[SOLVED] Any way to recover data from a dead HDD?

Sukkui

Prominent
Jun 8, 2020
11
0
510
So my HDD just decided to stop working this morning, probably because of a faulty head.
It shows up on Disk Managamenet as an uninitialized disk but it is pretty much unresponsive to anything.
I really can't afford a data recovery service so, any options I may try before throwing it away?
 
Solution
Hard drives store most of their firmware, including the SMART module, in a hidden System Area (SA) on the platters. If you cannot retrieve a SMART report from the drive, then this would imply that the HDD cannot reach the SA, which in turn would point to an internal fault.

Lutfij

Titan
Moderator
You could try TestDisk but if the issue is hardware, meaning that the head is displaced, or the motherboard is gone, then you're better off going to a data recovery specialist. Goes without saying, you should've backed up the data if the drive was old and gave off tell tale signs of it's imminent departure. Also, it doesn't make sense to throw away a drive if it's got valuable data on it(to you at least). Perhaps save up the funds and at a later date, see if you can retrieve some of the data on the drive...?
 

Sukkui

Prominent
Jun 8, 2020
11
0
510
You could try TestDisk but if the issue is hardware, meaning that the head is displaced, or the motherboard is gone, then you're better off going to a data recovery specialist. Goes without saying, you should've backed up the data if the drive was old and gave off tell tale signs of it's imminent departure. Also, it doesn't make sense to throw away a drive if it's got valuable data on it(to you at least). Perhaps save up the funds and at a later date, see if you can retrieve some of the data on the drive...?
I already tried a bunch of software to see if it would respond but to no avail, it just doesn't read after it first tries at boot. On the other hand, the disk worked fine until it just didn't. But well, it was a secondary disk so it wasn't that important, even though it sucks to lose some data.
 
Hard drives store most of their firmware, including the SMART module, in a hidden System Area (SA) on the platters. If you cannot retrieve a SMART report from the drive, then this would imply that the HDD cannot reach the SA, which in turn would point to an internal fault.
 
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