120Gb Quantum SATA drive

Was running fine on W2K Pro then wouldn't boot or go past splash screen. It "was" being recognised by the BIOS. Chkdsk would get to 13% and no further.

Bought an exact same HDD with the intention of booting off the CD and copying D: E: sort of thing but could never get my mobo to recognise both drives

Long and short is that I can't get my BIOS to to recog the old drive now either

Took it to a PC clinic place but not really their thing and they couldn't get their rig to recognise the old drive either It spins up OK

Anyone able to help? It's got mainly photos on it but also some stuff I was working on. Not desparate but would like to be able to get it copied over onto the new hdd if possible.

(and yes, I know, backup etc. Stupid thing was that I had just bought a DVD RW to drop in so that I could take all the stuff onto that Whats worse is that I shut the PC, dropped it in and thats when the problems started! Bah! )

 

It's been a while, but I've used tools from this site before and recovered stacks of photos.
http://diydatarecovery.nl/
Looks like most of it costs now tho

Maybe the free ones could help out?

Good luck.

 

If you have identical drives, try swapping the controller board from the new drive to the old drive. Worth a try as long as you are careful.

Cheers

Ian

 

I've recovered 3 drives in the past with various problems, using a program called File Scavenger. It was approx £20, small price to pay for the data i needed.

http://www.quetek.com/prod02.htm

 

Go to Maxtor's website and download their diagnostic software "powermax"...It will check the disc out and will often give the option to correct corrupted and bad sectors.

(Has previously worked for me on a dead IBM travelstar! )

You might lose teh odd file, or need to re-run the win2k install disk to get the system to run after fixing the problems - depending on what files have been corrupted.


Chkdsk and scandsk never works properly at the best of times IME

 

Puff if your up and down the M11, Genmar in B/S Tel. 01279 758212 will be able to do it for you. You could drop it off with them.

 

Cheers m8 - still got some Xmas pressies to drop off to a m8 that way lol

You still cycling in?

 

If the drive is spinning up, then chances are that either the control board, or the actuator arm are defective.

Can you hear any 'clicking' sounds? These would indicate whether or not the actuator arm is moving, or in fact if it is skipping off the platter. The latter is more obvious as all you will hear is constant clicking.

You say you have another identical drive? As suggested above, have you tried swapping controller boards? Its very easy, remove 4-5 torx screws from the cards and swap them over - no wiring at all to fuss over.

If that does not work, then chances are the actuator arm is knackered. You can swap this over too, but it is much more risky as it involves removing the platter, then the arm from both drives and exchanging them. The main problem with this is dust - even microscopic amounts can render the platter useless.

However, I recovered an Xbox drive just 2 days ago by swapping the actuator arm, and it worked a treat - oh and I did it in a normal room with no special conditions, except I wore surgical gloves to protect the platter, and made sure there was no obvious dust nearby. But, losing the data was not critical in this case.

Unless you are prepared to pay big bucks for pro recovery, or are lucky enough to get a cheap quote, this may be your best option.

BTW in case you are interested, the disk I worked on was Western Digital and tools needed were Torx T8 and T7. T8 for the hdd cover and T7 to remove the platter. There are 7 screws on the cover, with 1 of them hidden beneath the label. This one holds the actuator arm in place.

 

Thought I had posted but cant see it... Speak to Burr.

He can deffo do it.. go look at some dodgy sites then expect a visit from him and his colleagues.

 

Good idea!

I know there are definately some dodgy photos of a 6 year old on there...








































(My daughter and my wife's picture taking ability)