Posted: 11/14/2011 3:36:27 PM EDT
So I had my main hard drive on my laptop fail a few months back. I replaced it but I have a few months worth of pictures on the dead one (should have backed up more often  ). I plugged it in to an external enclosure but it doesn't spin up, it just clicks. I have an identical drive that works in this enclosure and makes a whirring sound when you plug it in. So is it possible to recover files from a hard drive that won't spin? Any recommended techniques/services? Is all hope lost?
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Put the drive in the freezer. Then run r-studio against it to recover what you can. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile You only get one shot at the freezer trick and only until the drive warms up. You could leave it in there if you have long enough cables. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Put the drive in the freezer. Then run r-studio against it to recover what you can. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile You only get one shot at the freezer trick and only until the drive warms up. You could leave it in there if you have long enough cables. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile He's in Indiana. Wait til January and do it outside. |
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There are companies out there that can do it, but they're not cheap. THAT. Not backing your shit up can be VERY expensive. Remember this, everyone: Data does not exist unless it exists in at least TWO places. An external drive is a very good way to back up your important stuff - anything that cannot be replaced - all of your pictures, music, documents, etc. A better method of backing up is an external service. I use JungleDisk (My employer owns it) and have it automatically synchronize a directory from my HTPC. When I take some pictures, I copy the files to the HTPC and it automatically syncs them with my JungleDisk. If my house burned to the ground, I'd just get a new PC, install the JungleDisk agent and restore my stuff. |
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If you can get a hold of the EXACT same model of drive, you MIGHT be able to swap the controllers.
However, that "click" sounds like a mechanical problem, so you are probably screwed. Try the freezer method, I have done that once or twice. I've even seen "dead' drives come back to life, by simply letting them sit for a week or so. I have recovered the full data before they died for good that way. |
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There are companies out there that can do it, but they're not cheap. THAT. Not backing your shit up can be VERY expensive. Remember this, everyone: Data does not exist unless it exists in at least TWO places. An external drive is a very good way to back up your important stuff - anything that cannot be replaced - all of your pictures, music, documents, etc. A better method of backing up is an external service. I use JungleDisk (My employer owns it) and have it automatically synchronize a directory from my HTPC. When I take some pictures, I copy the files to the HTPC and it automatically syncs them with my JungleDisk. If my house burned to the ground, I'd just get a new PC, install the JungleDisk agent and restore my stuff. So true, I have redudant backups now but I need to use an offsite service too. Thanks for the advice guys. $700? Meh, my wife's college graduation wasn't that important. 
ETA: I'll try the freezer method though. |
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I have a RAID-1 array, which takes 2 (or 3) hard drives and makes them all identical copies.
I actually had a hard drive physically fail on me early this year, started my computer up and it told me: "Integrity degraded" 
Took a look at the status and 1 of the hard drives took a complete shit. Loaded up my backup, and it started copying everything onto the new hard drive, BAM, a day or two and finished. My brother took the fucked one into his work to check it out, and it was a complete hardware failure, wouldn't even recognize as a hard drive in the diagnostic tools. So in short, that one TEENY little act of getting a motherboard with basic RAID capability and having a mirror array set up, saved me HOURS upon HOURS of recovery from my external USB hard drive, and completely re-installing windows, all the setup time and re-installing programs etc..... So if you go with a new hard drive, GET A basic raid capable motherboard, or read your motherboard specs to see if it has it. A lot of newish ones will have basic 2-hard drive raid 1 and 0, it doesn't take long to set the array up, and you have SO much peace of mind. Having 2 hard drives fail simultaneously is almost astronomically low, especially if you have a backup HDD waiting to get plugged in and re-built. |
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Quoted:
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There are companies out there that can do it, but they're not cheap. THAT. Not backing your shit up can be VERY expensive. Remember this, everyone: Data does not exist unless it exists in at least TWO places. An external drive is a very good way to back up your important stuff - anything that cannot be replaced - all of your pictures, music, documents, etc. A better method of backing up is an external service. I use JungleDisk (My employer owns it) and have it automatically synchronize a directory from my HTPC. When I take some pictures, I copy the files to the HTPC and it automatically syncs them with my JungleDisk. If my house burned to the ground, I'd just get a new PC, install the JungleDisk agent and restore my stuff. What he said. Also we all own gun safes back your shit up and put it on an external drive and lock in fireproof safe. |