WD Caviar 21000 1.0GB EIDE from 1995 - Can't read anything?

[ecksemmess]

I have a Western Digital Caviar 21000 1.0GB EIDE drive, made in November 1995 and last powered on in June 2000. Since then, it has sat totally untouched in an antistatic bag in a clean environment. I know it's probably a long shot, but even being able to recover a few KB here and there would be very helpful for me. Thankfully, the drive still spins up and sounds reasonably normal (a bit loud and whiny, but basically the same as I remember it sounding when it worked), and my Windows 8 laptop can successfully see it in Disk Management. I'm using an IDE to USB adapter for this, but I don't think that's an issue because this adapter has worked with other drives of similar vintage, and as I said the computer can see the drive just fine. The size is correctly reported as 1.0GB and the serial number is displayed correctly by all the drive analysis programs I've tried. The problem is that every read attempt on any sector fails instantly with an IO error. I've tried a variety of drive cloning and imaging programs, including DMDE and HDDGuru's "HDD Raw Copy", with manual specification of the Cyl/Head/Sec count, and I've tried reading from sectors all over the disk, from 0 to the end, and it never makes any difference; nothing but immediate IO errors every time. I doubt the jumper settings have anything to do with this, but I've tried it on Master and jumperless, fwiw.

It is strange to think that the electrical and mechanical fundamentals of the drive are sound enough for the drive to spin without making alarming sounds, and with the computer properly detecting it, and yet not a single sector can be read. Where do I go from here? I'd really like to get at least something off this drive without having to resort to professional recovery. If anyone has any idea how I can further diagnose the problem, or can think of anything to try that might possibly cure the IO errors, I'd be tremendously grateful. Of course, I will gladly provide any additional info anyone might want, and could even mic the drive and record it if anyone suspects a problem that can be identified that way, though I will note again that to my untrained ear it sounds fairly normal, though a bit loud.

A huge thank you in advance for any and all efforts to help.

 

[Anaximander]

Did'ja check to make sure the drive's jumpers are configured properly? (Yes I know you did, lol. But their could be a setting here which is being overlooked, as the following link will imply) http://www.wdc.com/en/products/legacy/Legacy.asp?r=3 (Theirs 5 settings concerning your drive, of interest is cable select, single/neutral, and single/standard... But don't shy away from trying the other two, friggin' things can be so finicky, especially with a IDE to USB adapter)

That being said your IDE to USB adapter could be the problem. I've had perfectly working drives not work properly on such devices (Even certain HDD controllers attached to motherboards... CD drives mostly). Do you have access to an older computer with an IDE port? If so, it'd be worth testing it on that computer's older HDD controller.

Have you tried running WD's Data Lifeguard Diagnostic? (I have no idea if the program supports your drive, the DOS version would probably be your best bet) http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?level1=5&lang=en

Oh! and if the drive turns out to be dead (I hope not!), you could always dismantle it and take out it's neodymium magnets... Which are always good fun!

 

[ecksemmess]

Thanks for giving it a shot--I tried all of the other jumper settings just to be extra sure, and it makes no difference I'm afraid. I have considered that it could be the USB adapter, but this adapter has worked flawlessly for other drives of about the same vintage, though of course that doesn't prove anything. Unfortunately, I don't have ready access to a computer I can use to test the drive with a direct IDE hookup. WD's Data Lifeguard diagnostic program for the appropriate era drives is a booter program that's far too primitive to detect anything over USB, so that's out too. Thanks for trying to help though! Hopefully someone will have a clever idea

 

[popatim]

Are you sure the drive is spinning up?

 

[ecksemmess]

Yep, it spins up. I've confirmed that the drive is simply not compatible with USB adapters, and requires a legacy HDD controller to I/O properly. This question can be considered solved now.

 

[tabas]

I have almost exactly the same situation (old hard drive sitting in the closet) and have been looking for a solution. Did you give up when you found that it required a legacy HDD controller to I/O properly? My drive has some old emails that are important to me so I am willing to spend some money to be able to read the drive if I need to invest in hardware/software.... Any other recommendations?

A few more details:
- The original drive was formatted as Windows 95.
- A friend of mine lent me his IDE to USB cable and showed that the drive spins on his laptop. He moved away so I need to buy another cable. Any recommendations on which brand?
- I have an old laptop with Windows 98. Would this be likely to have the legacy HDD controllers built in?


Sorry for my naive questions. I am not too techy.... Thanks...