WD10TMVV. Orphanage in Haiti, owner murdered! Data stolen!

[12centuries]

Okay, so here's the deal. I've been an IT pro since 1990, specializing in both hardware, software and networking. I've recovered data from a fair number of hard drives, but only a few that had physical problems. I have a lot of hands-on knowledge and experience, but when it comes to physical problems, I don't have a fraction of the knowledge that an HDD Guru has. So I'm here for some insight and help, if possible.

I have a friend of a friend who approached me with a faulty WD10TMVV from an external USB Passport drive. The drive is a backup of a backup, and her only copy of company data.

Check this out...

They started a non-profit in Haiti after the earthquake, heading up logistics for the rebuild and starting up an orphanage. He went to the bank and withdrew money to buy food for the orphans and money to continue its construction. On the way back, two bandits surrounded his car, sprayed it with bullets, hitting him. They made off with the cash, his passport, and his laptop (there's the first time they lost their data). He managed to stumble to a hospital, and was airlifted to Miami.

While his wife was in the hospital waiting room, waiting for her husband to get out of yet another surgery to hopefully save his legs, she fell asleep and someone stole HER laptop from off her lap. There goes their backup, along with all of her pictures of her husband.

Her husband succumbed to his injuries and died less than a week after the initial incident. The orphanage hasn't been able to complete construction and a local criminal is now trying to take the property. There is strong evidence that the whole thing was initiated by this guy, to get a hold of the property, kick the kids out and use it for his own purposes. I keep thinking this sounds like it's coming straight out of a Dickens novel!

She is still running the non-profit and attempting to save the orphanage.

Now their last backup, this irritating little WD Passport has stopped responding. At first I thought it was the USB connector, but swapping out a different cable seemed to fix those inconsistencies. The hard drive that spins up, but when it settles down, the drive LED just blinks, two seconds on, two seconds off, with a "USB Device Not Recognized" error. The drive is not spinning at this point. If I unplug and reconnect the drive, it does this every single time, consistently the same each time.

Here is a link to the video showing it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcQQQRatr1o


After all she's been through, I am not charging her a penny, so I'm hoping to get their data back as inexpensively as possible. I have a good friend who is my go-to-guy for soldering PCB's, so that's not an issue if it comes to that.

Any thoughts or help out there?

Thanks

News articles on their plight:

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-737882

http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local ... -hospital/

http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/21006601003385/

Attachments

[pcimage]

If it spins up,and then spins down again, it's not the PCB

Something more serious internally.

[drc]

Good intentions notwithstanding, this is unfortunately not going to be DIY-able.

[BlackST]

Ditto .

[pcimage]

Unfortunately so

[12centuries]

Not what I was hoping to hear, but thanks for the replies.

What would you say the problem might be? In your opinion, could the data be recovered? And if so, what might it cost?

[labtech]

Look closely at the USB pins in the back of the connector that connect to the PCB. Sometimes, the connections are loosened and/or the solder is broken.

This is the easiest thing to check. If that is the problem, then a solder reflow should take care of it. Just make sure you make a copy of the data to a regular drive if you will be able to access it.

Regarding recovery price by an experienced tech, if the problem is internal, it will be over $1000. The price for a donor is over $200. Sometimes, multiple parts are needed, so I think you get the idea.

[jono-ats]

Regarding recovery price by an experienced tech, if the problem is internal, it will be over $1000. The price for a donor is over $200. Sometimes, multiple parts are needed, so I think you get the idea.

Sad story. Unfortunately, sometimes no good deed goes unpunished.

Our flat rate on this is $749. We can do the warranty exchange if it's still covered.

Jon

[labtech]

@12centuries
Jono comes in highly recommended and the price is great. Take advantage while you can.

Best wishes