Seagate Hard Drive I/O Erorr Recovery

[popit]

Hi. I've been trying for the past couple of days and I am not getting anywhere. I'm hoping someone here can help. About a month ago upon boot, I got a a SMART error. I found it was my 750GB drive that was my second data drive. I immediately turned it off and unplugged the drive, to hopefully prevent further damage. I ordered a replacement 3TB drive, but hadn't had a chance to install it until last Sunday. I thought since the drive wasn't making any noise I'd be able to just copy the files (about 400GB worth) to the replacement drive, remove the platters from the old drive, throw it away and be done with it. Well, that didn't happen. Here's what I tried:

1. I've tried CHKDSK (freezes at 36%).
2. I've tried UBCD (HDAT2, Seatools, PartedMagic). All were failures. Seatools did give me "9da5976b" error code.
3. I then proceeded to Ubuntu (live mode) and tried DDRESCUE. I was able to recover about 3GB, then it just stopped. After 9 hours, I cancelled it.
4. I was able to copy some files from Ubuntu's file manager (even though Windows 7 wouldn't). However, after a while the drive unmounted itself and when I tried to remount, I got I/O errors.
5. Moved on to Hiren's Boot CD. I was able to recover some more from Mini XP. Eventually got I/O error and "semaphore has timed out" error. Drive disappeared. At this point, I checked the BIOS and it had completely disappeared from the BIOS. Reappears after power cycle. I enabled hot-plugging in hopes that if it disconnected, the BIOS would be able to find it again and reconnect.
6. Went back to Ubuntu. I was able to copy some more files. This is when I discovered that there was in fact some important files that I hadn't backed up. So far there are 1,100 camera pictures. Every program I wrote with Visual Studio is also on there. The rest is probably unimportant stuff, but I haven't been able to read the drive to find out.

The drive model is a Seagate Barracuda 750GB ST3750840SCE. I was thinking that since there's not a bunch of bad sectors, but instead I/O errors and disappearing from the BIOS, the problem is in the PCB, not the platters or the head. Would I be able to swap the PCB to a working one on this drive? Doesn't PCB swapping help with I/O errors, or is this lost cause (other than professional data recover)?

 

[rgd1101]

how important is your data? the more thing you try the more you ruining it.

 

[DR_Luke]

Based on what you are describing, the odds are that the drive is physically starting to crash. At this point, I suspect that the price is likely still well under $500 to have recovered by a reputable data recovery professional.

You could try swapping the PCB, but not without moving the ROM chip, which, if damaged, would basically make your data unrecoverable by any lab. So, I don't suggest trying this unless your data isn't worth the few hundred bucks for a professional.

My compiled list of affordable & reputable data recovery labs around the world is as follows:

Recovery Force
Data Medics
Data Savers
PC Image
Data Busters
Mind Merge

Good luck

 

[popit]

Ok, thank you. I figured it was probably a long shot. I guess I'll have to look into some of those data recovery services. One more question, though. It's not going to make recovery more difficult if it sits (unplugged) for say 6 months before I can pay for this?

 

[DR_Luke]

Ok, thank you. I figured it was probably a long shot. I guess I'll have to look into some of those data recovery services. One more question, though. It's not going to make recovery more difficult if it sits (unplugged) for say 6 months before I can pay for this?

No, setting it aside shouldn't have any ill effect towards the chances of recovery.

 

[popit]

That's good to here at least. I've been trying to fix a broken LG G3 for the past month. Been buying parts off ebay. The AT&T model I got just needed a new screen (fixed it), but no FM radio. So, I tried a Sprint (also had to swap screens), but that is impossible to get data working. So now I'm going for the international version, which is supposed to work with AT&T and have FM Radio. Thought I could save a few dollars by repairing a broken phone, ended up buy 2 broken ones and still had to buy a good working one. 🙁 On top of that, I've been fixing a car I got so I wouldn't have to drive my good one during the winter. Bent valve, which likely means the timing chain jumped a tooth or broke. That'll be fun to get to.. And finally my truck needs tires. So once I'm done with all this I can hopefully start saving for this drive. Thanks again.