I recently acquired an external HDD, a Maxtor 1.5 TB that was on sale in Maplin for £80 or so.

The drive's case is solid plastic with no rubber feet, supposed to stand but not very stable in vertical position. I knocked it down by mistake to its side while trying to attach it to my laptop, and since I did so it buzzes for half a second and then stops. The drive is unusable. The buzz restarts after something like 3 sec, and sounds exactly as in here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txhWqeIudrs

The data in it is not very important, mostly movies, but I'd like to recover them if possible. I could bring this back to Maplin since it's under warranty, but I'd loose the data, and after a month I'd knock it down and loose the data again. I know this very well: This is already a replacement drive I received after it failed the same way after I knocked it down the same way... (Please don't comment, I'm already kicking myself for this).

I decided now to buy a drive that stays where I put it down, and to try to recover the data if I can, even if this means making the drive unusable or to loose some bits here and there. What's the suggested path? From what I read around this forum, this seems to be a stuck spindle, and the recovery methods, in order of risk, seemed to be:

- "Wrap HDD in plastic bag and freeze it" method.
- "Throw HDD like a frisbee without releasing" method.
- Open HDD in an environment that is not too dusty and try to un-seize the spindle with a suitable screw-driver.

Is thee anything else I could do? Would this be something expensive to fix professionally or semi-professionally?

Stuck Spindle is not a DIY'able fix.

Freezer trick will not work.

The drive inside your Maxtor enclosure is a Seagate HDD - these are notorious for spindle failures, especially when dropped.

Opening in a non-cleanroom environment will damage the drive further.

I guarantee that trying to free it with it a screwdriver will result in a complete disaster. The screwdriver will slip out of place and you'll score the platter. The amount of force required to free the spindle simply cannot be applied by a screwdrivers.

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Data Recovery Ireland

Also freeing spindle hardly ever works.

one other thing, expect to pay at least a grand to recover the data.

How can you get it replaced under warranty when you have admitted to damaging it? Not very honest.

I bet another drive will be fixed with 'PM' . Don't know why ....

PM you mean the spray?

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All went well until I plugged the drive in.

Yes,

Spray is the best solution!

u cant try to open the drive and work the platters back and forth to release sticktion , but in 95 percent of the cases it will result in wobbly platters and ur hdd wont be able to init. More than that , is u start a wobly hdd u are runing a chance to scrape it with the heads.

Thanks for all replies so far.

@HDD Spaz: The few movies certainly aren't worth a grand. I learned now my lesson and won't ever store anything in non-raid. About warranty: I haven't been dishonest, depending on how you define the word. I explained the personnel that the drive fell on its side and that it stopped working because of this, but Maxtor kindly replaced it. I fully admit it is my fault.

At the same time, I never had any problems with any HDD in my life, besides of occasional data loss that could always be recovered. The fact that the same drive failed the same way twice within 2 months tells me that it is probably exceedingly delicate. Also, the standing design of the case, with no rubber feet nor a stabilizing socket, is not ideal for such a delicate drive. I wonder how the failure statistics looks like...

@quasimodo: Was the spray thing a joke? I didn't get it...

@CK: Neither freezer nor frisbee tricks did work, indeed. I resealed the bag immediately after I realized this wouldn't work, to avoid formation of condensed water. HDD is now back to room temperature, and I'll try to open it and un-spindle it mechanically, hoping that the non-clean-room environment won't harm too much and praying that I won't have any wobbling platters.

What's now the best way to unspindle? Is there any instrument that can be locked to the rotation axis?

If expensive data recovery is not an option, then you have nothing to lose by trying this:

samsung-portable-500gb-dead-t14351.html#p99445

Good luck.

What did I tell you ?

Just tried that, with no success, so I decide to bite the bullet and open the thing.

I don't know where the heads are supposed to be when they rest, but it seems they are stuck towards the center of the plates. I can see a faint ring around the plates, of the same width as the heads. I tried to rotate the plates from the sides, but they seem to be stuck.

I guess this means that the heads are somehow pushing against the plates, more than they are supposed to. What am I supposed to do? Are there any screws that are used to regulate the distance of the head to the rotating disks?

your wasting your time. should have just replaced it under warranty. They wont do that now.

You have definitely voided the warranty now

I don't think the factory intended finger prints, dust and bits of a mars bar to be inside the drive

On a serious note, the heads ARE supposed to be in that location and you have zero chance of solving this problem without special tools that are out of your budget. Put the drive back together and move on from this experience, don't trust a single copy of your data.

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Data Recovery Ireland

Is there anybody reading this in London or around that have access to a tool to unseize the spindle that would give it a quick run for an appropriate price? All the responsibility in case of unrecoverable data is on my side, obviously. I just need a quick spin... Would be so grateful!

maltese, you're clutching at straws here. You've already opened the drive - likely contaminated the drive - and now want somebody to just attach a tool to it?

It doesn't worth this way - this is a very serious failure on your drive. Data Recovery on a 1.5TB HDD is expensive for a reason - it takes skill, facilities and equipment.

You are dealing with something you don't know about - just leave it or go to a PRO.

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Data Recovery Ireland

I'm not really clutching at straws... As I explained before, the HDD does not contain any personal data or the fruit of my work. For those kind of things, I have backups.

I just believe that there is here a serious gap in the market. Not all data is vital. Nobody will ever pay £500+ to recover a bunch of MP3s or movies or porn downloaded from the net.

I had 2 serious HDD failures within 2 months. The drive costs £80. I am sure that most of the people in my situation would be ready to give up the warranty on a sub £100 item if they'd be able to recover 80% of the data or more, which can probably be done for some kind of HDD failures without the most advanced equipment on the market. Do you see my point?

I've had this happen to my brother's drive once and it locked up on him, I simply powered it up and knocked it over on the other side (the opposite), took 3 tries, and the drive head fixed itself. Copied all stuff off of it, reformat it checked SMART and it showed more reallocated sectors. Retired it soon afterwords. Should never open it up in uncontrolled environment,

... and then the Princess kissed the frog who turned into a handsome Prince. They ran off into the sunset and lived happily ever after.

-- FIN --

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