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how to recover data from dead HDD

Hi,

I have a WD Elements 1TB External HDD, for which I lost my power adatper (220 watts)

When I was searching for alternate power adapter...accidently I connected my US (120 watts) power adapter. Guess what house fuse trip off and we saw a spark in the connecting point.

Please advise how to recover data from this HDD? that would be very very helpful.

Steps I have taken so far.

1. removed the HDD from elements box.
2. tried accessing from Vantec HDD doc (something like this http://www.vantecusa.com/gl/product/view_detail/494)
3. Vantec couldnt even detecting the HDD.

Once again please help

Thanks in advance

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

jamietoner

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rindi

Or try connecting it internally in your PC. If it can't be seen by the BIOS then you'll have to send it to a recovery agency, assuming the data is worth that price.

John

My HD enclosure does not detect the hard drive. It "passes through" to the the computer. Perhaps try a different hard drive enclosure just to see. Then if that does not work, jamietoner is probably correct. .... Thinkpads_User

enthuguy

ASKER

thanks for the quick response

do you have any rough figure. how much they charge to recover the data? :)

rindi

Checkout Gillware, they have an online price estimate:

http://gillware.com/

jamietoner

From what I have seen it starts at a couple hundred bucks and goes up from there. It depends on how much they need to recover and how they have to recover it. Most places will give you a free quote. The places I have used in the past have been Ontrack, Gillware and Drivesavers(but it has been awhile since I have needed this type of service).

OTSCCS

Hi,
If you have a one more same hard disk model remove the PCB board from the good hard disk and connect it to the BAD one.(be careful or you may lose one more hard disk) Don't connect that power adapter (BUY a new power adapter that is recommended for that hard drive.
Once the hard disk got detected take the backup of the data.
you are done.

JRoyse

Call ontrack or drivesavers. I believe they both charge a free to look at it. After you send it in, they will write back with what any/all data they found. Then you know for sure if the data can be saved.

Or you can experiment with like-for-like circuit board swaps like the previous person mentioned. Those may be applicable. You will only be removing the bottom circuit board, do not open the actual sealed hard disk cavity.

It really depends on how much the data is worth to you!

veedar

If you are lucky the TVS diode on your PCB took the power hit. If so then simply removing it will get your drive running long enough for you to copy your data off.

http://community.wdc.com/t5/Desktop/HDD-TVS-diode-FAQ/td-p/250274

Callandor

Replacing the PCB board might work with a few drives, but it is not recommended if you value your data, It has low-level information for accessing that specific drive, and swapping the board can make the drive lose data. See http://www.databe.com/articles/article4.html

noxcho

Did you try connecting the drive directly to PC free SATA port? If you saw sparkling then it does not mean that your drive necessarily did blow up. The USB device board could burn but not the drive itself.
Before you go to data recovery shop try to connect it internally.

SOLUTION

thegu99