Serious HD booting problem

u are pretty much screwed....seems the hdd is dead.

u can try a few techniques...

get software called spinwrite...run it and see what happens

there are companies out there that would recover data for you; but charge by the amount of data that is being recovered.


believe it or not...wrap the hdd paper towel...then place in a ziplock bag...and put in freezer for 48hrs....and try connecting it back via usb...this worked for a me

I went to Spinriite's site and it looks promising.  But it costs $89.  Perhaps there's a computer tech out there who has it?

I have had success Acronois before.  One way to know if this will work is to remove the drive from the workstation and slave it to another system and see if you are able to browse/access the file sysem

I've gotten this message.  

HD did not show up when I went to disk mgt. on one computer.  I have a server.  How do you get to disk mgt on it?

Will these programs work if I'm trying to slave the HD to a system?
screenshot1.bmp

What I mean is, will a program like roadkil improve my chances of recognizing teh hard drive.
How much do data recovery places charge?

Ok.... now it's getting a bit complex.    I cooled the drive down a bit per chubby's advice.   It showed up under "My Computer" as  "System".   I tried to right click and got ah hour glass.... so computer doesn't like me trying to open it.

Called data recovery places.... It may be a mechanical failure in which case teh drive4 has to be opened,. etc.  But it could also be a logical issue.   I'll try rec. software,  but does anyone have any further wisdom at this point?

Please try my suggestion if you can see it in your system

I downloaded Roadkill.   I can't get it to recognize the drive

you are screwed! pretty much!

Ok... my desktop computer recognizes the hd (I think the freezer idea worked).   I followed btelow's rec, but I get that infinite loop with the hour glass.  Should I just let it go until something happens (or until the computer gives me an "I give up" message)?    Can I use Roadkil if the HD does not have an alphabetical name?

See screenshot.... It's teh bottom "system" drive.   I feel some hope....
Screen-shot-2.bmp

It keeps getting locked into the hourglass infinite loop.   What does this mean?  At least teh drive is being recognized, right?    But the disk manager won't let me change teh name of the HD (goes into the infinite loop hourglass....)

The fact that you can see the hd in the system is good, can you hear any other funny noises coming from the hd?

Could I suggest a different approach? Can you try to use clonezila live and copy the whole broken HD? It does metal to metal copies of hd, and then try to recover the data from the copied locations, preferably a different drive to the one you have your OS

xmlmagician-
The drive has made some noise right after I pull it out of the freezer and plug it in, but after maybe 30 seconds, the noise disappears.

Like I said above, the computer at least shows the existence of the drive and even knows its size and how much space I'm using.  But HERE is the question: Can any recovery program work when I still can't get out of that infinite loop?  My concern is that Clonezila (or any program) requires the user to click on the drive to copy... but at this point, I can't do that... frustrating

I took the drive out of the freezer after another 8 hours.  For the first time, the drive showed up in "My Computer" and even got a letter: /F:.    However, when I tried to copy it via Roadkil, we went into the infinite loop yet again.

Nobus, thank you very much!  I'll look into all of those.
Screen-shot-3.bmp

Nobus-
Thank you... My only problem is that I don't think I'm smart enough follow all of your instructions.   I have ult boot cd, but I have no idea how to use it.    I have one of those powered usb adapters for SATA, which is what my drive is....  Am I ok with this, or is there a "more direct" connection that will bypass USB?   As for the BIOS, how do I check this?  Do I hit f8 or f11 and go from there, or will various utilities such as UBCD allow me to do this?

Noxcho-
Thank you.   WHen I right click, it loops.   I'll let it freeze more and try again.

Nobus-  UBCD runs on my laptop even with the hd removed.   Should a put the hd back in and check it off UBCD?   I guess at this point, I feel there are dozens of option, but I don't know where to go or what to choose.

Noxcho-  You were saying that my heads might be blocked or the plates are corrupted.  Will Spinrite or any of the other utilities help, or is this a situation where I'll just havfe to bite the bullet and have recovery service take the drive apart in a clean room?

Ve3ofa-   I don't know how to find the smart status of the drive via bios.  
Clonezila site warns me against downloading it because of a potential virus.

You can find HDD surface test tool made by this drive vendor on their website. It will test the SMART and health status itself. What is the model of the drive?

IT's a Seagate Momentus 5400.6   250gb drive.

Clonezila site is not a Virus :-)
ignore the antivirus

xmlmagician-
I followed your link.   When on the site, I am given many, many options/variations of Clonezila that I can download.  Exactly which one do I download?    I'm going to go off of a zip drive.

try those steps:

http://clonezilla.org/fine-print-live-doc.php?path=./clonezilla-live/doc/03_Disk_to_disk_clone/01-boot-clonezilla-live.doc#01-boot-clonezilla-live.doc

@nobus i love paragon programs, does it do it to a firmware level so they wont have to boot up windows?

i don't understand what you are asking

@nobus i love paragon programs, does it do it to a firmware level so they wont have to boot up windows?

I assume you are asking if Paragon can take backup while booting from CD - the answer is yes. This functionality is also supported as far as I know.

@nobus, you can get latest and full version as a EE member from them absolutely free.

i have all their software, noxcho, and use it frequently - but thanks anyway

To Nacxcho, Nobus, XMLmagicial-  Thank you very much for all of your input so far....    I have some low level questions....
1)   Nobus, you said  "never boot from it, attach it as a 2nd drive - PREFEREABLY NOT over USB, since that adds a possible errer layer (usb bridge)  - but directly to the sata, or ide cable of a desktop (or laptop)"      ****    My drive is a laptop SATA.    Do I have to open up my server and connect the drive to a sata slot?  For reasons I won't get into right now, this would be next to impossible on my system.

2) How can I determine whether my drive is seen in the bios?   And which computer do I use?  I can boot from my laptop using UBCD or I can go from my server.    Because the drive has been recognized in "my computer" and disk manager, can I assume it would be read in the bios?

3) XMLmagician, here are three screenshots for clonezilla.  I have absolutely no idea what to do... none.   There are many options and each option in turn requires a degree of knowledge.   I've never heard of formatting a part of my thumbdrive, for example, to FAT8 or FAT16.
clonezila-screenshots.docx

I took the drive to a tech.  He ran Linux.  HD was recognized, but it was not possible to get inside it.

He thinks it may be a controller card.   I can get an identical used drive on Ebay for $45.   Do you think this is worth a try?

I'm going to open another question on how to slave the bad HD to a laptop so that more points are generated.

If that tech is capable of exchanging the boards and he has done that before then yes. Otherwise the recovery services will do the sama and you will pay for the drive and the work.

Is the data so important to you? If so find a reputable company and do it, if not cut your losses by a hard drive and mozy pro and move on

I found a place in CA that seems to have very reasonable prices....  I hope I haven't ruined the drive.  But like i say, the ONLY time it is recognized is when it is very cold.   At any rate, if I can still get the "My Computer"  and/or Disk Manager to recognize it (and even shows the partitions) then can I assume there's still hope?

Depending on how much moisture it is in it. The sooner you go the better

Depending on how much you want to spend, they can even take the individual platters out etc, I have seen drivers been recovered 90% with axes been but through them but the cost was up to £20k.

Best of luck

I'll send the drive out on Monday.   If I've ruined it, at least I've learned a few things.  Data isn't life or death... but it's important.

In that case the only thing you can do now is enjoy your weekend:-)

Thank you all for the great advice.   I hope I've distributed the points equitably.