Topic: External hard drive failure. HELP!

[spyder9]

Well, my Seagate 160gb external HD failed yesterday.  On it was my recording of Dickey Betts from last week.  I was actually working on the show when the drive slowed down to a halt.  Sounds like its stuck, for I can hear it spinning, but get 3 clicks and 1 grovel noise.  Tried the freezer trick with the original enclosure in tact, but XP recognized it for a 2nd, but couldn't make the final connect and failed.  Its back to the 3 clicks/1 grovel.  Should I remove the harddrive from its enclosure and try the freezer trick again?  How would you suggest I remove it for I don't see any screws on the outside of the enclosure to get to it?  Any other suggestions?  Your help would be appreciated.

Below is a picture of the enclosure.  Part number #9W6044-543

[spyder9]

I just checked my Device manager.  XP identifies it as a Seagate ST316002 3A USB drive.  Sadly, the drive still does not spin up enough to where XP shows it as an external drive, so I can not access the my files.  Still hearing the 3 clicks/1 grovel.

[boojum]

I would take it to a pro for possible salvaging.  You make have been snookered.  I hope not.  If you were, it's just another excuse to get out there again with some mics.     

[spyder9]

I'm running Recover My Files v2.27 right now on my SD card and hoping for the best.  I'm gonna bring the HD to a friend's house, who a certified techie and he's gonna try a few tricks on it.  First time in my life that I've had a HD crash on me.  Luckily, all stuff through 5/31/07 were backed up.   

[spyder9]

So you haven't recorded on the SD card yet?  That's great if so.  I'd try photorec if that doesn't work.

Yes, I did record on it.  But recovered pictures where I've reformatted the sd card.  Looks like the R09 does something that doesn't allow retrieval.  Recover My Files and Stellar Phoenix turned up nothing.  I'll try photorec next.

[it-goes-to-eleven]

The thing you really need to do with photorec is turn off all file types other than what you are searching for. Otherwise it will falsely find a lot of junk you don't want.

[spyder9]

Photorec found nothing too.       Next up: buy an identical drive and swap boards.

[spyder9]

I was in a Best Buy last week.  Talked to the folks from The Geek Squad about my bad drive.  They asked me for a shot at it and if they didn't save it, it would only cost me $29.00 for the try.  $99.00 is they get it up and running.  Well they pulled it off.  I picked the drive up on my way out of town on Friday, and just plugged it in.  Bam!!  Everything is there.  To add, they transferred everything to another drive I had too.  +T to the Geek Squad at Best Buy.  No one else in the Cuse gave me half the chance of this drive ever spinning up again.  And I have a lot of friends in the PC/Mac business. 

[JD]

Glad to hear you got your data back. Did they say what they did to get the drive going again?

+T

[spyder9]

Glad to hear you got your data back. Did they say what they did to get the drive going again?

+T

Backatcha!!    

They did not.  The techie who worked on it was off on Friday.  I'm gonna go in this week and see what he says.   

[boojum]

I was in a Best Buy last week.  Talked to the folks from The Geek Squad about my bad drive.  They asked me for a shot at it and if they didn't save it, it would only cost me $29.00 for the try.  $99.00 is they get it up and running.  Well they pulled it off.  I picked the drive up on my way out of town on Friday, and just plugged it in.  Bam!!  Everything is there.  To add, they transferred everything to another drive I had too.  +T to the Geek Squad at Best Buy.  No one else in the Cuse gave me half the chance of this drive ever spinning up again.  And I have a lot of friends in the PC/Mac business. 

Way cool!  I guess the Geek Squad in your area knows its stuff.  Out here we do not even have a Best Buy.  We just got electricity last year.  LOL