Electronics Repair (sci.electronics.repair) Discussion of repairing electronic equipment. Topics include requests for assistance, where to obtain servicing information and parts, techniques for diagnosis and repair, and annecdotes about success, failures and problems.

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  #1   Report Post  
Gareth Magennis
 
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Default HDD failure

Hi,

my Western Digital 120G hard drive went faulty. It has loads of photo
transparency scans on it that I spent a week inputting! Wah!

Anyway I'm resigned to having lost them, but am interested in what happned.
Windows 98 reported that there was going to be an imminent failure of the
drive and I should back it up immediately. I didn't/couldn't and Windows
was right. I managed to transfer some important recorded music first - the
transfer got slower and slower and eventually the disc died completely and
wouldn't transfer anything else. I think the file names are still all there
but it just hunts and hangs when you try and copy anything.

Any info on what happened or suggestions of recovery?



Thanks,


Gareth.


  #2   Report Post  
Andy Cuffe
 
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Default

On Wed, 17 Aug 2005 13:24:50 +0000 (UTC), "Gareth Magennis"
wrote:

Hi,

my Western Digital 120G hard drive went faulty. It has loads of photo
transparency scans on it that I spent a week inputting! Wah!

Anyway I'm resigned to having lost them, but am interested in what happned.
Windows 98 reported that there was going to be an imminent failure of the
drive and I should back it up immediately. I didn't/couldn't and Windows
was right. I managed to transfer some important recorded music first - the
transfer got slower and slower and eventually the disc died completely and
wouldn't transfer anything else. I think the file names are still all there
but it just hunts and hangs when you try and copy anything.

Any info on what happened or suggestions of recovery?



Thanks,


Gareth.



You should download the Western digital drive test software. It will
at least tell you what's wrong with the drive and might be able to fix
certain errors.
Andy Cuffe

-- Use this address until 12/31/2005

-- Use this address after 12/31/2005
  #3   Report Post  
webpa
 
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Default

Try temporarily mounting the drive upside-down relative to its original
position, then copying the data. If no luck...try all other
orientations. Also try disconnecting the drive, sealing it in a
plastic bag, then placing it in a freezer for 24 hours. Remove,
reconnect and try while still cold...and at several points while
warming up.

Good Luck

  #4   Report Post  
Someone
 
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Default

The drive maybe still under warranty. Check "Warranty Check" at this page:

http://support.wdc.com/

It lets you enter the serial number and tell if it still under warranty.
Make sure that if they fix/replace it, the data remain intact.

If all else fails, buy the same exact model and replace the electronics,
don't open the hard drive where the storage disks are. If it doesn't work,
you could still put the electronics back to the new drive and use it.

If you don't find the drive at your local store, try eBay...

"Gareth Magennis" wrote in message
...
Hi,

my Western Digital 120G hard drive went faulty. It has loads of photo
transparency scans on it that I spent a week inputting! Wah!

Anyway I'm resigned to having lost them, but am interested in what
happned. Windows 98 reported that there was going to be an imminent
failure of the drive and I should back it up immediately. I
didn't/couldn't and Windows was right. I managed to transfer some
important recorded music first - the transfer got slower and slower and
eventually the disc died completely and wouldn't transfer anything else.
I think the file names are still all there but it just hunts and hangs
when you try and copy anything.

Any info on what happened or suggestions of recovery?



Thanks,


Gareth.



  #5   Report Post  
James Sweet
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"Someone" wrote in message
news:ejQMe.2911$ct5.1845@fed1read04...
The drive maybe still under warranty. Check "Warranty Check" at this page:

http://support.wdc.com/

It lets you enter the serial number and tell if it still under warranty.
Make sure that if they fix/replace it, the data remain intact.

If all else fails, buy the same exact model and replace the electronics,
don't open the hard drive where the storage disks are. If it doesn't work,
you could still put the electronics back to the new drive and use it.

If you don't find the drive at your local store, try eBay...



Warranty won't help him recover his data, when you RMA a drive they send you
a refurbished one, not the drive you sent in.




  #6   Report Post  
Gareth Magennis
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"Gareth Magennis" wrote in message
...
Hi,

my Western Digital 120G hard drive went faulty. It has loads of photo
transparency scans on it that I spent a week inputting! Wah!

Anyway I'm resigned to having lost them, but am interested in what
happned. Windows 98 reported that there was going to be an imminent
failure of the drive and I should back it up immediately. I
didn't/couldn't and Windows was right. I managed to transfer some
important recorded music first - the transfer got slower and slower and
eventually the disc died completely and wouldn't transfer anything else.
I think the file names are still all there but it just hunts and hangs
when you try and copy anything.

Any info on what happened or suggestions of recovery?



Thanks,


Gareth.


Thanks very much for the replies, I shall try all the suggestions.


Gareth.


  #7   Report Post  
Gareth Magennis
 
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Default


"Someone" wrote in message
news:ejQMe.2911$ct5.1845@fed1read04...
The drive maybe still under warranty. Check "Warranty Check" at this page:

http://support.wdc.com/

It lets you enter the serial number and tell if it still under warranty.
Make sure that if they fix/replace it, the data remain intact.

If all else fails, buy the same exact model and replace the electronics,
don't open the hard drive where the storage disks are. If it doesn't work,
you could still put the electronics back to the new drive and use it.

If you don't find the drive at your local store, try eBay...




Hmm, I hadn't thought of that, good idea. Any idea what kind of percentage
of drive failures are electronic/mechanical?


Gareth.


  #8   Report Post  
Michael Black
 
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Default


"Gareth Magennis" ) writes:
"Someone" wrote in message
news:ejQMe.2911$ct5.1845@fed1read04...
The drive maybe still under warranty. Check "Warranty Check" at this page:

http://support.wdc.com/

It lets you enter the serial number and tell if it still under warranty.
Make sure that if they fix/replace it, the data remain intact.

If all else fails, buy the same exact model and replace the electronics,
don't open the hard drive where the storage disks are. If it doesn't work,
you could still put the electronics back to the new drive and use it.

If you don't find the drive at your local store, try eBay...




Hmm, I hadn't thought of that, good idea. Any idea what kind of percentage
of drive failures are electronic/mechanical?


I suspect the real issue is that given a spare board, it's relatively
easy to change that, just in case. Anything else is likely to
be beyond the end user. Witness recent threads here, people opening
up their hard drives, and letting the dust in. SOmeone wanting to
move the platters to another drive and wondering if alignment is all
that important.

Of course, someone a month or so ago wasn't successful changing boards,
which in retrospect makes sense since the boards are set to match the
state of the platters and ignore the bad sectors of those platters.
Change the board and that information doesn't match.

I suspect many of the home remedies, shaking the drive when in
operation, putting the drive in the freezer, swapping boards, may
have had more use when drives were smaller density, and before
they were IDE. People wanting to do these things may just
continue to do it with the hope of solving something, rather than
because they still apply. Given current density, there is a lot
less leeway for any fussing.

If someone is trashing a drive, it doesn't matter if they damage
anything, because they are trading the hope of salvaging something with
the fact that it's trash anyway. Anything they try may get results,
and that's better than tossing the drive out without trying anything.
Since the drive is unreliable, damaging it further will not affect
anything. Someone is far more willing to try to fix something they've
found in the garbage, or are about to throw out, than if it's something
they just bought for hundreds of dollars.

Of course, if anyone has hopes of having a drive professionally recovered,
money aside, then one has to think twice before they start trying home
remedies, because then they risk damaging the data that someone else
can revover.

Michael

  #9   Report Post  
peanutwhistle
 
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Default



Any info on what happened or suggestions of recovery?


When operating, was the HDD too hot? Do you have a good clean/cool air
flow across the drive?

Even though this wouldn't have helped, if a partition has oggles of
unused space, I'll take Partition Magic 8.01 and make a backup
partition on the same drive. Yes - it might not have helped here!
However, here's my next suggestion... Install/reuse an old/nasty/slow
secondary drive and zip/compress your data frequently to it. Let's let
Gareth's experience push us closer into regular backups for
ourselves...

My heart goes out to you Gareth. Best wishes and good luck to you.

  #10   Report Post  
Someone
 
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Default

When operating, was the HDD too hot?

This reminds me of some hard drive failures. I found that those who don't
have a room for air flow fail or develop bad sectors early on(mostly bad
sectors and total system freeze, including the mouse pointer). These drives
where installed in the bottommost slot, with very little gap between the
electronics and the bottom surface.

P.S.: I did replace the electronics in 10 GB WDC hard drives without
problems and recovered the data. I know that they could have calibration
parameters in them, but I was able to recover the data nevertheless.

"peanutwhistle" wrote in message
oups.com...


Any info on what happened or suggestions of recovery?


When operating, was the HDD too hot? Do you have a good clean/cool air
flow across the drive?

Even though this wouldn't have helped, if a partition has oggles of
unused space, I'll take Partition Magic 8.01 and make a backup
partition on the same drive. Yes - it might not have helped here!
However, here's my next suggestion... Install/reuse an old/nasty/slow
secondary drive and zip/compress your data frequently to it. Let's let
Gareth's experience push us closer into regular backups for
ourselves...

My heart goes out to you Gareth. Best wishes and good luck to you.





  #11   Report Post  
Gareth Magennis
 
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Default



You should download the Western digital drive test software. It will
at least tell you what's wrong with the drive and might be able to fix
certain errors.
Andy Cuffe



Thanks, just tried the diagnostics and if failed dismally. The "Reallocated
Sector Count" box is checked as bad. It just sits there clicking and
spinning and clicking and spinning, and the warranty is out of date
according to the warranty check.

Ah well.


Cheers everyone,

Gareth.


  #12   Report Post  
James Sweet
 
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I suspect many of the home remedies, shaking the drive when in
operation, putting the drive in the freezer, swapping boards, may
have had more use when drives were smaller density, and before
they were IDE. People wanting to do these things may just
continue to do it with the hope of solving something, rather than
because they still apply. Given current density, there is a lot
less leeway for any fussing.



The oldest drive I've recovered with the freezer trick was a 2 gig IDE, the
newest a 30 gig, the last successful board swap was a 1 gig IDE, I've tried
it with a few newer drives and it didn't work.


  #13   Report Post  
Michael Shaw
 
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Default

You could try to spinrite, you might find it may sort your drive out long
enough to get your data off.


"Gareth Magennis" wrote in message
...


You should download the Western digital drive test software. It will
at least tell you what's wrong with the drive and might be able to fix
certain errors.
Andy Cuffe



Thanks, just tried the diagnostics and if failed dismally. The
"Reallocated Sector Count" box is checked as bad. It just sits there
clicking and spinning and clicking and spinning, and the warranty is out
of date according to the warranty check.

Ah well.


Cheers everyone,

Gareth.



  #14   Report Post  
Ryan Underwood
 
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"James Sweet" writes:

The oldest drive I've recovered with the freezer trick was a 2 gig IDE, the
newest a 30 gig, the last successful board swap was a 1 gig IDE, I've tried
it with a few newer drives and it didn't work.


Had success with a Fuji 6.4 GB (MPB3064AT) recently.

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