killed my external HD. any hope?

[JoPedder]

Hello,

I have an external Iomega HD which I use to back up c: and to store the only copy of all my music files (and I think some other files that I've yet to put on the internal hard drive). I've recently done a clean install on a second hand pc, so this drive has been used to transfer data around and I havn't quite tidied up yet.

The drive sounds like it tries to spin, but then just goes into click...whirrr..click... and windows doesn't find it.

is there a way to get it going - cheapest I've seen for data recovery is 'from' £100? I've read both warming it up and also putting it in the freezer could help, but I'm dubious about either suggestion.

I dont mind about the back up files, or the music (it is either from my CD collection or ahem, free - so no loss but time in downloading) what I'm really peeved is that I have a feeling that theres some stuff on there that I may want, but I don't know for sure!

what is really really annoying is that this is the third external HD ive broken in as many months! one at work, my old linux netbooks external and now this

 

[Ace]

Which PC does it have troubles with or both?

 

[Nibiru2012]

Actually the freezer trick is the one I've heard of that works most often for recovery.

I would highly recommend that you start buying 3rd party external cases such as Vantec, Eagle Tech, Antec, Coolmax, etc., you'll get better quality case and then choose the drive you want such as those kicka$$ Samsung 1TB 3.5" drives. Best bang for the buck IMHO!

Iomega is not the product they once were years ago, most of their stuff has gone down in quality.

Since it really sounds like the hard drive has gone kaput, you should be able to just replace that by itself and using the existing external case.

 

[TrainableMan]

There are what I consider two different category of HD failures. One is software related - basically the FAT tables (or their NTFS equivalent) are damaged. So the hardware works but there is not structure to access the files. There are software programs that can recover this type problem. Stellar Phoenix Data Recovery comes to mind. I liked that it showed me what it could recover before I had to pay and it has worked for me in the past so it is worth the $50 if it can see your data in the free trial.

But yours with the SNAP-CRACKLE-POP is likely hardware related. Often the seek arm made contact with the disc platters or got jammed into one spot. I actually tried the freezer trick, and you should give it a shot, but it did not resolve my problem. However I was able to remove the case cover and once I moved the seek arm it popped back into place and I was able to plug it in long enough to recover the data.

The data recovery places can actually disassemble the drives and put your platters in between new read heads & seek arm assembly and recover your data that way (if it was not destroyed when the heads hit it), but as you noted it's quite expensive.

 

[JoPedder]

But yours with the SNAP-CRACKLE-POP is likely hardware related. Often the seek arm made contact with the disc platters or got jammed into one spot. I actually tried the freezer trick, and you should give it a shot, but it did not resolve my problem. However I was able to remove the case cover and once I moved the seek arm it popped back into place and I was able to plug it in long enough to recover the data.

don't I need to be in a static free room or some-such to take it that far apart to use tweezers?

 

[TrainableMan]

First try the freezer version. You pop it in a zipper seal plastic bag and put it in the freezer over night then let it warm to room temperature and try it to see if the arm was freed.

As for the static free room, if you have one then sure do that. But I had nothing to loose because I knew I wasn't paying to recover so I just cut lines in the screws (didn't have the fancy screw driver so that allowed me to use a flathead) and took the cover off & I just touched the arm with my finger and it sprung back into place. Plugged it in without even the cover on and pulled all my data then threw it away.