Storage Solutions Running HDD Dropped - Can it be fixed ?

K

kuld33p

Disciple
I accidentally dropped my External HDD and its now singing, dancing and complaining me for mishandling. It was the only HDD I was using for all backup purpose. Its got my daughter's priceless images and I can't imagine losing them. Wanted to know if you guys have any cost effective way to get the data back.

I also happen to have another 1 TB WD HDD which refused to work some time back and I had a lot of personal/professional data on that. But this time its far more serious than excel and ppt files, as the memory of my daughter's life that I cherished over the last 2 years are at stake. And I need to get them back by hook or crook.

So guys, please suggest what can be done. I think attaching the HDD and thinking it would work out of luck is not possible as the HDD is singing songs(making crackling sounds) when its connected to anything now. I am not sure if this can be fixed or not.

I am not mourning the loss of the HDD as there are 2 more 1 TB HDDs lying around and I was not using them. I am really concerned about the data that I will lose.

Looking forward for your valuable suggestions.
 
Would it power on if I attach it to the turned off PC with USB? Because if it gets powered on then It might be more damaging to the HDD as it is making sounds. The fall was around 3 feet and straight on the floor. HDD was out of the enclosure :O It does not get detected in the Windows for sure. Tried it twice. And then read a previous thread on the same issue where someone suggested not to attach the dropped HDD to check if its working.
 
Did you see any physical damage to the pcb or any dent on the hdd body? The magnetism inside the hdd gets disturbed in this scenario which results in weird sounds and causes the hdd to not get detect.
You may have to give it to a prof. recovery center if the data is that much valuable.
 
Thanks for the reply @nRiTeCh, There is no visible dents anywhere as far as I can see. The problem I see is that it was running when it dropped. So the force of drop would have caused the things to go haywire inside and making the sounds now. If I pick the HDD in my hand and rotate it in the air there is a very faint sound that comes, I know this sound. Its the same sound that used to come in all my kaput HDDs in the past. Its not the first time, the HDD has failed and I lost the data. I have been recovering the data since 2003 sometimes for myself and at times helping others. So this sound that is coming from the HDD, even if you don't attach it anywhere is the sign that something is not right inside, and it is the result of that drop/fall/mishandling. I am really feeling bad about this HDD as I just saw it diving and killing itself from a height, jahan se bachna mushkil hi nahin namumkin hai.

The HDD is in freezer now, in an air tight box after wrapping it in a polythene bag. Will stay there for some time now. Lastly, will try once again to see if the sound goes away, which I presume will not go away. Then the pro help will be needed.

I can't crack open it on my own to fix it for obvious reasons. Wish we had such labs where anyone could go in and do their own R&D with their own stuff.
 
The sounds you hear could be your read/write head(s) scratching out the magnetic platters leaving your data unrecoverable. So its best to seek professional help before powering it on.

nRiTeCh said:
The magnetism inside the hdd gets disturbed in this scenario which results in weird sounds and causes the hdd to not get detect.
Click to expand...
Nothing of the sort :p
 
Just freeze it in a fridge for a day then run it and immediately backup data. I did it and it worked. Another way is to backup using linux. The command should get all your data backed up before it goes kaput.
 
Crazy_Eddy said:
The sounds you hear could be your read/write head(s) scratching out the magnetic platters leaving your data unrecoverable. So its best to seek professional help before powering it on.

The magnetism inside the hdd gets disturbed in this scenario which results in weird sounds and causes the hdd to not get detect.

Nothing of the sort :p
Click to expand...

Yes I have experienced that hence mentioned here. I have been in similar situations of dropped hdds. If you hold the hdd in your hands while it powers up, then try to twist your hand holding that hdd and you can feel that the motions arent smooth and some magnetic effect can be felt just at one side rather than evenly as if the platters are moving slightly twisted.
 
Why couldn't these guys build some transparent casing for us to see the struggle of the head and the platter inside. Anyways, in my case the HDD goes from silence to noisy in 2 seconds. I am afraid to say the HDD is dead unless torn apart and rescued with damaged part repairs. The HDD fell off from a 3 feet table with the enclosure while running. And HDD and enclosure were lying separate on the floor. I had encountered one of the most brutal treatment by accident resulting in everything, broken.
 
Crazy_Eddy said:
The sounds you hear could be your read/write head(s) scratching out the magnetic platters leaving your data unrecoverable. So its best to seek professional help before powering it on.


Nothing of the sort :p
Click to expand...
when the hdd is dropped and any of the moving part touches the magnetic disk (including the head) it damages the hdd. if this did not happen, you should be able to recover all the data just by replacing the broken pcb or any of the other electronics.

I think the cost of recovery goes exponentially in relation to the damage happend. anyways, if the hdd is being detected in the bios over a sata bus, try checking the SMART data to see what actually damaged.
 
If you value the data so much, i suggest taking it straight to the professional people.
Any attempt to 'see if it is working', has a good amount of chance to further damage the platters and will be your irrepairable loss.

It is true that the cost of recovering the data will shoot up like crazy as b000 here mentioned, so if you can recall the folder/exact location of the most relevant data, it makes even more sense to seek professional help than trying DIY fixes.

Dont get me wrong, i am all for those 'home made' solutions... but when it comes to precious data linked to memories, nothing else matters.
 
Thanks for the valuable information guys. I have in the past successfully recovered my hard drives without any professioal help. I have in fact helped my friends in the need of hour a lot of times. But this is something that has never happened with me. I mean occasional drops on the table or something while placing the detached HDD is different but i know for sure this time is different than the other usual dies or head stuck stories. I know the last resort is the pro help only but no one said you can't be pro youself in anything. Be it in any field. So i did some research around this issue. And figured out few more things about opening up the HDD and recovering data.

Watched people doing stuff to HDD on youtube. So the myth says never open the HDD. But people say its fine. They actually showed it to everyone. So opening up a HDD is not a problem unless you are doing it in a dust free environment and don't damage the interior without knowledge. And i see most of the clicking sound noise is fixed by just opening the HDD and placing the head at its resting place while you follow the instructions 1. to rotate the disk anti clock wise with the top screw. 2. Resting head at its idle place.

So opening up the HDD is not a problem. My main problem is what would i see inside. I saw a video of one guy trying to fix a clicking sound of a batch of bad HDDs. And he succeeded by just replacing the pcb outside of the clicking HDD with other. There was one more guy who found out that the HDD was damaged beyond repair because the head had crashed on the platter and made a good 2mm visible circle on all platters. And this was result of mere running HDD dropping from verticle to horizontal on the table :O ouch my heart. That's why it is said to be advisable to not to run a clicking sound HDD to check if it works. Because you may never know the reason of the noise. Instead just go ahead pick up a t6 and open the damn thing see what is wrong. And i am sure this advise has spread from some wise minds only. As we have discovered opening a HDD is not a threat to the drive. Most of the time its a stuck head which can be cured easily with caution and precaution.

So i am left with some options to try before turning to the so called pro help. No doubt these guys have some latest tech but our understanding about how the thing works can give us glimpses into how the industry/business around it would be working. So in my opinion one can come to conclusion on its own wheather going to a pro would help or not. And while investigating it, its highly likely that you will fix the problem yourself, if the damage is not beyond repair. So i am going to open up the HDD to see what is wrong with the inside architecture. People who have uploaded these videos are running professional help centers and are earning with these tricks already.

What are your thoughts guys?

And yeah the HDD Is still in the freezer.
 
I also lost one of my hard disk few days back, the freezing technique would only work in case of mechanical failure.
didn't worked in my case. although if platters seem to be fine you could replace the whole spindle to another identical hard drive and try to recover it from there.
 
If you open it up, and cause any sort of further damage, you may increase the cost of repair further as well.
Better to go to the professional in some cases no?
 
max_demon said:
I also lost one of my hard disk few days back, the freezing technique would only work in case of mechanical failure.
didn't worked in my case. although if platters seem to be fine you could replace the whole spindle to another identical hard drive and try to recover it from there.
Click to expand...

You have a point with that mechanical failure thing, i also figured it out later on. In my opinion NOW one should not put the HDD in the freezer at all. Why so? See there can be 2 reasons for a clicking sound. Mechanical or non mechanical. If mechanical, then its is highly likely that it is going to be the head that is out of its place/stuck/broken which is causing the noise. Because nothing else in the hdd can break except that bloody head. Or it could be non mechanical which could be solved without opening the HDD, by just replacing the HDD pcb outside. And i did see one guy showing it and telling the logical reason that there resides the motor/speed/data etc functions which may get damaged if there is any damage to the pcb.

Crazy_Eddy said:
So how do you propose to set up a dust free environment at home?
Click to expand...

I can't i have to figure out a way. Actually, i couldn't, so in haste, i opened the drive by just shutting the doors close and lying the HDD on a clean bedsheet while the fan was still on. Yes i was not wearing the nice plastic suit and had me top to toe air washed. But i had just taken bath and my hands were nice and clean. And i just opened it thinking i am doing the right thing :) So the good news is that there are no signs of any scratch or something on the platter. And about the dust, there were 2 dust filters LOL inside the HDD so i guess its obvious that some dust would get in at times, therefore the directional flow with filters to trap those tiny little ditry dirt particles.

axeman said:
If you open it up, and cause any sort of further damage, you may increase the cost of repair further as well.
Better to go to the professional in some cases no?
Click to expand...

And lastly to close my side if story so far on this issue is the bad news, which i would like to address your concern through by telling you the bad news. How threatful is water particles on the surface of the platter? When i used the haste word above for describing the act of taking the HDD out for opening it up. I meant to show the negligence because Of which the thing could be at risk despite my being lucky on platters not being damaged. The HDD was still at freezing temprature and i opened it wide and you know what happens when something cooler comes in contact with the air. So platters got the dew and not sure if dust particles landed on them or not. So yeah i would go to pros now since i know the platters are in good condition if my expedition fails.

Good night guys.

And yeah the HDD is now in the jar of rice.
 
Whats the update on this? Did you contact a professional data recovery agency?

Also, n00bie question, but wont the rice scratch the platter surfaces?
 
axeman said:
Also, n00bie question, but wont the rice scratch the platter surfaces?
Click to expand...
its not the exposed hdd platter placed in rice, the idea here that rice is very good at absorbing humidity. so if you place something in rice its equivalent to placing a silicone gel pack. it absorbs all the humidity and creates a dry environment for the electronic item.
 
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