www.deadharddrive.com

[Mann Slaughter]

Hi folks. Here's my tale of woe:

I have a homebuilt system. Here are my specs:
ABIT BE7-RAID mobo
P4 2.4ghz
512mb RAM Corsair DDR PC2700
Western Digital 1200B (120GB)
Western Digital 450AA (45GB)
Maxtor 96147H6 (61GB)
Windows XP Pro w/ SP2

My 120GB WD was partitioned 3 ways with XP, Backup, & Work.
The 45GB WD was partitoned 2 ways for Games, and the XP pagefile.
The 60GB Maxtor was used solely for video capturing/editing.
I hadn't done a reformat/re-install on my machine in nearly a year, though I typically did them every 5-6 months since I test a LOT of different programs on my machine. I also hadn't backed-up anything in nearly 4 months. A little over a week ago I began noticing major slowdown in my system, and certain programs having "issues". During one instance of what could only be termed 'gross stupidity' I wanted to reboot my computer, but instead of doing a proper shutdown I simply hit the power button. (I do computer repair & maintenance as a side job for family & friends, and this is one of those things I tell them to NEVER do.)
When my compuer rebooted, it got as far as the WindowsXP screen with the blue bars scrolling across, then went to a black screen, then... nothing.
I rebooted again but the same thing happened. I ran several diagnostic programs including PartitionMagic's error check utility, and Windows chkdsk, and finally managed to get the machine booted. Thinking that my 120GB drive with Windows was the bad seed, I immediately set about burning tons of stuff to DVD, and copied about 20GB of data from the other partitions (including all 1400+ songs of my MP3 collection) to my 45GB WD thinking that they would simply be copied back once I repaired or replaced the faulty disk. After wiping the other partitions I re-installed WinXP on my 60GB Maxtor drive, and got a few successful boots until I reconnected the 2 WD drives. After one boot, I heard this rapid "tick-tick-tick..." coming from one of my drives. I disconnect the 120GB WD (because IT'S the bad one, right?) and try to boot again, and I'm greeted with the same "time bomb" noise. I disconnect the 45GB WD but now my Windows installation on the 60GB Maxtor is hosed. I reformat/re-install and boot fine, only to discover to my horror that the 120GB drive I THOUGHT was bad is just fine. It's the 45GB drive I saved my backups on that's toast.
I can't boot to Windows (not even Safe Mode) with that drive connected. I can hear it spinning up until we get to the WinXP screen then I hear a slow, intermittent ticking, then a black screen and nothing. I've run a few DOS progs (MaxBlast 4) that can see the drive but when I try to copy the data it reports an error and won't continue. PartitionMagic 8 won't even initialize it's engine with the broken disk connected. Are there any other progs that will work in DOS to help me get my files off this thing before it's completely dead?
Please don't suggest a data recovery service. I've got some files of me & the Mrs. on there that aren't suitable for any eyes but our own.

Thanks for reading.

[Subzuki]

If the 45GB drive is the only drive being used, does it still spin up?
Even if it does, you may still be able to swap the controller board and have it working properly again. You may have fried another part of the board other than where it gets power for the motor.
On boot-up, every drive usually makes a little bit of ticking. Some more than others. If you hold the drive while it is being powered on, you can feel the head moving back and forth. Sometimes, there is some ticking here and then it quiets down. Is this when it is ticking?
Is it going "tick-tick-tick" or "CLUNK-CLUNK-CLUNK"? After the spin up.
What I mean is, is it a soft noise, or a loud noise. I really have no other idea what it could be if it is a soft noise, but if it is louder, then it would indicate to me that your head (in the hard drive) is thrashing. If it is thrashing, I hate to tell you this, but it *may* now be an ex-harddrive. I have never had much luck in reviving a drive that is thrashing, even with swapping the board.
Somebody else may have a better idea though so don't give up yet.
Check out some of the other posts to see how a board swap is done.
You could also try freezing it. I personally haven't done it, but apparently it does work. Go figure. It does make sense though the way it is explained.
Anyway, Good luck
Subzuki

[Mann Slaughter]

Thanks for the reply Subzuki.
The 45GB WD was set as the slave drive on both my computers while I ran tests trying to see if I could revive it. I guess the best way to describe what I heard would be "soft ticking". After the Windows XP screen I get a black screen, then "Hummmm....tick-tick" (Then a 5-10 second pause) "Hummmm....tick-tick" which repeats until I forcibly reboot.

I've done a little searching and found a utility that allows you to read NTFS in a DOS environment. It will also let me copy files from NTFS to FAT32 so I'll see if I can get that done. If not, I'll try the deep freeze suggestion.

Thanks for the assist!