Old Hard Drive Fun

[Silver]

So somebody is asking me to get some files off of their old hard drive. My first problem was that it was IDE, but I solved that. Upon plugging the drive in, however, I hear this: https://soundcloud.com/thesilverwolfstudio/unfortunate

The question is: How bad is this, and can it be fixed? Or am I just going to have to break the news that it's dead?

I've included some pictures of the drive, if it'll help any. Thanks for your advice.

[ross06187]

That sounds like a bad controller or stuck actuator.  how important is the data.

 

 

The steps below will in a lot of cases lead to catastrophic data loss only do them if you understand this and the data is not that important

 

As a last resort

with the drive turned off hit the drive firmly on the side.  then power it up and see if the drive can read.  keep increasing the force at which you hit the drive.  just don't hit it with a hammer.

 

I have only seen this work once out of about 4 dead drives i have tried to pull data off.

 

The freezer trick i have never seen it work and i think a bad idea in general

[Silver]

That sounds like a bad controller or stuck actuator.  how important is the data.

 

 

The steps below will in a lot of cases lead to catastrophic data loss only do them if you understand this and the data is not that important

 

As a last resort

with the drive turned off hit the drive firmly on the side.  then power it up and see if the drive can read.  keep increasing the force at which you hit the drive.  just don't hit it with a hammer.

 

I have only seen this work once out of about 4 dead drives i have tried to pull data off.

 

The freezer trick i have never seen it work and i think a bad idea in general

I can't imagine it's too important, as she left the drive in a garage for a year. I don't think I'll try the freezer method though. I wish there was some way I could get it off easier, ugh.

[ross06187]

I can't imagine it's too important, as she left the drive in a garage for a year. I don't think I'll try the freezer method though. I wish there was some way I could get it off easier, ugh.

The hitting it only works if the head is stuck as its old sticking.  below is the basic process if its just bad sectors

 

I think the hiren boot disk has the low level copy tools.

 

[Silver]

The hitting it only works if the head is stuck as its old sticking.  below is the basic process if its just bad sectors

 

I think the hiren boot disk has the low level copy tools.

 

Well, I'm using a IDE to USB converter, which I know works, but it's not showing up in Windows Explorer. The clicking also seems like a problem...

[Leonius]

is the drive shown in the windows drives utility (click on start then right click on computer --> manage --> and the something with drive?) See if it is shown there...