Hard Drive Failure - Off Road Photos Gone!

KNOBmeister

KNOBmeister

New member
OH Collective wisdom:

I need help! :upset:

My secondary hard drive [a MAXTOR 200GB] has failed and I can't access it to
recover all my photos that I have taken over the years of the products I've produced
with my laser ..... [Like a fool I was using the extra hard drive as a backup system
never figuring that that disk might fail!]

MAXTOR has sent me a swap out drive but can't help me recover the lost files! About
40MB of data is gone. I tried their "MaxBlast" recovery utilities disk but the drive is still
not recognized by my DELL [Running XP Home edition]

I called a few HARD DRIVE RECOVERY web sites but the cost to have the disk's data
brought back to life is COST PROHIBITIVE! $500 to $2500 is a lot more than my 'one man'
company can afford ....... Custom sports car parts are just not that profitable!

Has anyone had a similar experience and have some suggestions for me?

Is there anyone recovered data from a dead HD without spending a fortune?

I'm asking on this forum as I know that we have lots of computer literate people out there
and the wealth of knowledge out in our group sometimes astounds me!

Anyone own a data recovery service and can take pity on me?

Not only have I lost most of my products photos but all my off road shots and a
copious amount of personal pix taken over the years.... Sadist of all is the loss of the photos
of my family and the construction of my new garage!

If I can't recover these mementoes at least I have learned my lesson about backing up everything
onto multiple media not just onto my extra hard drive!
:bash:

Joe
:( :( :(
 
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Would you give more specifications about your drive? Did you use any utility to try to mount the disk. I have some suggestions that might work. Try connecting the drive to another computer to see if it mounts. Mac computers may see the drive and if it mounts you can copy them to another drive.
 
Yes I suggest hooking it up to a different computer as well. The other PC may have a IDE Controller (Assuming that the dead drive is IDE as its common on personal computers) that can recognize that drive.

When you boot up, do you see the secondary Maxtor drive get initialized in the POST? The POST is when you boot up the PC you should see the devices (hard drives, cdroms etc) get spun up. If the POST can see it you have better chance for the OS to see it. If POST doesn't see the drive, you're probably SOL.

I'm not familiar with XP HOME as we mostly use XP Pro here, but I think you have a Disk Management program loaded. On your desktop right click on My Computer and select Manage. Under Storage there should be a folder called Disk Management. If you go in there, there may be an "Orphaned" drive that you can import back in. Also try to right click on the Disk Management folder and see if you can rescan the disks.

Good luck. Its such a pain losing data...
 
OK, my Maxtor 160GB drive failed Sunday.

It's VERY important to know the message you got on the screen before you go to far.

In my case, it booted to a black screen with

"disk read error occurred"

"Press Ctrl Alt Del to continue"

"If" this is the error you got you may be able to recover your data. I got ALL mine back.

I first did a Google search on the error and found that the error I was getting is VERY widespread over the last 15 months. There seems to be evidence of a problem with NTFS and how and when the drive was formatted, whether via a convert command from FAT32 or whether by a format during the O/S install. In any case, it does not happen to FAT32 partitions.

I first booted to the recovery console and saw that I could view the drive with a DIR command. Since I could see it but not boot from it, I removed it, set the jumpers on the drive to make it a slave and put it into a second XP machine. When it booted up, the bad drive showed up as an additional drive and I was able to copy all the data to a different drive.

If you try to use this method, the Operating system must be the same as your original box. It can't be W2K as NTFS was updated with XP and is not compatible with W2K.

If your drive was FAT32, either O/S can read it.

What error message did you get??
 
:goinposta MAXTOR 200GB HardDrive


The drive was set up as slave .... no error message that I can recall!

Some one said that "freezing" the drive might help so I can temporarily read the drive and get the data off it!

Will try this trick asap ........ [My wife will think I'm nutz having the HD in my beer freezer!]

The Dell Computer runs on XP 'Home' Edition ........ the system just not seeing the drive! Tried it in another system [Windows ME] and one with Windows95
but no good there either!

Tried to see the drive on Device Manager but it was not there!

RATS!


Joe
:driving:

:happens:
 
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Neither Windows ME or 95 could read it anyway even if it was good. They're older and can't read newer XP file system. Is there another XP machine you can try?

Also touch the "bad drive" while it's powering up in the other system. Can you feel it spin up?

Also if you know anyone that has Partition Magic and can make a boot disk, it might be able to see the drive. Then as a last resort convert it to FAT32.
 
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Does the drive show up in POST? Check the BIOS (F2, F9 or DEL are common keys to enter BIOS) to make sure the SLAVE drive isn't set as disabled. Maybe changing it to autodetect may help.

Again, if it doesn't show up in POST then it won't show up in the OS no matter what you do...
 
Also, don't get the whim to toss the drive or do anything drastic with it yet. They may still be ways to get to it. This is where patience comes in.

I know how you feel, I was in your shoes Sunday.
 
I know you tried the maxBlast recover utilities. Go to this page and look at the steps about not recognized by BIOS. See if any of those help.
 
ToyotaDoodz:


BIOS check ........

I'll try that first ......... one of my Miata friends says that 'freezing the drive" could cause problems ... he should know ..... right?
He was an design engineer for Seagate Technology hard drives!

I gotta try everything ..... as of now I'm desperate!

:FOS:

Joe
:driving:
 
I'd listen to him. Freezing the drive sounds like a far out gimmick to me. I've never heard of it. Small moves, one step at a time is the proper way to diagnose. It's hard not to take big leaps only to find out it was something simple.

Question? Had you changed anything prior to this happening?
 
Nope!


Just vanished from "My Computer" one day!

It does make a spinning sound that doesn't sound 'normal'

The MAXTOR people said it was 'toast' and were prompt in sending out a replacement. They are even giving me extra 'RMA' time to see if I can get some data retreived!

I just don't want to spend up to $2500 for the pictures that I lost!
:bash:

Call me cheap .......... I could get three of my Nikon Digital cameras for that! ....

:soapbox:


Joe
:driving:
 
KNOBmeister said:
Nope!


Just vanished from "My Computer" one day!

It does make a spinning sound that doesn't sound 'normal'

The MAXTOR people said it was 'toast' and were prompt in sending out a replacement. They are even giving me extra 'RMA' time to see if I can get some data retreived!

I just don't want to spend up to $2500 for the pictures that I lost!
:bash:

Call me cheap .......... I could get three of my Nikon Digital cameras for that! ....

:soapbox:


Joe
:driving:
Click to expand...


Ouch, sounds "physical" which as you already know is not good.

You're not cheap. Data recovery is very expensive. Very sorry, I know how you feel.
 
If your Bios can still see it you have a good opportunity to get your data back. Dont freeze it!!!!

Dont worry if XP can't see it.

I have recovered data from a number of harddrives, using different software tools. The last one I used was Active FIle recovery pro. It worked well enough, at least it bypassed NTFS security to get to the data.

Just search for some tools that can read disks directly. Plug it in and run the utility, you should be able to recover most of your data, unless you have complete mechnical falure (which doesn't happen often). But freezing it might just cause that.

In the future get an external drive, preferably firewire to backup your info. SO you switch it on, backup and then switch off.

I have always used Seagate for many years and had no problems. I then started using IBM deskstar on PCs and Maxtor and some WD, all I can say in overall quality they all suck compared to Seagate. Going forward just buy Seagate would be my recommendation, you will have the least amount of problems, and they are among the quitest drives on the market.

Good luck, and in the future buy a good HDD and get an external backup. SOunds expensive now, but saves you a lot when problems come knocking.
 
Shoot I guess my opinion doesn't matter as I've been saying to check the POST and BIOS:awais: :confused: :(

Well definitely don't freeze the hard drive. This is a disk drive, not coffee beans for gawd sake... Think condensation on electronics... bad...

Just because it makes a funny sound doesn't mean its a total goner, but its probably close. I know a company called Ontrack does data recovery, but they are expensive as hell. I work for a gov't agency as one of the IT guys and we've sent drives to them before. Don't know exact figures, but have always been told it was expensive and they only do it for the important govies.
 
If you're hearing strange noises, that's a fairly bad sign. Still, unless you've had a head drop (happens) there may not be any physical damage on the platters. AFTER YOU'VE TRIED EVERYTHING ELSE, you can try one last fairly drastic thing.

THIS WILL BE THE LAST THING YOU EVER DO WITH THIS DRIVE. IT PROBABLY WONT WORK.

1) Go buy the exact same drive new/used ... whatever. It must be exactly the same model with the same number of platters, controller board, firmware revision, etc.

2) Work in a clean room or a makeshift one if you have to. Put on some link free cloths and surround yourself with plastic. Wear latex gloves

3) take apart your drive and remove the platters. Try not to touch the platter surfaces at all.

4) take aprt the working drive and swap the platters with the ones you removed in step 3.

5) put the new drive back together and hook it up to a working system as a slave.

6) Repeat all the steps you tried before to get at your data (data recovery tools, etc).
 
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rando has the right idea, but here's another simplier (possible) solution: find another Maxtor 200GB HD and swap out just the hard disk controller (circuit board). See if this will work. If not, try rando's idea. I'm not too sure if freezing the drive is such a good idea for many reasons. When you find the replacement/donor Maxtor drive, make sure it's the right model/series. Your drive is relatively new (200GB) and finding a replacement isn't that hard. Now, if it was an older one, you'll have to look around (e.g.- ebay), but will be paying alot more for the used drive than what a new one would cost in stores. I would recommend backing up your files often or run a RAID "mirror" configuration where you have two drives with identical "mirror" data files. Another option besides RAID is to "ghost" (i.e- Norton Ghost) your original drive onto another spare drive, basically the same as backup, but it retains your Windows OS and programs.
 
Good suggestions ....... too tired to do 'em tonight ...

Will pull the guts out of this computer in the AM and see if I can apply some of the suggestions!

Wish me Luck!

If you don't get a post from me by the evening..
check the 'Denver Post' and see about any suicides in Elbert Colorado!

Or someone going "Postal" ....... [Lucky my gun is only a single shot Black Powder Kentucky Rifle!]

:goinposta:

Joe
:driving:
 
I would check the ATA cable and the power cable to make sure there is power and that the drive is spinning. Is it making a grinding noise? Sometimes the magnetic arms are not parked properly and if you take the drive out and hit it lightly so that the arms can go back to their original position you may have a chance to see the drive for a few moments and copy your pics.
 
Hank said:
rando has the right idea, but here's another simplier (possible) solution: find another Maxtor 200GB HD and swap out just the hard disk controller (circuit board). See if this will work. If not, try rando's idea. I'm not too sure if freezing the drive is such a good idea for many reasons. When you find the replacement/donor Maxtor drive, make sure it's the right model/series. Your drive is relatively new (200GB) and finding a replacement isn't that hard. Now, if it was an older one, you'll have to look around (e.g.- ebay), but will be paying alot more for the used drive than what a new one would cost in stores. I would recommend backing up your files often or run a RAID "mirror" configuration where you have two drives with identical "mirror" data files. Another option besides RAID is to "ghost" (i.e- Norton Ghost) your original drive onto another spare drive, basically the same as backup, but it retains your Windows OS and programs.
Click to expand...

Good point! Depending on what kind of noise you're hearing, it's possible that it's just a controller failure. Swapping out the controller board, if you're careful, can usually be done without much (mechanical or electrical) risk to the drive.
 
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