Can I save data from this hard drive?

[veclock]

Hi! My hard drive broke 2 years ago. One day before, I got a windows warning it was something wrong with the hard drive, can't remember exactly what it said. Next day I couldn't access the hard drive. Now when I tried to plug it in again, it isn't visible in BIOS or Windows. But, it vibrates, so it's not dead.

The hard drive is a WD15EADS SATA.

I just need to save some jpg files.

Shall I try the freezer for 12(?) hours? Or is it possible to change some components and get it working?

This info is all I know, please help!

Thanks in advance

 

[mbreslin1954]

Probably the circuit board that interfaces the hard drive has failed, the little printed circuit board that is screwed to the bottom of the drive. If you're careful to get the exact same printed circuit board you could replace it. People sell them on e-bay. But you have to get an exact match, even to the level of firmware. That's basically what repair shops do for you, but it costs over $100 to have them do it. This is assuming that the mechanics are working, that there is no head crash or other problems with the mechanical portions of the drive.

 

[reedo_43]

+1 I have done it before. You will need small torx bits. Try this site. Your new pcb will have to be very close.
http://www.harddrivepcb.com/ http://www.donordrives.com/

 

[veclock]

Thank you! Do you think changing components is a safer bet than trying the freezer, given that I don't have any experience with changing components before?

Do you think my case could be solved with the freezer at all? And in that case how many hours should I go for?

 

[mbreslin1954]

It won't hurt to freeze it, it costs you nothing, so go ahead and try it. Buying a circuit board, however, WILL cost you, and it comes with no guarantee that it will fix your problem.

 

[Silver Wolf]

I have never seen a drive fixed by freezing it. But as stated above it should not really hurt anything. If you feel it spinning and do not hear grinding it might just need a PCB board which are usually just a few dollars (under $20 for many, lots under $10 too). I would look into the price of the PCB for in case the freezer trick you mentioned does not work. However there are cases where you just have to either put the money into it or walk away from the data and consider it lost...

 

[BillyDataGuy]

Hi! My hard drive broke 2 years ago. One day before, I got a windows warning it was something wrong with the hard drive, can't remember exactly what it said. Next day I couldn't access the hard drive. Now when I tried to plug it in again, it isn't visible in BIOS or Windows. But, it vibrates, so it's not dead.

The hard drive is a WD15EADS SATA.

I just need to save some jpg files.

Shall I try the freezer for 12(?) hours? Or is it possible to change some components and get it working?

This info is all I know, please help!

Thanks in advance

Freezing the drive is a good way to cause condensation inside the drive. This will ruin your data. This is NOT recommended.

Replacing the PCB will not work without swapping the ROM chip (about 15% of drives can be done without this), and even then the chances of success are slim without having other tools that are very expensive.

You also need to know what you are doing when attempting data recovery.

Taking shots and rolling the dice is only suggested when the data is not valuable.

I would say the chances for the following are high:

FAILED PCB
SEIZED MOTOR
HEAD STUCK ON PLATTER
DRIVE IS SPINNING BUT HEADS NOT INDEXING

 

[mbreslin1954]

I would suggest, if the data is important, to take it to a repair facility. If it's recoverable by them, typically a failed PCB, then it should not cost more than $150, depending on where you live. If the data is not important enough to spend $150 on, then go ahead and play with it.

 

[fzabkar]

Is there an 8-pin chip at U12?

 

[veclock]

Hi

I had it in the freezer for 11 hours and now it shows up in the device manager but NOT in My Computer.
PLEASE HELP QUICK

 

[veclock]

I tried to initialize it, but it gave me an I/O error. Tried to enable write cache, but that faild too. It said something like "maybe the disk doestn't support this function blabla". After a while it didn't show up in the list no more. I found an almost identical drive lying around in my room, so I tried to change the PCB (or the green circuit board on the top). Pluged it back in, didn't show up this time either. Then I threw it in the freezer once more for 30 min, and then it showed up again! But no difference. Shows up offline only. With this new info, can you figure out if it's doomed or if there still is some way? Oh, and I also tried to physically spin it but it gave no results.

 

[veclock]

Bump! 🙁

 

[BillyDataGuy]

Bump! 🙁

BUMP: Freezing the drive is a good way to cause condensation inside the drive. This will ruin your data. This is NOT recommended.

Replacing the PCB will not work without swapping the ROM chip (about 15% of drives can be done without this), and even then the chances of success are slim without having other tools that are very expensive.

You also need to know what you are doing when attempting data recovery.

Taking shots and rolling the dice is only suggested when the data is not valuable.

I would say the chances for the following are high:

FAILED PCB
SEIZED MOTOR
HEAD STUCK ON PLATTER
DRIVE IS SPINNING BUT HEADS NOT INDEXING