recover hard drive data with missing sector 0?

[mrose]

Hi,
I'm trying to get data off of a 500GB Seagate hd which appears to be missing sector 0 (according to SpinRite). It will not initialize put into another windows machine and Linux live cd's don't even see it.
Spinrite won't scan cause of missing sector 0.

Please help!

thanks

[CK]

It sounds like the drive cannot access any sector, not just 0.

Which exact model is your Seagate?

It may be suffering a Service Area failure.

Spinrite is a really really bad idea on any drive - best to scrap that from your toolbox.

[mrose]

It is a Momentus 7200.4 500GB ard drive. ST9500420AS

[poehere]

You are lucky that Spinrite did not scan this disk. CK is right sounds like no sectors can be scanned not just sector 0. In this case there is no DIY if your data is important you will need to get some help on this one.

BTW stay away from Spinrite it is a drive killer not a DR tools anyone would use in recovering HDD here on this forum. You can read about it here and see what Spinrite has done to some disks after running on them.

[mrose]

thanks...

Any recommendations on where to send it? But nothing that can be done myself?

dang...

[CK]

Send a PM to "quasimodo" - he's a respected member of this forum and located in Florida. I'm sure he'll be able to help.