recovering data from a failed hdd

[Frick]

So why does putting it in a freezer work? How?

 

[kiddagoat]

Hey there I seen your post and thought to give my own opinion.

I just so happen to do this stuff for a living and see many types of drive failure on a daily basis.

Unfortunately in your case if the drive is not seen by the laptop at all and upon hooking it up to your own system, the POST and whole functioning of the system is extremely slow then you most likely have a hardware fault in the drive. NO SOFTWARE will fix a hardware fault be it the motor, the controller board, the heads, etc..

If you use one of the software mentioned aren't successful and then wish to try a professional service, they are more than likely NOT going to be able to get the data. When you use those 3rd party applications, it puts a lot more unnecessary stress on the drive and causes it to degrade more.

If it were a case of you accidently formatting or erased something sure those programs are great. Even in the event of several bad sectors and the drive still works, you can access it, there isn't any weird clicking or buzzing sounds, then yes those software applications are lifesavers.

Your case is hardware and I would get an evaluation done on the drive to see what it would cost to get the data. I know for us it ranges from $450-$1700 depending on the condition of the drive and what has to be done to get the data back if at all.

You can look into the controller board as noted but keep in mind that just because you have the exact same model and firmware the controller board and the BIOS/Firmware on that controller board could be different.

 

[Jetster]

The only hope is changing the board. Freezer does not work. There are many examples why on youtube and other places why. But basically when metal drops below ambient temps its starts to sweat and moisture in the air forms condensation. Then the head runs threw the water destroying your data. Its doesn't matter if you put it in a bag or seal it in something else its still going to sweat as soon as it hits warm air

The motor speeds are all over the place because the board has a short. You could try to re flow the board

 

[stinger608]

Put the HDD in the freezer overnight. Then boot up a Parted Magic Live disk and check the disk health, and see if you can access the partition from there.

This was going to be my suggestion as well. As noted though, try changing the circuit board first.

The only hope is changing the board. Freezer does not work. There are many examples why on youtube and other places why. But basically when metal drops below ambient temps its starts to sweat and moisture in the air forms condensation. Then the head runs threw the water destroying your data. Its doesn't matter if you put it in a bag or seal it in something else its still going to sweat as soon as it hits warm air

The motor speeds are all over the place because the board has a short. You could try to re flow the board

Jetster, you have a very important statement there. Now I have had both luck and no luck freezing hard drives in the past. However what I did find, and have had more luck since, is getting a plastic container, putting ice in the container, putting the hard drive in, and filling the rest of the container with ice. Hook a SATA cable to the drive during this process and poke a hole in the end of the container just big enough to run the SATA cable through before filling the remaining area with ice. Now take that entire container and put in the freezer overnight. The next day take that entire container out leaving the hard drive in the ice. Now just open the side of your system, plug the SATA cable into your system and boot the system.
Having the drive surrounded by ice will reduce heat and give that extra time to attempt to recover the important data.

 

[Jetster]

Jetster, you have a very important statement there. Now I have had both luck and no luck freezing hard drives in the past. However what I did find, and have had more luck since, is getting a plastic container, putting ice in the container, putting the hard drive in, and filling the rest of the container with ice. Hook a SATA cable to the drive during this process and poke a hole in the end of the container just big enough to run the SATA cable through before filling the remaining area with ice. Now take that entire container and put in the freezer overnight. The next day take that entire container out leaving the hard drive in the ice. Now just open the side of your system, plug the SATA cable into your system and boot the system.
Having the drive surrounded by ice will reduce heat and give that extra time to attempt to recover the important data.

Hmmmm How about nitrogen in a styrofoam box and run the cables out. So you get the data before it has a chance to sweat