Broken HDD Data Retrieval?

Bradmax57 · 1 Oct 2008 at 16:42

Got a bit of a problem with a work pc, its an ancient IBM thing with a 5.25" Hard Drive with a whopping 12gb of space, appears the HDD has completely failed and has a bit of data on thats quite important, ive tried slaving it into another pc with no luck in detecting, am i totally screwed?

VFR_KID · 2 Oct 2008 at 08:29

Im not to clued up on hard drives still learning, but the other week something happened to my hdd and it would spin up and then start clicking no matter what i tried it just wouldnt come back to life or show up. from what i have heard and experienced hard drives either work or they dont. lol. hope someone comes to your rescue tho as i will try what they suggest to

bledd · 2 Oct 2008 at 09:30

work pc + important data = backup ? :s

namnoc · 5 Oct 2008 at 23:04

It depends on how much the data is worth. If it is an electronic failure, or actuator failure rather than damage on the disk surface there are companies that will install the platters in a new drive and recover the data for you. Try calling Ontrack if you have plenty of money.

Bradmax57 · 6 Oct 2008 at 13:16

bledd. said:
work pc + important data = backup ? :s

if only it were that simple, its no longer networked the guy who used it thought hed backed up what he had needed but obviously had not, ive found a place that claims to do it all wether it boots or not etc and the good thing is they dont charge you if they cant get the data off "apparantly"

Pandobear · 6 Oct 2008 at 15:19

I would have a look on the bay etc to see if you can find another identical drive and then transfer the platters over yourself. On an old 5 1/4 drive this should be quite easy. Again it depends on how important the data is, agains the cost of retieval.

mangobreeder · 6 Oct 2008 at 15:37

stick it in *** freezer first then try again.

Bradmax57 · 6 Oct 2008 at 16:00

Pandobear said:
I would have a look on the bay etc to see if you can find another identical drive and then transfer the platters over yourself. On an old 5 1/4 drive this should be quite easy. Again it depends on how important the data is, agains the cost of retieval.

plenty on the bay and fortunately we were flooded recently so maybe able to claim for the cost, one place ive found charges a fix fee of £300 what ever the fault, or nothing if they cant get any data off

Bradmax57 · 6 Oct 2008 at 16:55

mangobreeder said:
stick it in *** freezer first then try again.

OMFG i thought this was a p..s take but i thought what the hell, anyway stuck it in the freezer for all of 5 mins took it out and the thing works WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!! anyway ive now cloned it onto a new hdd so jobs a good un and saved £300

fobose · 6 Oct 2008 at 16:58

Haha awesome

Hope you stuck it in a anti static bag or sumit when in the freezer

Bradmax57 · 6 Oct 2008 at 18:31

fobose said:
Haha awesome Hope you stuck it in a anti static bag or sumit when in the freezer

hell did i lol! I know its a matter of coincidence as it was in barely a few mins just thought it was funny all the same, any its now cloned onto a new hdd and works perfect phew, time to start some backups