD running again, and which method worked. Good luck!

[Vinska]

Hehe! My computer had a mix of a seagate, a samsung, and a WD before the seagate one died.
That seagate was "inherited" from my old computer. And I had only a little influence on what went into that rig. (I was freshly 16 y.o. at that time btw)

A BIG ALSO...
The fact that *someone* decided, that it was a good idea to roll a working computer on the side, to reach something behind it, probably had a lot to do with this...
(it happened right after returning it into the "proper" position)

[Frick]

Originally Posted by FreedomEclipse

I owned a 80GB seagate barricuda for less then 2 weeks and it died. that happened longer then 6 years ago

Ive had maxtor's that lasted longer then 3 or 4 years - long enough to be sold on when they were not required. afaik some of them are still working. Ive only had about 2 of them go down on me but by that time they were long out of warranty.

Every manufacturer makes a bad batch of drives every now and again. theres no avoiding it. Ive heard horror stories from both sides. but one of the most re-occuring stories i hear about is about a seagate & their drives dying.

Some people might say my opinion is bias. infact one member of this forum would probably argue with me about it because he works as a tech at a shop and he hasnt had that many returns on bad seagate hard drives even though he services the tech & PC needs of hundreds of people.

And I would agree with him. We discussed this at lenght before but I can't find the thread, but here's some good info. They pull together the numbers pretty often (google "Les taux de retour des composants"). The Seagate XT drives has rised quite a bit. Otherwise no indication that Seagate are worse than the others.

[D4S4]

vinska, if you have a place relatively free of dust you could probably open the drive and see what's wrong, it should live long enough to recover the data opened up. this thud you described sounds like something's loose inside, you can remove it when you open the drive if that's the case. also you can see if the platter is scratched or something. slamming the drive with debris inside will only make things worse.

[Vinska]

@D4S4

I think I'll just try the freezer option first...

And, a place relatively free of dust? I would probably have easier time finding a *not-yet-a-woman* in a brother than this. *sigh*

[de.das.dude]

Originally Posted by FreedomEclipse

GG.

but unfortunately Hitachi's HDD department were aquired by WD not long ago for $4.8billion

so its end of the road for you when this one craps up....

that even better, WD all the way

[D4S4]

Originally Posted by Vinska

@D4S4

I think I'll just try the freezer option first...

And, a place relatively free of dust? I would probably have easier time finding a *not-yet-a-woman* in a brother than this. *sigh*

well, you could always close your bathroom, make tons of steam in it and let it settle down, it would take out most of the dust. but idk how willing you are to take your pc to the bathroom

anything where you don't see much dust flying through a beam of light should do.

[Yo_Wattup]

Why not just dismantle it and get the actual platter (disk) out of it and put it in a new enclosure? this way you could see if there are any scratches on it, i.e. if it is usable or not.

[theoneandonlymrk]

Originally Posted by Yo_Wattup

Why not just dismantle it and get the actual platter (disk) out of it and put it in a new enclosure? this way you could see if there are any scratches on it, i.e. if it is usable or not.

hdds are not only made to work in a clean eviroment they are also designed to work in a vacum, dont open it, nothing good will come of that, and no ones got any where clean enough in an average house, try the freezer method , if that dosnt work you could try a hdd recovery firm or count it as the Backup lesson finally learned,.

i learned the hard way a while ago

i work in a clean room and it isnt clean enough for that, despite being clean enough to make mass spec innards.