200 Ways To Recover Revive Your Hard-Drive.pdf

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200 ways to revive a hard drive

This is a situation that every tech support person has faced or will face at least once: a failed

hard drive .

In this particular case, a user was getting errors like "disk 0 error" and "invalid drive specification."

Here were the other facts in the case:

• The data wasn't backed up.

• The problem came out of nowhere.

• The user had accessed Setup and tried to manually enter the settings for the drive type when

"Auto" didn't work.

• There was no startup disk made by this machine.

Reviving a drive like that one—even if only long enough to copy its data before you throw the

drive in the garbage—is a tough challenge.

When this document was first compiled back in 2001 data recovery was (and still is

for many) a very expensive option.

While the Freeze it, Hit it, and Drop it options are still experimented with by some, the current

size and sensitivity of the newer larger hard drives makes these options extremely risky

and definitely NOT recommended for hard drives with a capacity that’s greater than 1

gig. And even then some of the operation suggested here should be approached with caution.

Getting it wrong by trying to save some money will only end up costing you more if you then

decide to pass on your hard drive to a data recovery company...

If your hard drive does work and you are attempting to recover a FAT or NTFS file

system, then this FREE step by step guide could help you get back your lost files.

http://www.hddrecovery.com.au/Data_Recovery_How_to_guide_for_FAT_and_NTFS.htm

Free software for data recovery, password recovery, Zip file repairs,

disk imaging and more at

http://www.hddrecovery.com.au/free_software_links.htm

Of course, as the legal blurb at the end of the document declares, we can't promise that any of

These tools or tips will work. But we thought you'd enjoy reading what your fellow IT Professionals

use and had to say on this subject. Enjoy!

Come and visit at http://www.hddrecovery.biz

How to revive a hard drive

Tim for an update………..........................................................2

Freeze it....................................................................................3

Drop it ......................................................................................10

Hit it.......................................................................................... 11

The rest of the solutions ........................................................15

Time for an update

When this document was first produced back in 2001 data recovery was (and still is for many)

a very expensive option. While the Freeze it, Hit it, and Drop it options are still employed by

some, the current size and sensitivity of the newer larger hard drives makes these options

extremely risky and definitely NOT recommended for hard drives with a capacity that’s greater

than 1 gig. And even then some of the operation suggested here should be approached with

caution. Getting it wrong by trying to save some money will only end up costing you more if

you then decide to pass on your hard drive to a data recovery company...

There are, broadly speaking three classes of data recovery, Logical, Electronic, and Physical.

• Logical

Where the FAT, NTFS or other file structure has been corrupted either by accident

or on purpose or individual filed or folders have gone missing. The hard drive has

not suffered damage to the components of the hard drive itself.

• Electronic

Component failure on the PCB (the circuit board on the bottom of the hard drive)

in the motor or internally.

• Physical

Internal damage to the hard drive, damaged platters, head crashes, damage to

the motor, or head rack signal amplifier. You need a clean room and plenty of

experience to have any chance of a successful outcome here.

Logical recoveries are becoming an affordable option for those people who are familiar with the

risks involved with data recovery. Software tools that are now available for this task vary

greatly in their capability, complexity and cost.

Careful research should be done before any work is done on the damaged hard drive. If you

are able, get another hard drive and experiment. Format it, Fdisk it, delete files and partitions

and learn how the data recovery software operates under these various conditions.

Before to start work on your own or your clients hard drive back it up, the backup mantra is

one that you all should be familiar with by now! There are tools available to backup (or image)

a hard drive that has been fdisked!! Use them. Ghost software is not suitable for this task,

then perform your recovery attempts on the image not the original.

Come and visit at http://www.hddrecovery.biz

Some electronic data recoveries are also within the capability of many technically minded

people who spend much of their time working around computers. Remember your static strap

when removing PCB boards.

A repair of this nature can be as simple as swapping the PCB board. With a board from a

matching working hard drive. Data recovery companies keep an inventory of many 1000’s of

hard drives for events such as this.

If a PCB swap does not work then the most common problem is that the match was not close

enough. In any production run of a particular model of hard drive there could be as many as

several dozen changes in firmware upgrades, components on the board, etc.

To have the best possible chance all of the code numbers and letters on the top plate of your

drive and its parts donor should be the same. If you have no success then find a reliable data

recovery firm near you as you has done as much as you can.

www.techrepublic.com

Freeze it

From: Travis Standen

One trick I have learned as a technician, when the problem is data-read errors off the platters

themselves, is to freeze the hard drive overnight. It makes the data more 'readable,' but for a

one-shot deal. If this data is critical, and you have a replacement hard drive (which, if it's a

drive failure, you probably do), then you can hook up your frozen hard drive and immediately

fetch the data off before it warms up.

From: Thedeedj

If the problem is heat related, I put the drive in the freezer for about 15 minutes to cool it

down... sometimes this gets the drive up long enough to copy any critical files...

From: Itguy1

Put the drive in a waterproof sealed bag, put it in the fridge for an hour or so, then have

another go.

From: Kelly Reid

Well, I won't start playing with your specific situation, too many steps or possible solutions

where everything starts "If that last thing didn't work try..."

But I'll give you one for free that was a nice hero moment for me. Had a drive where it

sounded like the drive motor was engaging but not getting anywhere, so we stuck it in the

office freezer for an hour! I'll be darned if it didn't work. The drive was up long enough to get

the data ghosted to another drive and we turfed it, even though it sounded fine at that point. I

can't really take credit for it though—I had heard it in some geek bull session but I thought it

was some jedi-geek urban myth. Goes to show you that you know you're really screwed when

you say something to the effect of "Okay, hold on tight, I'm gonna try something I saw in a

cartoon once but I'm pretty sure I can do it"

Come and visit at http://www.hddrecovery.biz

From: mpicpu

If this drive isn't spinning up, putting it in the freezer for about an hour will usually get the

drive spinning again so you can copy needed files before the drive warms up again. The first

thing you want to do is run a disk utility like Norton disk doctor or wddiag (if it's a western

digital drive) to verify whether the drive is working mechanically or not. If it is a master boot

record problem, sometimes running Fdisk/mbr will correct the problem. It could also be a

virus, and a program like F-prot will look at the drive as a physical unit. As an A+ PC

technician I have seen this problem many times. Usually if the drive is not making a clicking

sound I am successful in recovering the data.

From: Scott Greving

I've run into this scenario numerous times. One time it involved the main Novell SYS volume

on our HP File Server. I was really sweating as the server would not boot. I took the drive out

and put it in a freezer for 30 minutes. I then reinstalled it into the file server and Presto! I was

up and running. Needless to say I quickly mirrored the drive onto another and got rid of the

bad drive. In stand alone client systems, the method I've had the most luck with reviving

drives from death has been removing the drive, firmly tapping the top of its case several

times, and then re-installing it making sure all cables are secure. I've had a better than 60

percent success rate with this method.

From: jphillips

If the drive is spinning and you are experiencing these kinds of errors, my experience has been

that you are out of luck.

If the drive is not spinning, I have been able to remove it from the computer and 'spin' the

drive on a flat smooth surface (much like spin the bottle). This will usually free the drive and

when placed back in the machine, it will boot. You should immediately back up you data after a

successful boot, because the problem will return. The next 'fix' was actually given to me by a

Compaq technician several years ago. I had a drive that would not spin and he told me to put

the drive in a plastic bag in the freezer overnight and then install back in the computer. Believe

it or not, the drive booted. I have only tried this the one time.

From: John Turcotte

In the past, when a drive has failed after it has been running for a short period, I have

removed it from the machine and placed it in a freezer for a couple of hours, then hooked it up

again. It sometimes will run long enough to remove the data to another safe storage medium.

From: David Furlow

One of the methods I have used before (sometimes even successfully) is to actually remove

the drive from the PC, place it in the freezer for a day, then quickly put it back in the machine

and try to access it. Why does this work? Who knows, but I heard about this tactic years ago,

and it has saved my behind on a couple of occasions. (Of course, if it comes back up, back up

the data immediately.... Guess that should go without saying.)

Come and visit at http://www.hddrecovery.biz

From: Keri D.

Hard drive revival:

A technique I have learned is if you bring the temperature of the hard drive down to the

freezing point by putting it in a freezer first and then taking it back out, somehow the

condensation from bringing it back to room temperature helps revive it for about 20 minutes.

It can be repeated about 5-6 times tops. Long enough to get out any important files that need

to be backed up. It has been proven to work a number of times.

From: Christopher Post

How do you bring a hard drive back to life?

My situation:

Half of a volume set goes south on a WinNT server, no good backup and an angry boss

screaming about the data being mission critical.

My solution:

** A bit unorthodox but, it has saved my butt! **

• Turn off the server.

• Take out the failing hard drive and wrap a static bag around it.

• Throw it in the freezer conveniently located in the break room.

• Pray for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

• Leaving the hard drive in the bag, quickly plug the drive back into the server. (Just plug the

in cables and go.)

• Cross fingers, turn it on, and move all data off the drive as fast as you can! Then add a tape

drive and start backing the dumb thing up!

My so-called logic:

Metal contracts when it is cold.... so the platters shrink and increase the clearance for the

read/write heads.

From: Chris Poole

Put the drive in the freezer for about a week and then you can usually get one last read off the

drive.

From: Cheyenne Robert Alspach

Here are some drive recovery tricks that have worked for me, in the order that I do them. Try

booting the drive and copying the data off after every step.

1. Hold the drive upside down, making gravity change the head geometry ever so slightly.

Vertical is also another option.

2. Slightly rap the drive with your knuckle, (but nowhere near hard enough to damage the

drive).

3. Try the drive in another machine, (slight drive voltage change assumed to be the miracle

worker here).

4. Rap the drive just SLIGHTLY harder than you did above in 2.

5. Freeze the hard drive in the freezer for two hours, and place in a plastic zip lock bag to

prevent condensation from forming on the drive when you plug it back into the system, (head

Come and visit at http://www.hddrecovery.biz

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