If you are not backed up, do it now!
- Thread starter Harvestman
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As has been said, there is a good chance of getting the data back if there isn't some catastrophic damage but it needs to be done with care. I've done this a lot professionally. That isn't an offer but we could talk about it. 
Be very careful who you give the drive to. They could easily do more harm than good.
And as has been said, backing up is too easy and too important not to do it. You could have saved all that for A TENNER, but I guess you'll be beating yourself up enough about that so you don't need me to remind you.
Tough break. Not tough luck -- it wasn't luck, it was inevitable.
This is more for everyone else's benefit than yours I'm afraid.
Be very careful who you give the drive to. They could easily do more harm than good.
And as has been said, backing up is too easy and too important not to do it. You could have saved all that for A TENNER, but I guess you'll be beating yourself up enough about that so you don't need me to remind you.
Tough break. Not tough luck -- it wasn't luck, it was inevitable.
This is more for everyone else's benefit than yours I'm afraid.
Sorry if its been answered but does the drive spin up? There's a good chance the hard drive circuit board is knackered or firmware corrupt. If you can get hold of another same drive and swap the circuits (few screws depending on the drive) you 'may' find that you'llbe able to access the drive. The data on the platters should be safe, it may very well be just the circuit that's corrupt . hope you get it sorted.
Like I said, be very careful who you give the drive to AND be very careful who you listen to.
This is guaranteed not to work. The firmware in the circuit board is unique for each disc.
I repeat, this will not work and you should not attempt it.
I agree you must be careful which is why I said you must get the exact same drive but it CAN work. I know because myself and others I know have done the same successfully . firmware versions will generally be the same for same drives, serial numbers will be different. I'm only offering an option to help Harvestman and know it work because like I said, I've personally done it
As the article says, it must be the 'same' circuit. However I'm just stating I've personally done it and it works that's all. I hope harvestman gets it sorted either way as it was sentimental pictures I thought I was going to lose
I was writing a private message to you but the above came in while I was doing that, so I'm going public with it.
Please stop giving dangerous advice about this subject.
You are taking a terrible risk with somebody else's five years of irreplaceable personal data.
As I said if it's done correctly, there's a good chance of recovering the data.
If it's done carelessly there's a much better chance of doing so much damage that not even the FBI's forensic data recovery team could recover it.
Unfortunately that might already have happened as the drive has been to the local computer shop and I expect they subscribe to the same fairy tales that you've been spouting.
In 1976 I gained a first class honours degree in Electronic and Electrical Engineering.
In 1982 I qualified as a Chartered Engineer.
My work has included designing instrumentation, computers and software for safety and security of nuclear materials at the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority; instrumentation, computers and software for clinical diagnostic tests in hospitals world-wide; specifying, sourcing, supplying, configuring, backing up, maintaining and recovering hardware and software systems for many businesses; consultancy for software systems in companies with anything up to three or four million users; and not least development from scratch of a multi-user sales office/invoicing/stock control system which has been running at sites around the UK for more than a quarter of a century.
In short, I know what I'm talking about.
Please let us have your qualifications to give advice on this subject, or please stop giving dreadful advice which risks turning a moderately difficult problem into one with no solution at all.
Look I didn't post to cause a problem and I'll put my hands up to say I don't know 'everything' about computers. However sometimes options such as professional data recovery are not feasible to some people. It just depends on whether they want to give same thing a go as a last resort. I don't believe in 'comparing' qualifications to see who 'knows more'. I thought this forum was for sharing problems and share 'potential' solutions as a last resort. Like I said I'm only going by my personal experience that's all. If someone wanted to give the option a go that's up to them completely, there's no need to blow it out of the water and attack people if its worked for them. I thought this was supposed to be a friendly forum, but apologies if I've offended anyone anyway.
I have done the same thing with my old HD when it overheated from being stuck under a bed.
I bought a second hand HD the exact same make, model number and same firmware
(very important its the same firmware as its this that allocates how the drive stores and collects the data.)
Swapped the boards and had access to copy off my files.
But like the man says if done wrong, the firmware will mistakenly corrupt the data while trying to sort it out and its gone for good.
I bought a second hand HD the exact same make, model number and same firmware
(very important its the same firmware as its this that allocates how the drive stores and collects the data.)
Swapped the boards and had access to copy off my files.
But like the man says if done wrong, the firmware will mistakenly corrupt the data while trying to sort it out and its gone for good.
With all due respect for your credentials:
I have done the "circuit swap" procedure several times - all with good results.
The firmware is not unique for each disk, but for each batch. This makes a difference.
(I should add that my experiences and information regarding the firmware are a few years old. Things might have changed. Luckily I do a lot more biology-teaching than sysadmin-work these days...)
But it should be stated that this procedure is somewhat of a last chance. It is only attempted when you cannot access the drive to copy the contents to another HD, AND don't have the financial resources to let the norwegian specialists do their magic.
//Kim Horsevad
No one mentioned chucking it in the freezer and doing it as quickly as you can whilst its still cold? Never done it myself but I know a couple of people who have.
bambodoggy
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
That sounds very "Boy's own", what's involved there? Do you literally freeze your HDD and then plug it in and have a go?
I have no need to know but am genuinely interested
To the OP, gutted for you mate....hope you get it sorted
As has been said, there is a good chance of getting the data back if there isn't some catastrophic damage but it needs to be done with care. I've done this a lot professionally. That isn't an offer but we could talk about it.
Be very careful who you give the drive to. They could easily do more harm than good.
And as has been said, backing up is too easy and too important not to do it. You could have saved all that for A TENNER, but I guess you'll be beating yourself up enough about that so you don't need me to remind you.
Tough break. Not tough luck -- it wasn't luck, it was inevitable.
This is more for everyone else's benefit than yours I'm afraid.
I know nothing about the debate that followed this post, but I fully appreciate the sentiment of posting for other people's benefit. That is exactly why I started the thread in the first place.
With my total lack of technical knowledge, I won't be trying anything myself, however simple it might be to other people. I will pass the hard drive to someone who knows what they are doing.
Thanks for all the contributions.
I deleted the self import bit about you, im a Gardner hope that makes me as qualified as you to post on a public forum about lighting fires with sticks....
I used to take circuit boards off hard disks to repair them, its quite interesting how often the fault is on the pcb and not the platters, I have even heard silly stories of people attempting to clean the platters themselves ( never going to happen ) but I have run up opened hard disks for fun they dont last very long
.going back to the OP you said the pc booted to recognize the mouse and keyboard ! then the boot partition must be intact or you have more than one hard disk in your machine.
my first attempt would be to remove disk from computer and try to mount it in another (perfer direct no usb caddy) trying to get disk to do as little as possible. but without more information on what happens next any advice you get on here is worth what it cost
I suppose what value do you put on data you stand to recover, the more value the more careful you need to be. drop me a pm if you want chat
David
Again, my experience is a few years old, but:
Freezing the drive sometimes did help with older drives. The problem was that the motor spinning the platters sometimes would overheat and thereby expand enough to seize. This could sometimes be remedied by freezing the drive.
Motors are constructed differently in newer drives.
Furthermore the freezing may actually damage the drive. Avoiding condensation would be extremely important.
Freezing will not help if the control circuit is faulty or if the head physically has touched (damaged) the surface of the platter.
If you hear a drive spinning up and then making funny mechanical noises you should stop using the drive immediately. The sound is often the drive head touching the platters (which it is NOT supposed to do) This process physically damages the surface of the platters, so for each time the sound is heard more data has disappeared. This type of fault is seldom (almost never with newer HD's) fixable without specialist equipment. Exchanging drive heads were possible to do for a well-equipped electronic enthusiast for some years ago, but the very small tolerances in never equipment makes it virtually impossible without having access to specialist equipment.
//Kim Horsevad
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