HELP : Data recovery

Things change I've changed · 10 Nov 2010 at 14:56

Hello, I have a client that gave me a HDD yesterday that has failed and he is desperate to recover the information on the drive, I have various data recovery software but the problem is the drive isn't even being recognised in the bios, it's an old ATA-100 30gig Maxtor drive.

Symptoms,

Drive spins up ok but I don't feel the arm/head judder like you do when most drives power up.

No HDD activity light while attempting to boot.

Not being Recognised in the BIOS

Two systems I tested it in failed to even boot into windows while the drive was plugged in.

I've made sure jumpers/cables are fine etc.

----------------------------------

I've told him that there really isn't much chance of getting the data off unless it's sent away to a proper data recovery centre where they will most probably open the drive up in a controlled environment but that would be expensive and he doesn't really want to spend out a lot.

Anyone have any ideas?

Do you think that I'm am correct based on the information I have provided?

Thank you.

brakeinup · 10 Nov 2010 at 15:25

http://geeksaresexy.blogspot.com/2006/01/freeze-your-hard-drive-to-recover-data.html

http://www.knowledgesutra.com/forums/topic/26193-hard-drive-freezer-trick/

Dunno - it might help

Toughnoodle · 10 Nov 2010 at 16:28

You might be able to find the same model/firmware 2nd hand and swap the controller board over. Not tried that myself though.

Echo · 10 Nov 2010 at 16:35

Could try one of those SATA/IDE > USB docks - can then plug it in after Windows loads (and pray!)

Things change I've changed · 10 Nov 2010 at 16:59

Thanks guys, some good suggestions, I'm going to whack it in the freezer tonight and see how it goes.

bledd · 10 Nov 2010 at 18:49

I had a failing hard drive before that just would not work, tried the freezer trick, nothing worked.

In frustration, I kicked it really hard along the floor into a desk. Upon plugging it in, it worked again!

Couldn't believe it, still used as a temp files drive in a spare pc

jsp21c · 12 Nov 2010 at 10:52

I had a Seagate 120 GB disk fail in 2009, it was spinning slowly but wouldn't boot. Despite this I managed to use my Acronis bootable CD and imaged the failed disk across to a new 500 GB disk in an e-sata external dock. The process took an hour or so but it worked for me.
There's also the free clonezilla bootable which can image too.