I've just lost a HDD.

[AAnimation]

I just had my first HDD failure and It's a very gutted feeling..

I've lost a lot of my project data, and I was just wondering what I can do from this point onward, I've googled around and found a lot of contridicting results, some say try the "freezer method" and some say my data is long gone.

My bigger concern is that I have an identical drive (samsung 7,500 rpm ST332082) and it's been running the same amount of time the other one has, will it die soon too?

So ultimately, what can I do at this point and is it lightly to happen soonish to my other drive aswell?

 

[Shakeel]

ive heard of the feezer method but i wouldnt try. (imo bit risky)

id back up all your data on the other drive to a pen drive. (the important files)

 

[Bane]

If it's had a physical failure you could use one of the recovery specialists that charge a fortune. That's if the value of the work lost is justifiable over re-creating it.

In December I noticed a computer chain store was offering the service (probably sent it away instead of doing it in the store). But you paid an examination fee before being quoted for the work, or finding out if they couldn't do it.

 

[JAGRocks09]

That is gutting.

Its actually quite common when working in a ICT workshop that wehave to recover data and replace faulty hard drives more commonly on cheap laptops though.

The best way of recovering your data is to get a replacements hard drive and slave the dead drive. you then use a program called "recover my files" and run it for several hours or even a few days until you have all the data you can get off it.

If your worried about the other drive I wouldnt hesitate to run a check on it Seagate and WD have free diagnostics you can download. and obviouslyI have to suggested that backup all you can anyway.

If you can't boot with the dead drive plugged in then get one of those usb docks wait for windows to load then put it in there. failing that you need to find a workshop with a Forensic grade Disk cloner. What we do in the workshop is copy the drive Bit for bit on the cloner then allot of the time it will repair/skip broken sectors on the way round and if not then you have two disks to play with.

if you can't find a shop with a bitcloner then You can get a cloner for about £300 i suppose it depends on teh value of your data.

Hope this helps

Jon

 

[MrBlobby]

I found somwhere on the internet that would rebuild you hdd with parts of a new one for around £100.

 

[MrBlobby]

Hmm a google search showed this amongst others doesn't sound a big deal

http://www.datatrack-labs.co.uk/hard_drive_recovery.asp

 

[AAnimation]

The HDD came online again today, when yesterday it wouldn't show up in windows or in the BIOS???? what does this mean, I thought it had failed but now I'm unsure.. it left me enough time to backup what was on it, so I'm glad for that.

 

[d_brennen]

Change or at least reseat all the cables and back up asap!

 

[AAnimation]

I've already got everything backed up, so that was lucky.. but now what do I do , I don't want to keep a drive that might fail, but I need to know if it has failed or what? About a month ago, my PC started making this buzzing noise, I have liquid cooling for my i7, but the buzzing noise sounds like it comes from the HDD bays but, if I tip the pc off the floor a bit and let it come back down the buzzing noise fizzles out.. could this have something to do with it?

edit:
There are 1 bad sectors on the disk surface. The contents of these sectors were moved to the spare area.

should I get it replaced?

 

[Bane]

At least you managed to get the data off it.

Did you run the manufacturers scanning tool?

Some provide an error code which you then use for the manufacturer RMA.

Also have you tried a different power cable and data cable to the drive? As I ended up buying a new S-ATA with the claw attachment because of intermittent problems with cable supplied with motherboard working lose.

 

[CaptainCrash]

There are 1 bad sectors on the disk surface. The contents of these sectors were moved to the spare area.

should I get it replaced?

It depends - all drives have some bad sectors, but they're normally remapped by the drive's firmware so that the OS never sees them. If Windows itself is encountering bad sectors, it's usually a sign that the drive is in trouble.

If I were you I'd RMA it for peace of mind if nothing else - even if it seems to be working OK for now, the possibility of imminent failure will keep nagging at you.

edit:

the buzzing noise sounds like it comes from the HDD bays but, if I tip the pc off the floor a bit and let it come back down the buzzing noise fizzles out.. could this have something to do with it?

top tip - *don't* move your PC when the HDDs are powered up if you can help it, and if you absolutely must, be very, very careful. Desktop HDDs aren't designed to be used on the move like notebook drives, and if the heads crash just once, the drive is likely to be toast sooner rather than later...