Hard drive recovery help pleeeaassee

Tom0 · 27 May 2009 at 11:55

I'm a complete noob at this kind of thing.

About 3 weeks ago one of my hard drives died, doesnt boot or show in the bios.
What should I be trying to get it going again? Could it be a MBR problem? Whats the best software for file recovery?

Ask if you need any details and thanks in advance.

rpstewart · 27 May 2009 at 11:57

When you boot the system does the drive spin up at all or make a regular clicking noise?

Poolybit · 27 May 2009 at 11:58

Tom0 said:
doesnt show in the bios.

That doesn't sound good! Does the hard drive make any sounds when it boots? Like clicking etc?

/Edit Beaten! As above!

hp7909 · 27 May 2009 at 11:58

Checked or tried changing SATA & power cables around? Because if not showing in BIOS then it could be terminal

philjohn · 27 May 2009 at 12:08

could be a fried controller - you could try buying an identical drive and swapping them over. What hard drive is it? Some recent Seagate drives had bad firmware and stop working, there are steps (albeit complicated ones) to get them going again to retrieve data.

Tom0 · 27 May 2009 at 13:02

I've swapped cables around, tried new ones etc with no joy.
It spins fine with no clicking noises (sounds like it and is vibrating like its spinning when i feel it).

Not sure on what hard drive it is.. i'll have a look now..

Tom0 · 27 May 2009 at 13:31

Seagate Barracuda 7200

philjohn · 27 May 2009 at 13:37

Tom0 said:
Seagate Barracuda 7200

7200.what though? The last two digits after the full stop will help us narrow down if your drive is potentially affected by the firmware bug.

Tom0 · 27 May 2009 at 13:52

philjohn · 27 May 2009 at 18:52

Yup, that's one of the models potentially affected.

Have a look here: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/16/barracuda_failure_plague/

if you google the problem there's a solution that involves sending commands to the drive over a special cable, but it's long and involved. At one point Seagate were doing free recovery but I'm not sure if they still are.

Perfect_Chaos · 27 May 2009 at 19:55

if you have an external USB HDD case try it in that, i had a drive go bad and the computer would not boot. it came up in windows once i connected through usb though.. i think nearly every file was toast though.

Tom0 · 27 May 2009 at 20:21

Bloody hell

Thanks for all your help guys, think its best I give up.

Rroff · 27 May 2009 at 20:35

this post here might be helpful:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=14129886&postcount=18