www.deadharddrive.com

[johnequickiii]

Hey all... Here's my dilemma...

The drive was working fine, then it became disconnected during a paging operation, which effectively stopped Windows from being able to access the drive by normal means.

Me, unfortunately panicking first instead of calmly walking through the steps like I normally would, decided that instead of trying CHKDSK to attempt to solve it, went straight for data restoration software. I was able to access the files again using PC Inspector File Recovery, but had no place else to put 500GB+ worth of data, so couldn't get my files off at that time.

The very next day, I went to use PC Inspector to get to my files again, and try to see what all I SHOULD retrieve with the little space I had available, and I couldn't access it at all. I tried several more recovery softwares, but none of them worked. The drive, on power up, does spin up. Listening closely, I hear it spin up slightly more, the actuator seems to be moving the arms, then a slight spin down. This is repeated 3 times before it spins down to rest. It sounds like it is putting itself into a Safe Mode or something.

The drive IS seen in Device Manager, but only as WD, no model numbers or anything. It isn't seen by the Disk Manager though.

I used Test Disk to go see if I could find the partition again, and all it did was tell me it was reading nothing but bad sectors, (mind you the drive was NOT spinning during this process). I went to look at the disk geometry, and saw that the drive was reporting having CHS values of 4294967295 1 1, which seems to be the disk geometry of a drive that is 2199 GB/2047 GiB. All of this with no spinning of the drive.

Next, I used WD Data Lifeguard to attempt to test it and see if I could get any error codes that would enlighten me as to what the problem was.

On the Quick and Extended tests, I get the following...

Model Number:
Unit Serial Number:
Firmware Number:
Capacity: 0.00 GB
SMART Status: Not Available
Test Result: FAIL
Test Error Code: 11-Cable Test::Read diagnostics sector error!

So I though it may have been an issue with the PCB. I had WD send me a replacement, the same drive, and swapped PCBs, (not live). That didn't work. Reading into the forums here, which I just found last night, I now know why, so that option's out.

WD's solution is to only replace it under warranty, although their warranty info on their site specifically states that they will REPAIR or replace a faulty item under warranty. I'm not willing to give up 500GB+ of data just like that. I know I should have been backing it up, but with the reliability of the 500GB drive I had before, lasting more than 2 years, I had that "It won't happen to me..." mindset. We ALL know where that got me. lol ; ;
That is a mistake I chose not to repeat. I plan on, should I be able to regain access to my data, getting one of the WD 1TB Passport, (which is what I've been waiting for them to come out with), and using the My Book
to back up everything onto.

At any rate, what is above is as far as I've gotten. I'm not sure where to go from here. I don't have the money to go the paid recovery route, and really do not want to lose all of that data, which I KNOW is still there, waiting for me to find a solution, so I can get it off.

Is there ANY way at all I can bypass whatever is the issue, and get to my data so I can retrieve it. There HAS to be something I can do to get to it.

Even if I knew for certain that it was just a software related issue, which it does sound like, I could go for one of those low cost data recovery places, knowing that all they would have to do is rewrite some code onto it to make it work again.

Please to help me out whatever way you can. As you can tell, I am quite savvy with a PC, so don't be afraid to get technical with me. If you say something I don't understand, I'll just ask. ^^

Thanks in advance.

[harddrivespecialist]

This sounds like your drive does not become ready and a fact that it spins up three times and then spins down usually means that head/s failed.
It could be due to usage of recovery software you have ran on your drive.
Those programs very harsh to drives and could cause additional problems.

I would suggest using a data recovery pro, not a local computer shop and it might be a low cost at the moment. They will make sure it won't get damaged then it is right now.
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www.datarecoveryne.com

[Sano]

Years ago I plugged a strobe light into my comp's power supply, as it was booting. D'oh Trashed my hdd full of prO_, eh, data.

I had success retrieving a good deal of the files by freezing the hdd. Zip bag, a few moisture/ dryer thing-a-meh-doodles. Pulled it out of the freezer, put it some sort of insulation and I got 4 or 5 passes with recovery s/w over a couple of days.