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Can a Hard Drive Be Fixed?


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Data recovery is not cheap. Ontrack averages about $2000 per recovery (that's with a discount) and they've always been able to recover everything. Otherwise, you could put your drive in a ziplock bag and freeze it overnight. I've had good luck recovering desktop drives this way. Good luck.

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Originally posted by Dylan Walters

I honestly don't know, but it works about 50% of the time for me.

 

I allways wonder how dudes come up with solutions like that.....

 

Damn I have a dead harddrive,....Hmmm,...how can I fix that? well,..maybe I can put it in the freezer for a while,....

 

:confused:

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It's a bit late for this now, but ever since I started working with audio on hard drives (about 15 years ago) I made a three-part rule for myself:

 

1. If there is only one copy of my files they practically speaking don't exist.

 

2. If there are two copies (on different drives) they do exist, but I still don't have any reliable backup.

 

3. With three copies I can finally relax (a bit).

 

Martin

 

PS. Since you're drive was dropped, I'm afraid the problem might be mechanical (damaged heads).

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Definitely backup

 

backup backup backup

 

and at least one backup really needs to be offsite

 

sadly -- it barn door and the cow

 

And hell, I think we've all played it fast and loose at times...and regretted it

So I mean "I feel your pain brother"

 

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If it still spins, Don't let it run for a prolonged time as it might have bent needles and could damage the discs inside negating any chances of data recovery. Had a seagate disc once that made a nasty scratch on the discs which made for only partial recovery of data. Here in cebu data recovery services cost about 500 Phil. pesos per DVD of data recovered, 2,5T pesos for Mac drives. Its actually very cheap but you cant be sure your data is recoverable so its a risk to ship it here. I recovered 2 complete album files from that 80gb harddrive but not my installers because of the scratch. Usually PCB card failure is due to voltage spikes causing shortage and the drive doesn't spin up at all. But in your case, I think it could be mechanical.

I know a really good hard drive specialist here if you want to email him and ask for his help in diagnosing the problem. but otherwise, you have to do it there in your place.

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Also, try removing the drive and putting it in a different USB enclosure. I didn't drop my drive but one time it just started beeping and not being recognized anymore. I had a spare case and switched it out. It booted up and worked fine. It could just be the enclosure got damaged.

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The freezing thing HAS worked for me. I thought it was urban legend (which it may still be partly) but if you have exhausted other options and are not willing to send it to drivesavers, it is wirth a shot. The reason it may work is that the cold contracts the metal within the hard drive, sometimes allowing it to spin up long enough to recover from say a physical defect in the drive that causes it to spin off kilter or bind up.

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I second trying a new USB case - I had one fail on me recently.

 

Have you checked "ControlPanel"/Administrative Tools/Computer Management/Disk Management.

 

Check your puter is seeing the drive correctly - Mine had a glitch reading the disc size. I took it down to the local Puter shop and it worked fine in their machine.

 

BTW - it also made beeping sounds when trying to access it.

 

cheers

john

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And don't forget that if you back up to hard drives, you need to exercise them periodically to prevent "sticktion."

 

I've had two major hard drive crashes. One I was able to fix by swapping out a controller card. The other was in a notebook and when it died, IT DIED. Luckily almost everything was backed up so I didn't feel the need to go for data recovery.

 

And before doing ANY of the above tips, it WAS a fall -- make sure all the connectors are still properly in place!!

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Originally posted by boosh



I allways wonder how dudes come up with solutions like that.....


Damn I have a dead harddrive,....Hmmm,...how can I fix that? well,..maybe I can put it in the freezer for a while,....


:confused:

 

Well, You have to try everything, I boil mine and they work great, They taste like chicken! :eek:

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