PDA

View Full Version : Hard drive Data recovery guide sticky?



Cirndle
11-15-2008, 02:12 AM
Just when you think your hard drive is done for, there is a way to attempt to recover your data, and make your hard drive work again.

For instance, I have not done this procedure yet, but will soon, because I have a maxtor 60gb that will spin up, and run, and is recognized in bios, and windows in device manager, but is not accessable, and you can't look at properties, or manage it through right click my computer > manage, hard disk management, etc., and the details of the drive on populate freezes, or doesn't show. I will try this and let you know how it works, but I know that it does work if you burnt out the board. I shorted my hard drive due to power not being all the way off, and the molex shooting sparks through the molex pins on the hard drive. (keep it in the enclosure you idiot)

The board on a Hard drive is called a PCB. Printed Circuit Board, basically the brains of the hard drive, that tells the headers what platters to read and such, like a cpu you could say. Well that board can be replaced, but only by an identical one.

There is another way to recover data, but it means have a clean room (10,000usd plus) and swapping platters, etc., but try this, it should be like 40ish on ebay for PCBs.

Here is a guide on how to identify what your PCB is, and which one to buy.

http://www.besthddparts.com/guides/SATA9.html

Have fun, and I hope this will save some of your memories, or apps.

The Wise Monkey
11-15-2008, 03:57 AM
I find that putting the HD in a bag with some tissue in the freezer overnight contracts the metal enough so that you can run it for about 30 mins, which is usually enough to get all your important data from it. :)

Cirndle
11-15-2008, 02:11 PM
Interesting, I never heard the kleenex part, but I heard the freezer part.

The Wise Monkey
11-16-2008, 05:12 AM
The tissue is there to absorb any moisture that might be generated by air trapped inside the bag. You could also use one of those dessicated silicone bags that come with components, as this does the same thing.

john123
12-04-2008, 03:01 AM
my hard drive is dead. It doesnt work when i plug in the power cable...Can i still try to recovery like wise monkey said?

The Wise Monkey
12-04-2008, 05:50 AM
Does it not spin up at all?

john123
12-07-2008, 12:42 PM
it doesnt spin at all! DEAD...Can i still do the recovery thing...

The Wise Monkey
12-07-2008, 04:19 PM
You can try it, but it may just be time to buy a new HD. :)