Hard Drive Failure.

[The Mad Monk]

My secondary hard drive seems to have died.

The electronics appear to be fully responsive (I managed to keep track of the diagnostics disk, and ran it), but it failed a SMART self test and got a fatal error on track 0.

Bah.

Anyone know a good data recovery service?

[Nubclear]

Track 0...isn't that a track that some virus(es, not ii) mess with to make a HD inoperable?

[The Mad Monk]

Yep -- but it can also do it all by its lonesome.

It means there's nothing I can do to recover the data, as it contained the information needed to access the rest of the drive.

[Mr. Harley]

Yes, track 0 is the favorite for many cybervandals. However, you need to check one other thing. Open your case and put your finger on top of the drive spindle, slightly off center on top of the drive, it's usually a circular raised area. Make sure other vibrations aren't tricking you. If you feel no vibration, you hard drive motor is dead. I suspect you wouldn't get the track 0 statement if this was the case, but I've had a hard drive post in the bios, and then be unable to read any date for that reason.

Hard drive recovery is quite expensive, usually starting at around $200 for a smallist drive, and running up to $500 plus. You may want to start a new post, I would suspect a good disk recovery suite could at least let you recover the digital data from your hard drive, you would just need to figure out what each file was (get a binary viewer). Start a new thread on best hard drive recovery hardware, or go to some of the hardware sites and ask on their forums. If you do get a solid lead, post it back here so I'll have it (just in case ).

[Q Classic]

he was asking for a good data recovery service...

[Provost Harrison]

Give it a kick, that will sort it...

[Mr. Harley]

It's really expensive, and he may not need it. From his post, and the fact it's here as opposed to a tech board, I suspect he doesn't know about some other options. If the damage is computer virus oriented, then he may be able to find a program that repairs it. I gave him the info so he can make the decision or maybe, if he's not too unlucky, save himself between $200 and $500. Don't know about you, that's a fair bit of money to me.

Simplified, for those who are incapable of paragraph based narrative directions.

A) he's already determined he has a problem, IDE interface board good.

B) determine it's not motor.

C) Go to tech site, check out data revory programs, and/or post a tech board, find program that can deal with bad sector (0) - which is the boot sector, why it's a problem. There is often a duplicate copy on the hard drive, and that can be accessed by good data recovery software. Plus, each track contains info as to the next track containing data that represents the file, which is the way other disk recovery software functions.

D) if unable (c), determine if have resources, several hundred dollars to pay for data recovery. If not, you're out of look. If have money, is the lost data worth it.

or

A) I've rich enought that $200 to $500 is casual money to me, so I'll just go to a data recovery service first.

The first post was an attempt to give him sufficient data that he could make an informed decision, while assuming since the post was at Apolyton he not a geek. If this was at Sharkey's extreme, I would NEVER have posted that - context - I'm on the low end of technical expertise on Sharkey's boards .

[Urban Ranger]

I don't recommend anybody opening an HDD, unless you write it off for good.

Sometimes freezing an HDD can make it work long enough for you to transfer the data off it. However, you have to be careful about ice forming on the case and electronics, and it's not reliable.

[The Mad Monk]

New development -- the drive letter and main file tree has mysteriously reappeared in explorer, though trying to read anything -- including subdirectories -- still gives a "cannot write, files may have been lost" message. This without restarting the computer.

I thought about overheating, so the I've left the cover off since first checking the cabling four hours ago -- I have a window open, and it's getting pretty cold in here.

[The Mad Monk]

shawn, I am interested in recovery software, if you (or anyone) knows a good title. Thanks.

[Q Classic]

it's been done: seal as much of your hd in a plastic bag as possible, and then stick it in a bucket of ice. then connect it, turn the box on, and transfer everything you can/want asap.

then shut down, disconnect.

also, don't shake your hard disk or hold it upside-down. all the data might come flying out, and you don't want that.

[Provost Harrison]

...especially if it lands in the water...you'll never get it all dry...

[Urban Ranger]

TMM,

There's no commercial software available for data recovery. You can look at DataRescue and people like that, but they do a specialised service, so they are not going to sell you their tools.

[blackice]

Try easyrecovery or any of the other 12 good data recovery softwares out there. We use ontrack's and usually get 98% or more of the data back.

If the hd is really dead you will need to get the right tools to get the job done. The cost is high usually $500 to $1000 dollars CND. down, $250 to $500 per 10 gigs after the first 10. WE do not give your money back if we get no data back. This has to be done in a sealed room or controlled environment.

I can do all that for you but you are in the States.

Email me for the link to the software..

[Mr. Harley]

Urban Ranger, thanks for catching one poorly worded statement in my first post. I assumed (which was stupid of me, I even stated I know this is not a geek forum) everyone knows NEVER open hard drives at home. I meant open the computer case, so you can put you finger on top of the bearing seat that is part of the hard drive enclosure - it's usually a raised circular spot. When I say case, I always mean the computer case. Sorry if that was confusing, I'll specify next time. Black Ice, thanks for sharing the data recovery software tip.