Hard Drive Help

**jeffbrown** · October 1st, 2003, 03:01 PM

first day on job - recover data from CEO's crashed HDD.

It is clicking, tried slaving it, master on secondary, and the infamous freezer. what else can I do? It is not even recognized in the BIOS

**Ya_know** · October 1st, 2003, 03:28 PM

Depending on what is wrong with it, I have heard of people taking a same model drive, and swap the controller. I even remember some idiot, I think it was here, that actually took the platters out of a bad drive, and installed just them into a working same model drive, and he swore that he got it working long enough to salvage the data...

Other than that, you could always start looking for another contract...

**NooNoo** · October 1st, 2003, 03:36 PM

click of death... on the ceo's drive - I sure hope that its a freshman thing

Anyway, yep professional data recovery, or try the logic board swap. I personally wouldnt try the platter swap without a clean room

**techguy13** · October 1st, 2003, 08:30 PM

Hold the HDD three feet above a hard surface and let the drive drop flat. I've tried this when all else failed and was able to recover all the data from a drive with the "click of death". If you try it let us know how it works.

**Garak** · October 2nd, 2003, 02:16 AM

Yup, platter swap, not really advisable... mostly trial and error, and finding 2 identical drives is a pain, especially since some company's (IE Fujitsu use different motors now and then) Which means all that hard work is for nothing..

I'd say if the data is important and the machine dont see it, try inputting the heads, cylinders and sectors manually in the BIOS and ty from there, if not send it to a professional company.

Good Luck

**cisco2** · October 2nd, 2003, 12:08 PM

Originally Posted by jeffbrown

first day on job - recover data from CEO's crashed HDD.

It is clicking, tried slaving it, master on secondary, and the infamous freezer. what else can I do? It is not even recognized in the BIOS

Depending on the CEO
1) Shoot it to him straight. It's toast. I cannot fix it. If the data is critical then the drive can be sent to a lab. For a fee, usually $400-$1000 possibly more, you MIGHT get some or even all of your data back. You might spend $1k and get dip doodly.

2) Buy a paper and start thumbing through the help wanted section.

**ironwill99** · October 2nd, 2003, 01:24 PM

It's time to send the drive in for some Clean Room work. The drive is probably crashed on one or more surfaces and/or the media is corrupted. There is not much you can do with that unless you know how to reroute heads on a hard drive to allow it to sweep and come ready. As for looking for a new job, don't, it's not your fault the HD crashed and you are not a Data Recovery Tech so all you can do is try your best.

Good luck.

**ironwill99** · October 2nd, 2003, 01:33 PM

Another thing you can do is try a board swap. This can take the click out of some hard drives but it only works if you have a similar type of drive you can use. It doesen't necesarily have to be the same capacity but it does have to be the same family of drives. There is also a dos based utility called byteback that has worked for me several times due to its low level direct access technology, however it is expensive to buy but there is a free demo.

**confus-ed** · October 3rd, 2003, 06:51 AM

Originally Posted by techguy13

Hold the HDD three feet above a hard surface and let the drive drop flat. I've tried this when all else failed and was able to recover all the data from a drive with the "click of death". If you try it let us know how it works.

Mmm if we have got around to 'actions of last resort' ... this ain't as dumb as it sounds - but I'd say give the spindle a quick tap with something hard (like a hammer) not be dropping it ... this has worked for me as often as the 'freezer trick' ever has (the general idea is the same - free the spindle).

I think we might also be just as concerned about keeping 'our' job as recovering any data ... so nows the time to start preaching about backups, because if you'd been there more than 1 day you would of course organised good backup & disaster planning !!! - ... of course you would !

**silencio** · October 3rd, 2003, 08:03 AM

Originally Posted by Ya_know

Depending on what is wrong with it, I have heard of people taking a same model drive, and swap the controller. I even remember some idiot, I think it was here, that actually took the platters out of a bad drive, and installed just them into a working same model drive, and he swore that he got it working long enough to salvage the data...

Other than that, you could always start looking for another contract...

who the hell did that?

**confus-ed** · October 3rd, 2003, 08:19 AM

Originally Posted by silencio

who the hell did that?

All the guys who do disk data recovery, that's who, that's one of the techniques to recover data !! (but they do have a 'clean room')

**Ya_know** · October 3rd, 2003, 08:28 AM

Originally Posted by confus-ed

All the guys who do disk data recovery, that's who, that's one of the techniques to recover data !! (but they do have a 'clean room')

Right, but this guy was here on the forum, wasn't a data recovery specialist! Just some guy wanted to see it done...(at least I think it was here).

**dddwarp** · October 3rd, 2003, 09:05 AM

I swapped the controller once with a Seagate in 2000 with a 4g. Luckily, I had the same model, took off the controller and put the other one on. It worked for 3 days and I got the data off big and saved a client.

But this won't work with the "clink of death". The Seagate controller went (black spot on the back on a chip), not the "clink of death". The click is when the head is smashing in the platters and it has nothing to do with the controller. You need to free the head. If hitting it or the freezer does not work, send it off to the speacialists. I have had the freezer trick worked only once. That is why it is the "click of death" becasue the HD is DEAD

**jeffbrown** · October 3rd, 2003, 10:47 AM

Originally Posted by Ya_know

Depending on what is wrong with it, I have heard of people taking a same model drive, and swap the controller. I even remember some idiot, I think it was here, that actually took the platters out of a bad drive, and installed just them into a working same model drive, and he swore that he got it working long enough to salvage the data...

Other than that, you could always start looking for another contract...

We are taking it to a pro, not my problem anymore. About the other contract. I was hired at 3:30 on Tuesday, start on wed due to a person having med leave. A place I talked to Mon wants me to interview. Longer contract, almost guaranteed to go perm, more money, same driving distance, bigger company, and job is more administrative like I like to do. What you think?

**confus-ed** · October 3rd, 2003, 11:47 AM

Originally Posted by jeffbrown

We are taking it to a pro, not my problem anymore. About the other contract. I was hired at 3:30 on Tuesday, start on wed due to a person having med leave. A place I talked to Mon wants me to interview. Longer contract, almost guaranteed to go perm, more money, same driving distance, bigger company, and job is more administrative like I like to do. What you think?

Sounds like you talked yourself into it already !

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