Force Start a HDD

[Deqzel]

While there surely are posts similar to this one, I cannot find one that is similar enough to help my issue.

 

I have a secondary 200gb HDD used to store installers or stuff I'd be too lazy to download a second time, this HDD is pretty old, i'd say about  8 years even, a while a go Windows prompted a message saying that the drive was damage and that I should have it checked, message I ignored...

 

Honestly I could just dump the HDD in the thrash can and be done with it, given the time it's been with me and that half of that time it was a primary drive, I believe it just reached the end of it's useful life, All the information conteined can be re-dowloaded or I don't mind losing it. I never stored pictures, paper works or highly valuable data knowing it could die on me any time, though it did a bit sooner than I expected. However, I'd like to acces the information at least one last time to retrieve as much of this data as posible and save a lot of time and effort, if anything I'll have some fun tinkering with the drive before I toss it into the thrash (unless you sugest some uses for a dead HDD)

 

What does the HDD actually do? well, not much, it is not recognized by my bios and it won't show up on Windows either. At start up I can hear a click, a buzz sound a click again (as if it were trying to start up) and then nothing else. One day it was accesible and the next boot it simply did not function at all. the HDD is a Samsung SP2004C 200gb 7200rpm SATA 3gb/s. I have booted an rebooted several times, yet it won't help, I tried having only that HDD connected, connecting the sata power cord after starting up, used a bootable mini WinXP and nothing of this has worked. HDD Regen won't recognmize it either, it's as if the disks were stuck. I found that a workaround was dismounting the HDD and giving it a twist to force the disks to spin, but I'm suspicious that'll make things worse, don't wanna end up like the guy in that 4chan episode were the guy ended up rubbing a magnet against the HDD

[bcredeur97]

i suspect the motor died. 8 years sounds about right for that lol

 

 

that was definetly a good drive but i dont think there is any cheap way to save it

[GoldSrc]

You could try to get a new logic board for the hard drive, but if that doesn't help, the drive is dead.

Also, don't throw it in the trash, take the magnets out those can come in handy, also the platters are nice.

[Peter Vaughan Truslow]

While there surely are posts similar to this one, I cannot find one that is similar enough to help my issue.

 

I have a secondary 200gb HDD used to store installers or stuff I'd be too lazy to download a second time, this HDD is pretty old, i'd say about  8 years even, a while a go Windows prompted a message saying that the drive was damage and that I should have it checked, message I ignored...

 

Honestly I could just dump the HDD in the thrash can and be done with it, given the time it's been with me and that half of that time it was a primary drive, I believe it just reached the end of it's useful life, All the information conteined can be re-dowloaded or I don't mind losing it. I never stored pictures, paper works or highly valuable data knowing it could die on me any time, though it did a bit sooner than I expected. However, I'd like to acces the information at least one last time to retrieve as much of this data as posible and save a lot of time and effort, if anything I'll have some fun tinkering with the drive before I toss it into the thrash (unless you sugest some uses for a dead HDD)

 

What does the HDD actually do? well, not much, it is not recognized by my bios and it won't show up on Windows either. At start up I can hear a click, a buzz sound a click again (as if it were trying to start up) and then nothing else. One day it was accesible and the next boot it simply did not function at all. the HDD is a Samsung SP2004C 200gb 7200rpm SATA 3gb/s. I have booted an rebooted several times, yet it won't help, I tried having only that HDD connected, connecting the sata power cord after starting up, used a bootable mini WinXP and nothing of this has worked. HDD Regen won't recognmize it either, it's as if the disks were stuck. I found that a workaround was dismounting the HDD and giving it a twist to force the disks to spin, but I'm suspicious that'll make things worse, don't wanna end up like the guy in that 4chan episode were the guy ended up rubbing a magnet against the HDD

if you think the disks are stuck, place the drive in a freezer overnight in a plastic bag

when you take it out, you might have 5 minutes if it was the disks being stuck

 

this has worked for me twice, where the read heads were stuck to the disks. freezing the drive causes the parts to contract which can allow it to start, but I never had time to dump the whole drive, just the important stuff. one of the drives responded well to this twice, but the other it only worked once.

[Deqzel]

Getting a new logic board is not an option for me unfortunately, were I live getting newer PC parts is already hard enough, "maybe" I can get one from another HDD from the office. I'll try putting the HDD in the freezer hopefully that'll give me one last use to save some of the files, after that I'll lay the thing to rest. Ill get the magnets out, that'll help keep screws in control and the platters will make a nice paper weight. Thanks for the responses, I'll keep you updated.

[GoldSrc]

Getting a new logic board is not an option for me unfortunately, were I live getting newer PC parts is already hard enough, "maybe" I can get one from another HDD from the office. I'll try putting the HDD in the freezer hopefully that'll give me one last use to save some of the files, after that I'll lay the thing to rest. Ill get the magnets out, that'll help keep screws in control and the platters will make a nice paper weight. Thanks for the responses, I'll keep you updated.

If you get another logic board make sure is for the exact same model of drive, just close enough is not enough.

[Deqzel]

UPDATE TIME!

 

Praised be the Sun, our lord GabeN and his apostles Linus and Luke.

 

This morning I went to the office, went directly to a PC we use for testing parts, saving clients data and whatnot. Miraculously the HDD worked just fine, one last time, just ONCE. Inmediately I saved the files I wanted the most, there wasn't much space left on the other drives, it worked flawlessly for about the 30 minutes it took me to copy the files and turn off the PC. Out of curiosity I booted the computer again and nothing, the HDD didn't even bother trying to start, no click sounds, no buzz sounds, completely dead, same happened when I got back home and connected it to my PC.

 

All it does is get redicoulisly hot, ill sing it requiem and lay it to rest, and by that I mean tinker with it and see it's entrails.

Actually I'm happy I did not have need of trying your sugestions, sugestions I AM grateful for.

 

Thank you guys.

[bcredeur97]

UPDATE TIME!

 

Praised be the Sun, our lord GabeN and his apostles Linus and Luke.

 

This morning I went to the office, went directly to a PC we use for testing parts, saving clients data and whatnot. Miraculously the HDD worked just fine, one last time, just ONCE. Inmediately I saved the files I wanted the most, there wasn't much space left on the other drives, it worked flawlessly for about the 30 minutes it took me to copy the files and turn off the PC. Out of curiosity I booted the computer again and nothing, the HDD didn't even bother trying to start, no click sounds, no buzz sounds, completely dead, same happened when I got back home and connected it to my PC.

 

All it does is get redicoulisly hot, ill sing it requiem and lay it to rest, and by that I mean tinker with it and see it's entrails.

Actually I'm happy I did not have need of trying your sugestions, sugestions I AM grateful for.

 

Thank you guys.

glad you were able to rescue your files sir! enjoy your drive exploration

[TDP_Equinox]

UPDATE TIME!

 

Praised be the Sun, our lord GabeN and his apostles Linus and Luke.

 

This morning I went to the office, went directly to a PC we use for testing parts, saving clients data and whatnot. Miraculously the HDD worked just fine, one last time, just ONCE. Inmediately I saved the files I wanted the most, there wasn't much space left on the other drives, it worked flawlessly for about the 30 minutes it took me to copy the files and turn off the PC. Out of curiosity I booted the computer again and nothing, the HDD didn't even bother trying to start, no click sounds, no buzz sounds, completely dead, same happened when I got back home and connected it to my PC.

 

All it does is get redicoulisly hot, ill sing it requiem and lay it to rest, and by that I mean tinker with it and see it's entrails.

Actually I'm happy I did not have need of trying your sugestions, sugestions I AM grateful for.

 

Thank you guys.

Mark topic as solved please.