Computer Hard Drive Mechanical Failure...

[BlueCrush]

I have a 7 year old HD that gave out on me. Is there anyone that can repair if for me so I can get some important data off of it that was not backed up? Looking for a someone to repair it that won't rape me. This is a internal mechanical failure not software related. I already had a shop verify that. Here are the HD specs:IBM DeskStar 30GB ATA/IDEModel: DTLA-307030P/N: 07N3929LBA: 60.036.480 SectorsRPM: 7200MLC: F80033CHS: 16383/16/S/N: YKM43396Dec. 2000Made in ThailandRated: 5V 300mA . 12V 500mA

[millster]

Man... if it was a 60GB, I could do it for ya. Not familiar enough with the 30GB to say with confidence I could.Did the shop tell you for certain what is wrong with the drive? Does it spin at all? If so, I might still be of help. PM me.

[BlueCrush]

They said it had something to do with the "arm". the hard drive was working fine then my computer locked up and the hard drive started beeping once every 2-3 seconds and you could hear it starting to spin then stop, then spin then stop, etc... it would just keep doing that.Oops, PMed you too..

[northvibe]

if you can find an exact model/firmware drive you can swap the internals. Done it at my old work.

[millster]

Well, in the interest of keeping it all out here since it already is. Doesn't sound good. If it's the actuator on the arm, I definitely do not have the parts for that and I can't say for certain if my usual recovery would work on it or not. I'd hate to have you ship it only to find out there was nothing I could do. I guess that option is up to you. I've recovered data from drives with similar problems but each failure is different.North is right and that's why I say, if it was a 60GB, you'd be golden. I have a couple of those but we're talking a totally different architecture.

[northvibe]

i would suggest ebay or computer renaissance (used pc store) to find a exact match...then let the home clean room making begin oh forgot, if your lucky, it could be just the pc board on the hdd thats bad, but thats only happened to me once...in 8 yrs so far.

[BlueCrush]

Found 2 sales on ebay:http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISA...8.lVIORLot of 8: http://cgi.ebay.com/Lot-of-8-I...wItem

[northvibe]

if you do go to purchase one, make sure its the same firmware and model, otherwise things get tricky.

[BlueCrush]

Mine matches their model #'s but mine does not have the firmware listed on it.

[northvibe]

Quote, originally posted by BlueCrush »Mine matches their model #'s but mine does not have the firmware listed on it.shoot them a email

[ColonelPanic]

I'm of no help, but man does that drive look familiar... I did PC support a few years back and we had some crappy Dells that had 30 GB DeathStar drives and they died too...Have you tried beating on the thing? It worked for my iPod for a while when its drive was dying. Not sure I'd want to go that route on a disk that has needed data though. lol!

[northvibe]

Deskstars arent the most reliable drive on the market if you get my drift.....

[millster]

to Northvibe for the understatement of the century. I have three of them on my desk right now destined for recycling as well as 6 Travelstars (the laptop version) and another 6 or 7 Travelstars at home. CP couldn't be more right calling them DeathStars.Sorry Brian, not trying to make light of your situation. Just that this is a VERY common problem with IBM drives.

[northvibe]

Quote, originally posted by millster » to Northvibe for the understatement of the century. I have three of them on my desk right now destined for recycling as well as 6 Travelstars (the laptop version) and another 6 or 7 Travelstars at home. CP couldn't be more right calling them DeathStars.Sorry Brian, not trying to make light of your situation. Just that this is a VERY common problem with IBM drives.yes and a word of warning, hitatchi now took over their production of harddrives so dont buy those either (even kept the name )

[altimar]

I assume the disk has been tested separately from your PC thus ruling out disk controller, power issues, etc. If it's not the actuator arm or spindle motor going out, or fried circuits as discussed already, there is a trick that I've used before... If the BIOS won't find the drive or the OS can't read anything from it, try this. Wrap the drive in a plastic bag or saran wrap and put it in the freezer for a couple hours. Then plug it back in to the computer and turn it on. This has worked for me at least twice, just long enough to copy the data I needed from the disk. Shouldn't hurt to try it.BTW everyone, remember to back up your irreplaceable data regularly.*altimar slinks away and executes his backup script that he has been neglecting*

[AZViking]

Had hard drive trouble about six months ago. Lucky for us, it just needed some stuff reinstalled for startup. (had trouble finding drivers I think) Anyway, they told us that the drive was dying (Since then, we've been backing everything up on our external drive (which is just the old HD from our last computer in an external case)The computer is an old Dell "Optiplex"? We bought it used but it still had a factory warranty on it. The hard drive that came with it died about 6 months before the warranty expired (lucky for us) The shop that repaired it then replaced the motherboard as well. They showed me the capacitors on the board that they said were about to "blow" (rounded tops) I'm guessing since the 'tower' for this computer is so slim, components don't last very long. Now it's having trouble reading game CD's. (Tells me there isn't a disk in the drive) Oh well, might be time for a new PC.

[northvibe]

Quote, originally posted by AZViking »Had hard drive trouble about six months ago. Lucky for us, it just needed some stuff reinstalled for startup. (had trouble finding drivers I think) Anyway, they told us that the drive was dying (Since then, we've been backing everything up on our external drive (which is just the old HD from our last computer in an external case)The computer is an old Dell "Optiplex"? We bought it used but it still had a factory warranty on it. The hard drive that came with it died about 6 months before the warranty expired (lucky for us) The shop that repaired it then replaced the motherboard as well. They showed me the capacitors on the board that they said were about to "blow" (rounded tops) I'm guessing since the 'tower' for this computer is so slim, components don't last very long. Now it's having trouble reading game CD's. (Tells me there isn't a disk in the drive) Oh well, might be time for a new PC.that was probably one of the motherboards dell put bad caps on. Dell and Apple bought a ton of cheap caps from some company in Africa (i think) and they had like a 100% failure rate. Man i cant even count the number of boards I replaced in dells and imac g5's on all my fingers and toes. my next motherboard will have solid state caps As for backing up, yes backups for critical data are good, can be done by burning to cd/dvd, external hdd, having another internal hdd, using a usb pendrive or do what i do and get a server running a raid 5 with 2 TB

[coldmm803]

i agree with altimar, put the drive in the freezer for a lil while. my friend has done that many times to recover data for people.

[BlueCrush]

Well the Freezer/Slave Drive method did not work. Look like I will be buying a spare and having a swap done.

[BlueCrush]

If I pick up another of the exact same hard drive, how hard is it to swap parts, especially if I am not sure which parts are the one's that need replacing? Is there anyone here that would be able to do the swap? I'll pay you for your time.

[millster]

If you are not sure of what you are doing, it's impossible. I would offer to do it, but I don't really have a proper space right now.

[BlueCrush]

Thanks, Millster. I appreciate your help.

[northvibe]

Quote, originally posted by BlueCrush »Well the Freezer/Slave Drive method did not work. Look like I will be buying a spare and having a swap done.The freezer method isnt really for that type of problem. Thats for the grinding or clicking issue and I've personally had a 60-70% success rate using it.Brian how steady are your hands?

[BlueCrush]

Quote, originally posted by northvibe »The freezer method isnt really for that type of problem. Thats for the grinding or clicking issue and I've personally had a 60-70% success rate using it.Brian how steady are your hands?Very steady if I am not hungry or have too much caffeine in my system.

[northvibe]

muahahha excellent. A guy at my work did this at his desk and was able to grab data off. Ill get back to ya about this.... did you find an exact donor drive?

[BlueCrush]

There is one on ebay that looks to be exactly the same.

[BlueCrush]

Well, I found a company on Ebay that does logical and physical hard drive recovery for cheap. Here is their Ebay listing: http://cgi.ebay.com/Physical-D...wItemHere is their website: http://www.hddsavers.com/The best part is if they don't get your data back there is no fee. I'll post what the results are. Thanks for all your help guys.