Thread: Any help for a Dead Drive ?

My HDD today bricked, er... died suddenly.

Its comparativly new considering that it was in use for just 7 months.
Its a seagate ST3500620AS model , 500 GB SATA 2.

When i booted the computer this afternoon, it hung up right at the initial BIOS splash screen, I wasn't even able to access the BIOS.

And the BIOS never gave any beeps as well.

The HDD in question being a secondary drive, I removed the connector, and the OS was able to boot from the primary disk.

My observations :

when the HDD starts, I hear a click and then the motor sound, apart from I can hear any abnormal sound.

As long as the HDD is connected, the BIOS freezes th no beep sound.

What I want to Know

It is there any way at all to recover the data except for sending it to a professional recovery service which're so damn costly.

I've read many reports on net on freezing the HDD to access data temporarily, is this safe ?

More importantly, will it void my warranty ??

My dad had a similar HDD faliure...It was the exact same model too.

Professional data recovery people gave an estimate of 45000/-!!! Data recovery people also suggested that there was 70% chance that the data could be recovered. We could've bought 10 new HDDs or 2 brand new PCs with that much money lol...

In the end, only option was to get it replaced from Seagate because it was only 6 months old.

Oh thats bad. what was the problem in yor case....?

Same issue, one day it just died. I have two pcs at home, initially I thought it would be some other issue. I even tried to fix the same HD in my pc, but it would not go past the booting screen.

EDIT: you or I are not the first to suffer from this failure. I think Seagate 500gb models are inherently faulty.

right then, the last resort would then be to freeze by my drive and hope to heavens and hell that it will work for atleast a short while.

Good luck!

When the HDD failed, that was the day my dad learned the importance of data backup on an optical disk.

Did you tried after that. Just connect it and try once more. May be it detects this time.

Originally Posted by 18lama

Good luck!

When the HDD failed, that was the day my dad learned the importance of data backup on an optical disk.

thanks...

you can bet that i feel the same now !!

Originally Posted by meetdilip

Did you tried after that. Just connect it and try once more. May be it detects this time.

Yep tried mate... same problem

Originally Posted by newprouser

My HDD today bricked, er... died suddenly.

Its comparatively new considering that it was in use for just 7 months.
Its a seagate ST3500620AS model , 500 GB SATA 2.

When i booted the computer this afternoon, it hung up right at the initial BIOS splash screen, I wasn't even able to access the BIOS.

And the BIOS never gave any beeps as well.

The HDD in question being a secondary drive, I removed the connector, and the OS was able to boot from the primary disk.

My observations :

when the HDD starts, I hear a click and then the motor sound, apart from I can hear any abnormal sound.

As long as the HDD is connected, the BIOS freezes th no beep sound.

What I want to Know

It is there any way at all to recover the data except for sending it to a professional recovery service which're so damn costly.

I've read many reports on net on freezing the HDD to access data temporarily, is this safe ?

More importantly, will it void my warranty ??

Does you r PC support hot plugging ?
Does it have RAID support ?(check your MB driver CD for any RAIN tool for installation)

If so then try booting from your first HDD with the faulty HDD unplugged. After login , connect the faulty one while the PC is running. If you have RAID support and you have installed the RAID tool then the PC will instantly show you a dialog box saying that a drive has been plugged in. It will stop responding for a few seconds.

This is crucial point .If the drive fails here then again a dialog box will open saying that drive failed. Do not play around more if the drive fails. It may take down your first HDD also.

All these will help only if you have RAID support in your MB.

Mine is a 5 year old MB(ASUS-K8V-X) but still has hot plug support because of RAID. I can connect and disconnect my secondary HDD while the OS is running.

You can use "ontrack easy recovery" for data recovery , but this tool stresses the HDD a lot, may even crash your HDD again during recovery. Use with real caution.(hint-instead of recovering a partition blindly, give some search criteria in file type, which delays the data recovery but also reduces the load and possibility of a crash)

There is another , don't remember, will tell you when I get back from office probably at 10 or 11 PM .

Refer to the following link for some open source data recovery tools.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/...o=2&queryText=

thanks puchu !

But my HDD has neither RAID not hot swapping fecility.

I did try connecting after booting up, but it didn't make a difference at all. My mobo is DG35EC.

My motherboard is not a recent one. But it has RAID tool at start up which I have disabled. So your's must have this facility.

I have Ontrack Easyrecovery Datarecovery V6.03.04. I can upload to Rapidshare if you like.

Originally Posted by newprouser

thanks puchu !

But my HDD has neither RAID not hot swapping fecility.

I did try connecting after booting up, but it didn't make a difference at all. My mobo is DG35EC.

Can I know your full hardware configuration ?

Yes you are right , I searched for your MB on the net.

Intel® Desktop Board DG35EC

The table below lists the configurations applicable to the DG35EC board.

Features BOX/BLKDG35EC LADG35EC Board series Classic series Classic series BIOS ID string ECG3510M.86A ECG3510M.86A AA# (Altered Assembly) E29266-xxx E37012-xxx Processor Intel® Core™2 Duo processor,
Intel® Core™2 Quad processor,
Intel® Pentium® processor,
Intel® Celeron® processor
or Intel® Celeron® 400 series Processor
(up to 95W TDP) Intel® Core™2 Duo processor,
Intel® Core™2 Quad processor,
Intel® Pentium® processor,
Intel® Celeron® processor
or Intel® Celeron® 400 series Processor
(up to 95W TDP) CPU support 95W TDP 95W TDP FSB support 1333/1066/800 MHz 1333/1066/800 MHz Processor socket LGA775 LGA775 Chipset Intel® G35 Intel® G35 Integrated graphics Yes Yes Form factor MicroATX MicroATX Memory - maximum supported 8 GB¹ 8 GB¹ Memory frequency
(refer to TPS for configuration requirements) Dual channel DDR2 800/667 MHz
(4 DIMM) Dual channel DDR2 800/667 MHz
(4 DIMM) Audio Intel® High Definition Audio (RealTek* ALC888S) Intel® High Definition Audio (RealTek* ALC888S) S/PDIF S/PDIF Out Audio header (3x1) S/PDIF Out Audio header (3x1) LAN controller 10/100/1000 LAN
(Intel® 82566DC Gigabit Ethernet Controller) 10/100/1000 LAN
(Intel® 82566DC Gigabit Ethernet Controller) USB connectors 10 USB 2.0 (4-F, 6-B) 10 USB 2.0 (4-F, 6-B) PCI slots 1 1 PCI Express* x16 1 1 PCI Express* x1 2 2 SATA (ports) 4 (black) 4 (black) PATA (ports) 1 port, 2 devices 1 port, 2 devices IEEE-1394a ports 2 IEEE 1394a (1-F, 1-B) 2 IEEE 1394a (1-F, 1-B) TPM None None Intel® Matrix Storage Technology (RAID) None None Hyper-threading technology support None None Instantly available PC Yes Yes Supports Intel® Viiv™ technology None None 1 year limited warranty None Yes 3 year limited warranty ² Yes None

No i'm sure it doesn't have coz i wasn't able to install the SATA and RAID drivers from Intel.

thanks.

Proc C2D E7200
DG35EC Mobo
WD 160 GB SATA 2 HDD
ST 500 GB SATA 2 HDD
2 GB RAM

MS XP SP3

Ok, lets find out something else, give me some time.

ok.

Try it at your friends' who has RAID facility motherboard.

Originally Posted by meetdilip

Try it at your friends' who has RAID facility motherboard.

good idea !

Originally Posted by meetdilip

Try it at your friends' who has RAID facility motherboard.

Actually, almost all ASUS boards have RAID support.

@npu

Why will the bios freeze for a defective secondary HDD. Have you tried to connect the same HDD using a different connector?

Anyways, you dont need to try anything - your hdd is in warranty period - get a new one...

Originally Posted by saurav_kataruka

@npu

Why will the bios freeze for a defective secondary HDD. Have you tried to connect the same HDD using a different connector?

Anyways, you dont need to try anything - your hdd is in warranty period - get a new one...

I dunno why BIOS freezes *only* when the faulty HDD is connected. Yes , I did try with a different connector.

I'm least worried about getting a new HDD, but problem is , I kept ALL my data in the new disk thinking that its safe.. alas now the older disk is still working and this has failed

Hmm... Take a look at these - Might Help:

Data recovery in the event of a hard disk crash

Data Recovery Services For Defective Hard Drive Motor

i once saw a page on zdnet blogs that told of a freeze technique to revive dead hdds.

to use long power and data cables, and put it in the freezer of a refrigerator.
of course use proper insulation. and after a couple of hours, start it. has worked for many readers on zdnet blogs, as per the replies.

wouldn't recommend it if you dont know what u r doing.

Originally Posted by netherwinterknights

i once saw a page on zdnet blogs that told of a freeze technique to revive dead hdds.

to use long power and data cables, and put it in the freezer of a refrigerator.
of course use proper insulation. and after a couple of hours, start it. has worked for many readers on zdnet blogs, as per the replies.

wouldn't recommend it if you don't know what u r doing.

that might work, but sounds really funny

freeze it to make it work

Originally Posted by saurav_kataruka

@npu

Why will the bios freeze for a defective secondary HDD. Have you tried to connect the same HDD using a different connector?

Yes , BIOS freezes due to faulty HDD, it is normal.

My SEAGATE ST380817AS had the same problem, I had to replace it 6 times before they gave me another model.

• BIOS freezes
• other HDDs may not also get detected
• drive information shows something like Disk[0] instead of HDD model.
• Even if you press DEL key or F2 to enter BIOS, it won't.
• If you connect the faulty HDD as the first HDD then all the other HDDs won't get detected and if you connect it 2nd 3rd and so on , then the first HDD will get detected but would get stuck while entering the boot screen.
• and many more

All the above can happen due to one faulty HDD.
==================================================
Try one of the following recovery tools, I have not tried them, just found out while surfing.

1. SourceForge.net: SystemRescueCd: Downloading ...
2. SourceForge.net: Parted Magic: Downloading ...

==================================================

Originally Posted by saurav_kataruka

Hmm... Take a look at these - Might Help:

Data recovery in the event of a hard disk crash

Data Recovery Services For Defective Hard Drive Motor

Data recovery by pro's are very costly.

Originally Posted by netherwinterknights

i once saw a page on zdnet blogs that told of a freeze technique to revive dead hdds.

to use long power and data cables, and put it in the freezer of a refrigerator.
of course use proper insulation. and after a couple of hours, start it. has worked for many readers on zdnet blogs, as per the replies.

wouldn't recommend it if you dont know what u r doing.

Yes, i've kept that as my last resort.

Originally Posted by puchu

that might work, but sounds really funny

freeze it to make it work




Yes , BIOS freezes due to faulty HDD, it is normal.

My SEAGATE ST380817AS had the same problem, I had to replace it 6 times before they gave me another model.

• BIOS freezes
• other HDDs may not also get detected
• drive information shows something like Disk[0] instead of HDD model.
• Even if you press DEL key or F2 to enter BIOS, it won't.
• If you connect the faulty HDD as the first HDD then all the other HDDs won't get detected and if you connect it 2nd 3rd and so on , then the first HDD will get detected but would get stuck while entering the boot screen.
• and many more

All the above can happen due to one faulty HDD.
==================================================
Try one of the following recovery tools, I have not tried them, just found out while surfing.

1. SourceForge.net: SystemRescueCd: Downloading ...
2. SourceForge.net: Parted Magic: Downloading ...

==================================================

If info on internet is to be believed, thats the most common method, provided the problem is in the HDD's hardware. If the problem is in the circuit, then it can be replaced from another HDD of SAME model AND rev..

thanks for the other. Do suggest that while i get it replaced, i should ask for a different/newer model of the same capacity ?

My Seagate 500gb HDD, which i use as a back up drive, hangs at the BIOS. but when i press the reset button it starts. i dont know the reason. See if pressing the hardware reset button helps.