Data Recovery for Dead Hard drive heads

[bcurko]

Hi TP,

I'm an australian who is seeking some advice regarding getting the data off my now non functioning 1TB WD Green Drive. The drive clicks and so it's been disconnected and from what I've read it's the heads or the motor definitely something mechanically wrong.

I was wondering who you guys would suggest? I've seen some prices for some data recovery agents in the US and they are a lot cheaper then Australia. I've been quoted up to $3400AUD where as the US data recovery places are half the price...

I'm all up for advice and recommendations from users dealing with data recovery companies. Also I'm not in any major hurry to get the drive repaired, i just want to get my data back.

The drive worked for 24 hours then i restarted my rig and the drive started clicking.. No idea what went wrong.

 

[lyndonguitar]

try the Hard Drive freezer trick.

but i guess your files are so important so you wont take the risk

 

[_Zod_]

I would see if WD offers data recovery services directly if the data is that important. I will also say shame on you for not backing up your data.

 

[bcurko]

Ok firstly i did have a backup of data so don't assume anything that's just plain rude. The backup was wiped with the new format to become my OS Drive. I don't usually have drives that pass smart and work fine for the first 24 hours then die. The drive has been opened outside a clean room and by a mate of mine.. so WD won't touch it as warranty has been voided.

 

[DRDNA]

if the drive has been opened to the platers then I have my doubts of any recovery although anything is possible now days..depends how much you want to pay...usually it $2500.00+ for professional recovery.

 

[kaneda]

Maybe i have trust issues. but why did i translate this topic?
it sounds like:
" i deleted something, how can i get it back? i had a backup, just i deleted it"
then, a more cynical kaneda thought it over and translated it as
" i have an old hdd which doesnt belong to me and i want to seem cool by retreiving all sorts of data from it"
then the inner tard came out " hidin n' recoverin loli"

 

[_Zod_]

Ok firstly i did have a backup of data so don't assume anything that's just plain rude. The backup was wiped with the new format to become my OS Drive. I don't usually have drives that pass smart and work fine for the first 24 hours then die. The drive has been opened outside a clean room and by a mate of mine.. so WD won't touch it as warranty has been voided.

Basically I was correct in assuming that you didn't have a backup because had you had one you wouldn't be looking for data recovery services in the first place (common sense man). Also now you say you had one and deleted it because you needed the drive for your OS. That being the case, you never intended to keep regular backups anyway (again, common sense interpretation).

Seagate has data recovery services and warranty has zero to do with it. You pay regardless, no manufacturer warranties data. Check with WD to see if they offer the service and for how much.

I wish you good luck geting your data back and hope you invest in another drive of the same capacity and back up your data regularly next time.

 

[slyfox2151]

Did you open it before or after it died?

if it was before, thats why it died. its likely dust and dirt got inside it and killed it.

that being said. its going to be expencive to recover data off it. best option is to call WD and see what they can provide you.

 

[twilyth]

I researched this for someone about a year ago. I trolled a couple of tech boards that dealt with the low level engineering of these HD's.

See, the real problem when you get that clicking noise is usually the controller board - the circuit board that's mounted right on the drive casing. 9 times out of 10, the mechanics are fine.

So if you could swap out the board, you could get the drive working again. I actually did this a couple times on the old Hitachi DeathStar drive. I had bought several of those and it turned out that a couple had matching 'microcode revision levels'. So I took the board from one, put it in another, got the data, and switched it back.

I even found a company that sold controller boards. I don't remember the name now though or even how I found them. It might have been a tech at Hitachi - not sure.

Apparently the MRL (???) has something to do with how the sectors are defined on the platters. As long as the drives have the same MRL, the boards are interchangeable.

What I found out about the WD drives is that each one is initialize individually and whatever tables are used for finding each sector is unique to each drive.

Now this is just a guess and something I didn't think to ask at the time, but if the information that is unique to the drive is on an eprom on the board, then you should be able to unsolder it and transplant it to another controller. But you'll have to do the leg work on that one.

It's also possible that WD doesn't do things that way any more. They probably do, but you never know.