Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Some electronic data recoveries are also within the capability of many technically minded
people who spend much of their time working around computers. Remember your static strap
when removing PCB boards.
A repair of this nature can be as simple as swapping the PCB board. With a board from a
matching working hard drive. Data recovery companies keep an inventory of many 1000's of
hard drives for events such as this.
If a PCB swap does not work then the most common problem is that the match was not close
enough. In any production run of a particular model of hard drive there could be as many as
several dozen changes in firmware upgrades, components on the board, etc.
To have the best possible chance all of the code numbers and letters on the top plate of your
drive and its parts donor should be the same. If you have no success then find a reliable data
recovery firm near you as you has done as much as you can.
www.techrepublic.com
Freeze it
From: Travis Standen
One trick I have learned as a technician, when the problem is data-read errors off the platters
themselves, is to freeze the hard drive overnight. It makes the data more 'readable,' but for a
one-shot deal. If this data is critical, and you have a replacement hard drive (which, if it's a
drive failure, you probably do), then you can hook up your frozen hard drive and immediately
fetch the data off before it warms up.
From: Thedeedj
If the problem is heat related, I put the drive in the freezer for about 15 minutes to cool it
down... sometimes this gets the drive up long enough to copy any critical files...
From: Itguy1
Put the drive in a waterproof sealed bag, put it in the fridge for an hour or so, then have
another go.
From: Kelly Reid
Well, I won't start playing with your specific situation, too many steps or possible solutions
where everything starts "If that last thing didn't work try..."
But I'll give you one for free that was a nice hero moment for me. Had a drive where it
sounded like the drive motor was engaging but not getting anywhere, so we stuck it in the
office freezer for an hour! I'll be darned if it didn't work. The drive was up long enough to get
the data ghosted to another drive and we turfed it, even though it sounded fine at that point. I
can't really take credit for it though—I had heard it in some geek bull session but I thought it
was some jedi-geek urban myth. Goes to show you that you know you're really screwed when
you say something to the effect of "Okay, hold on tight, I'm gonna try something I saw in a
cartoon once but I'm pretty sure I can do it"
