Old HDD failed (mechanical) -- repair/specialist recs?

[Hobie-wan]

Sorry but this is kind of lol to me, 12 year old 8gb hdd, o man....

If someone isn't playing games or watching movies, an old PC might be just fine for the needed use. If it is being used to to write papers, it would be perfectly adequate as long as it is working. Unfortunately age based failure crept in.

If grandma mostly goes to the grocery store and church every week then her 1982 Chevette does the job as long as it is in working order. She doesn't need a V8 Suburban with a trailer hitch on it.

[Valkyrie-Favor]

If the drive itself is still functional, there are some cool USB adapters that will let you use any IDE/SATA/laptop SATA hard drive as a USB mass storage device. I got one for $6. Occasionally people have me recover pictures or something off their old hard drives. If the PCB is shot, it's not going to work on an adapter or in a PC. You'll have to do the hardware repair then.

Good luck!

[CRTGAMER]

Sorry but this is kind of lol to me, 12 year old 8gb hdd, o man....

If someone isn't playing games or watching movies, an old PC might be just fine for the needed use. If it is being used to to write papers, it would be perfectly adequate as long as it is working. Unfortunately age based failure crept in.

If grandma mostly goes to the grocery store and church every week then her 1982 Chevette does the job as long as it is in working order. She doesn't need a V8 Suburban with a trailer hitch on it.

Agree, a computer does not need replaced every few years. Wait a minute, I'm still using an iMac 500hz CRT computer. Maybe I can blame my bad posts on it.

[pakopako]

I doubt the Hard Drive PCB is bad, the mechanical side of a drive will usually fail first... Really, try (using the drive as a slave)

If you can't pull a directory from the old drive as a slave D drive, at this stage install Recovery software on the NEW C drive. A last resort, then attempt a repair or extraction from the old bad drive in the D slot.

I did try that. I don't have a USB enclosure, but I did set the dead one as a slave at the end of the cable, but as long as the drive was banging, the system wouldn't read either drive on the IDE cable. I suppose I could try again with the working drive on IDE1 and the broken drive on IDE2.

Sorry but this is kind of lol to me, 12 year old 8gb hdd, o man....

If grandma mostly goes to the grocery store and church every week then her 1982 Chevette does the job as long as it is in working order. She doesn't need a V8 Suburban with a trailer hitch on it.

Understandable. If I wasn't the one dealing with this, I'd be instead of
I feel I would be more productive if I was repairing a typewriter.

(And of course, I come back New Year's Day - less than 24 hours later - to find him grandstanding that he found a great deal, on New Year's Eve no less, for a machine that's twice the budget he initially told me about from an unknown dealer at the end of a narrow road. And the best part is that, despite being a brick and mortar store, the machine isn't even in his hands yet. Just... why?! )

[pakopako]

I doubt the Hard Drive PCB is bad, the mechanical side of a drive will usually fail first... Really, try (using the drive as a slave)

I did try that. I don't have a USB enclosure, but I did set the dead one as a slave at the end of the cable, but as long as the drive was banging, the system wouldn't read either drive on the IDE cable. I suppose I could try again with the working drive on IDE1 and the broken drive on IDE2.

Well, that did it.

Thanks CRT. Any way to close this thread or should I just let it sink into the abyss?

[CRTGAMER]

I doubt the Hard Drive PCB is bad, the mechanical side of a drive will usually fail first... Really, try (using the drive as a slave)

I did try that. I don't have a USB enclosure, but I did set the dead one as a slave at the end of the cable, but as long as the drive was banging, the system wouldn't read either drive on the IDE cable. I suppose I could try again with the working drive on IDE1 and the broken drive on IDE2.

Well, that did it.

Thanks CRT. Any way to close this thread or should I just let it sink into the abyss?

Not clear, congrats if it worked out. Can you post the steps you took, did you get back all the personal data on the new drive? Be sure to burn a CDR of the personal data and verify by opening up the files off the disc.

[alexis524]

not clear either,

but i had an old 20GB IDE with same noises going on. Swapped identical PCB's with no luck, ended up putting said HDD in a zip lock and tossing it in the freezer
overnight. In the morning, i hooked it up, PC recognized it, no noises. I was able to copy all the data off before it went for good that morning. i had about 10-15 mins tops.
You could try that if you're still looking for help, but icksnay on the PCB swap.

[fastbilly1]

but i had an old 20GB IDE with same noises going on. Swapped identical PCB's with no luck, ended up putting said HDD in a zip lock and tossing it in the freezer
overnight. In the morning, i hooked it up, PC recognized it, no noises. I was able to copy all the data off before it went for good that morning. i had about 10-15 mins tops.
You could try that if you're still looking for help, but icksnay on the PCB swap.

Ding ding ding, the first thing you should do with a clacking drive with important data is unplug it. If it is making the click of death, freeze it, and then try attaching it via an external setup. Grab what you can, and start praying that itll stay alive long enough to copy it off. Barring that, Drive Savers is a good company, but expensive.

[avrame]

but i had an old 20GB IDE with same noises going on. Swapped identical PCB's with no luck, ended up putting said HDD in a zip lock and tossing it in the freezer
overnight. In the morning, i hooked it up, PC recognized it, no noises. I was able to copy all the data off before it went for good that morning. i had about 10-15 mins tops.
You could try that if you're still looking for help, but icksnay on the PCB swap.

Ding ding ding, the first thing you should do with a clacking drive with important data is unplug it. If it is making the click of death, freeze it, and then try attaching it via an external setup. Grab what you can, and start praying that itll stay alive long enough to copy it off. Barring that, Drive Savers is a good company, but expensive.

Good thread, I was about to suggest this myself, worked for my dying drive. Thought is that freezing the drive will cause the disks and arm head to realign due to the opposite of thermal expansion (thermal compression?). Any who, be sure to remove as much or all air from the ziploc before freezing it, don't want any condensation on that drive.

[Ziggy]

Oh wow. I remember one of my A+ teachers telling us about freezing drives. I completely forgot about that until now.