Inaccessible Drive, want to recover

[Fuyukazehime]

I have a 750GB Seagate HDD that is inaccessible. The hard drive itself is recognized in windows and shows up with its drive letter but unable to get partition info. Attempting to do ANY functions on the drive causes the associated program to lock up. Double click the drive and explorer.exe locks up, attempt to view in disk management and the management console locks up. Can't reformat, can't run recovery, can't run chkdsk etc. If I try to boot with it already connected it hangs mid post. It spools up but I don't head the telltale sound of the read/write head moving about except the initial startup. I need an injection of fresh ideas to save my data without having to spend hundreds. I have the technical skills for all aspects of data backup but I don't want to open the drive without knowing if it's the actuator or the read/write head.

 

[seagate_surfer]

Fuyukazehime, try running Seatools for DOS. (This of course if the drive is present in the BIOS) and see what it comes up with. Relive this drive has gone south but you may test in in another computer to see if you get the same symptoms. Best of luck.

 

[Fuyukazehime]

Fuyukazehime, try running Seatools for DOS. (This of course if the drive is present in the BIOS) and see what it comes up with. Relive this drive has gone south but you may test in in another computer to see if you get the same symptoms. Best of luck.

Unfortunately, the drive is completely inaccessible. It causes the PC to freeze on boot and if connected after windows has loaded, it will recognize the drive but any attempt to access it in any way will freeze whatever is attempting access. Even the disk manager!

 

[Fuyukazehime]

I thank you for your input, but again, this issue is a physical hardware issue with the hard drive. It can be recognized but cannot be accessed by software in any way likely due to a physical issue with the drive's internals. I am a computer professional and all the typical restoration methods will not work due to the drive not functioning properly on the physical level. I am seeking a solution to diagnose and resolve a PHYSICAL issue with the drive, be it the read/write head or the actuator. I am less familiar with the hard drive internals than I would like.

 

[USAFRet]

I thank you for your input, but again, this issue is a physical hardware issue with the hard drive. It can be recognized but cannot be accessed by software in any way likely due to a physical issue with the drive's internals. I am a computer professional and all the typical restoration methods will not work due to the drive not functioning properly on the physical level. I am seeking a solution to diagnose and resolve a PHYSICAL issue with the drive, be it the read/write head or the actuator. I am less familiar with the hard drive internals than I would like.

Is the data backed up anywhere?
(if not, why not?)

If the drive is under warranty...replace.
If it isn't under warranty...replace.

Drive die. Eventually, all of them.
Some earlier than others.

Physical issues can't be fixed outside of a lab, unless it is simply a PCB replacement. Even that sometimes is no fix, due to possible encryption within the PCB.

 

[Fuyukazehime]

I am asking for a solution. I obviously have the skills and tools necessary to repair the drive. I merely do not wish to probe into the drive blindly. I want to know what to look for the moment I open it. I already know a lot but I do not have the knowledge to immediately come to a successful diagnosis without opening it. I prefer not to open the drive until I have a better idea what physical issue to look into.

 

[USAFRet]

I am asking for a solution. I obviously have the skills and tools necessary to repair the drive. I merely do not wish to probe into the drive blindly. I want to know what to look for the moment I open it. I already know a lot but I do not have the knowledge to immediately come to a successful diagnosis without opening it. I prefer not to open the drive until I have a better idea what physical issue to look into.

I doubt there is any default solution we out here can do to "fix it".
Outside of a cleanroom lab situation, HDD's are mostly a black box thing.

Might be the drive motor, might be the head actuator, might be the PCB.

Showing up in the OS is probably just the PCB saying Hi, here I am.
The drive inside, however...that seems to be a physical issue, as you've stated.

 

[Fuyukazehime]

I have the knowledge and equipment I just didn't want to have to go in blind. The drive spins up, I think it's the read/write head. I guess I'll have to purchase a donor and just troubleshoot on a component level.