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pjfromny

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Drive not spinning?

I have a software disaster that has seemed to progress into a hardware disaster.  I crashed windows last week.  I aborted a ASR to try and save some data.  O hooked the drive up as a slave, and a trial version of recovery software identified my files. I then began to download the full version of the software to recover the files, but the drive has stopped responding as a slave drive.  When I boot to a rescue floppy in the original machine, the drive is not detected.  When it is installed as a slave, the host computer takles a long time before loading windows, and the affected drive makes a couple of soft "binks" like a drive used to make when they hard to be parked.

Does it seem likely that the drive is just not spinning?  Do I have any recourse except to send it away for both hardware and file recovery now?
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DoTheDEW335

If it's not spinning up at all I would say yes you would have to send it out. Other than trying to connect it to a different power cable (not sure if you changed them) And just keep trying to get it to spin up. I've gotten a few to spin back up for a little while before they die again.

You may want to try the trick of freezing it or tapping it with a hammer.  If the data on it is of utmost importance send it to a recovery service such as www.ontrack.com
Which brand is your HDD ?

If Maxtor try using the PowerMax utility
If Seagate use DiscWizard.
Both used to check the physical condition of the HDD

And if you still can access the HDD, you can try using GetDataBack from http://www.runtime.org/
It's a good software to restore the files.
I've use it before to recover my files from my NTFS HDD (which messed up after I plug it in my friend computer -.-)
Read this PAQ about the incident :)
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/21072196/Content-of-Hard-disk-is-gone-and-FS-changed-into-FAT32-from-NTFS.html
Freeze it just like he said i have recovered many drives this way sometimes you have to freeze it many times though. Gives you only a few minutes so be ready to copy to another HDD.
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If  I were to freeze it, I would assume something like putting it in a Frezer bag to avoid  moisture.  How long would I leave it in a freezer?

The drive is a Maxtor so I will try that utility.
Isn't it a bit extreme to freeze or tap the hard disk with a hammer ????
What if you tap the hdd with a hammer and the disk arm won't work anymore ? :D
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slink9

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I downloaded the Maxtor utility, and it does not locate the drive at all.  I removed the data cable as recommended by Maxtor.  The green indicator light comes on when the machine boots to the floppy, so I know it is receiving power, and it has the flight vibration that Maxtor references.  Is there anything else to try before I stick it in the freezer?  When I stick it in the computer, what's the best way to do a drive copy, if time is very limited, given that the file structure is likely trashed?
I use norton ghost from a boot disk. It makes an exact duplicate of the drive and if it encounters read errors it prompts to skip them.

-DEW
And if data not readable use GetDataBack from runtime.org
Well i got back my data from my messed up NTFS based HDD before with this program :)

And just IF Maxtor tools can identify error on your harddisk it might can be replaced :P
It got 5 years warranty rite ?
Mine 60GB maxtor did some strange noise when powered. Checked it with the utility and I got brand new 60GB HDD :)
Happy :) although my data is all gone -.- which is bad.
And if you decided to do that EXTREME thing
plz post the result :)
because i'm very curious about that method :P
It might can save my HDD live sometimes in the future (knocking on wood :P )
G Luck
For freezing and I had some customers autocad drawings for big projects in manhattan it worked awsome. Left it in freeser with the new cold air blowing directly on drive 2 HRS. I recovered his drawings the first time. OK so great I did it a few more times and got all his documents pictures ETC. I tried maxtors utility and it gave me a bad drive and a return number RMA number as it was under warranty. So all in all the frezing works well that was the most important one I have attempted though. It was buildings to be rebuilt in lower manhattan so mabye i should have sent it to drivesavers and it was a ballsy move on my part but luckily worked out well.
The freezing did not work in this caase.  I think I'm down to sending it away.  Thanks for your help.
Tried tapping, banging and dropping a non-spinning 85 GB IBM Deskstar 120GXP (Hitachi now) to no avail. Finally I froze it for 6 hours also with no results. As a final attempt to revive it, froze it for 36 hours.

To my surprise it started working without a cinch after the 36 hours in the freezer inside a ziplock. It survived the ordeal and it is still working after 48 hours. It is working normally without any strange noise or access problem. However I did back it up immediately.

I was indeed skeptical with all these ideas and felt it was a prank, however it does work and I wanted to leave post my experience in order for others with the same problem try it as a last resort.