Well last week I accidentally dropped a Seagate Barracuda 3.5" 7200.10 500GB hard drive while it was on (it wasnt transferring data or anything, it was just plugged into the desktop pc). It was in a Maxtor external case and the hard drive was only purchased a month ago. It dropped about 2.5-3 feet onto a hard surface and when I tried to plug it in it wouldnt show up in BIOS. It WASNT making a clicking noise from what I know but I know that this is going to be a costly mistake.

I have taken it to Kroll On track data recovery today because the data is VERY important, 5 years worth of recording data. From what I've told you, whats the chances of platter damage from the fall, and what is the chances of data recovery from this because I have been pulling my hair out over this for days, and like I said, I have taken it to from what I've heard, one of the best data recovery people in the business. ANY help would be greatly appreciated.

Hard drive barely makes a sound when I turn it on. The drive was plugged in but the drive completely idle at the time. It was in an external case at the time. The data recovery company told me that even if a portion of the platter was damaged they can read around the bad sectors. I send it to them today so I think all I can do is pray

I had a client do the same thing about a month ago. Sized the spindle motor inside his drive. I opted to send it to someone else to recover the data off the drive due to small microscopic scratches on the two platters of the drive. It can be done but the drive needs to be transplanted into a new drive case and the cloning process will take forever. You can only clone small amounts of data at a time in this case. It is being cloned right now and after 3 weeks it is almost finished. If you don't have luck with your repair shop let me know and I will put you in touch with someone that can do the job for you. He is very good and understands these things. I did not do the work here because I do not have all the material that he does. I am very small and live on an island he has the necessary equipment needed to recover a drive such as this. Yes if your repair shop is good they should be able to do this. It is going to take some time to clone a drive like this. You made a good decision to take it in for repair and not try and open the drive to add more damage to the drive in this case. I am not saying I do not have good material but for a damage such as thing you need more than what I have available to me here at this time.

_________________
Iorana Haraharaini

the ball bearing died due the drop, It can be done.
If You Dalmatian were in Dalmacia it would be much cheaper, like this...it will cost u ~2000 units...
BTW they read this forum 2

_________________
HddSurgery - Professional Data Recovery Tools

Could very well be actually, there is this tingly rattling sound when you shake it hard. It isnt a loud rattle, a minute one so I hope (and pray) that your right.

I doubt it is the heads because I would have heard a clicking sound when I tried to use it after the drop.

Yes that is right but, if You change motor You need to change heads and then motor, then heads back again...
more complicated then just heads

_________________
HddSurgery - Professional Data Recovery Tools

These hard drives companies should put shock absorbers on them--i think this problem with dropped hard drives or external hard drives is the archile's heel for data recovery companies. If the motor is not ceased, the edge of the platters is damaged. Head exchange a lot of times does not fix the problem--removing platters with spacers is daunting task--
Hope in your case it is not that complicated--

_________________
The last word from the dying patient, data.
www.datamediarecovery.com

If there is no or moderate media damage, this case is relatively easy instead, regardless of spacers and motor...

Why would they do that? I don't see shock absorbers on Eggs in the supermarket. Why should HDD manufacturers do that for hard drives? Hard drives are not designed to be bounced around. Maybe people should be more careful. I'm sure all hard drive manufacturers warn against shock damage. This should be sufficient.

Also not on men briefs / jockstraps...

Dalmation, what ended up happening, did you recover your data? I did the exact same thing to my drive. Not spinning, just getting very low volume electronic noise that appears to come from inside the drive. I switched out the board from an identical drive, but no dice. I'm afraid I might ruin the drive if I try to open it and diagnose, but I'm just about on my last leg now.

This is a case, when you can't do any good.
If you open the drive, the chance will falls to 50%, and the price will raise to 200%.

Read this, if you want to read:
results-the-yourself-solutions-t11912.html

Janos