Recovering Data of HDD

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andysh

228 posts

Master Geek

#33708 10-May-2009 13:57

Hey,

Well last night I dropped my external Seagate HDD (ST3300601U2 - RK) while it was on and now it does not work at all. When I turn it on it makes a humming (not normal) noise and sounds like it is not getting enough power as every 15 secs it sounds like it gets turned on again. I also cannot turn it off by the button, just have to take the power cable out.

When I do turn it on Windows 7 'beeps' as something has been attached but nothing shows up in Explorer etc.

Any ideas before I rip the external closure apart, like are there any tools that I can use to try and get the data off it?

Thanks,

Andysh

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Ilmarin

94 posts

Master Geek

#213868 10-May-2009 14:58

The enclosure's circuitry is probably damaged in some way, but the drive itself may be fine... assuming all they do is take a typical 3.5 or 2.5 inch SATA drive and hook it up to the enclosure like any home-baked external drive. You almost certainly won't be able to recover any data via the enclosure (unless you can identify and fix the damage), but if you take it apart and come away with a drive that you can plug into your PSU and motherboard, then you may be ok, and can always get a new enclosure like a Vantec NexStar... but as I say, I'm assuming it is a regular internal SATA drive, and not something that can only be used via their enclosure (in which case you'd probably want to get in touch with Seagate support).

d3Xt3r

688 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#213886 10-May-2009 17:17

There's nothing much you can do from the software side as long as it's not being detected and kept in the enclosure. I share Ilmarin's suspicions as well, that it could be a regular internal drive in an enclosure.

Before you open it, check if it's under warranty and if it is, it's best to get in touch with the Seagate people first.

If it isn't under warranty or you don't care about it, then of course the first step is to connect it directly to your computer and check :

- Whether it is being detected by the BIOS
- If it's being detected by the OS
- If you're able to access any of the data
- If its (still) making any unusual sounds.

If the drive is being detected, you'll need to run the Seagate diagnostics tools (can be downloaded off the website) for further analysis.

--

Usually, external drives are more resillient of falls - even when it's on. Generally, the worse that can happen is partial data corruption with some bad sectors - but that doesn't mean the drive should completly stop working. (Assuming, the drive fell from desk-level onto carpetted floor).

andysh

228 posts

Master Geek

#214182 11-May-2009 18:56

Yea it not in warranty anymore. Tried to open it, but it got some screw that is a 5 sided star, any ideas where I could find a screw driver with that? DSE had nothing like that.

EDIT: NVM took at it with some man tools ha

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andysh

228 posts

Master Geek

#214221 11-May-2009 21:00

Ok so it is actually the hard drive, it is making a churping noise, any ideas / costs to get the data off it?

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d3Xt3r

688 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#214223 11-May-2009 21:16

Is the PC able to detect it? What about windows?

andysh

228 posts

Master Geek

#214226 11-May-2009 21:21

Both the bios and Windows cannot detect the hard drive, it sounds like it can't spin up (due to the google search on the chirp).

However the BIOS does 'hang' on searching for the HDD but in the end says that nothing is there.

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d3Xt3r

688 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#214229 11-May-2009 21:38

Well since it's out of warranty, you could try some homebrew methods to get the drive to spin up. The one that almost always worked for me was slapping the drive hard (not too hard though) from the sides, and/or dropping it on a carpetted floor from about a couple of feet, while keeping it parallel. Another thing you can try is freezing it in a ziplock back overnight and then quickly connecting it to the comp in the morning and retrieving the data. Mind you, the freezing option is the last resort and usually the drive doesn't work after it (maybe for one or two tries more).

Personally I've never had to do the freezing thing and the slapping/dropping always worked. You could also try slapping the drive when its connected to the comp and powered on.

Of course, If you value your data very much and won't risk doing any of the above, professional data recovery would be your only option. Mind you, it costs a bomb. As for the actual costs, it varies from company to company. Some won't reveal the costs, others say they can give an estimate only after initial diagnosis. I'm new to NZ though so I'm not really aware of the data recovery services here.

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andysh

228 posts

Master Geek

#214230 11-May-2009 21:41

Thanks for all the help, will prob just try the slap method etc. I would really like to get the data off it, but not really wanting to spend money on it.

Thanks again

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Ragnor

8220 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#214262 12-May-2009 01:28

Oh dear no backup? Lesson learned I hope...