First of, this is the drive in question :

Hitachi Deskstar 1TB
Model : HDT721010SLA360
P/N : 0A38016
S/N : MH1493JB
MLC : BA3013
JAN-2009

I have had this hdd disappear from my computer before, but usually after reboot it`s back and working fine. Now however it is gone. It is not recognized in bios when connected internally in my computer. So I took it out and connected it via USB using an adapter. Now my computer recognize it in Disk Management and tells me it needs to be initialized. When I try this I always get an error saying "device not ready".

The disk spins up just fine, no odd sounds or clicking, on the PCB I see no damage and there`s no smell of burnt electronics.

So I opened the cover to see what happens inside when it spins up, everything looks normal, no scratch or anything on the plates. But the arm never moves, it never even try`s to move. I tried pushing the arm over the spinning disk, while connected with my computer. No scary sounds, I could move it back and fourth.

So, does any of you Guru`s get a tingling sensation of what the frikk is going on with ma disk?

Is it PCB? Some internal part?

Hope it`s not gone for good, I need my over 3000 pic back.

Thanks

Well now that you have opened up the drive and actually touched the actuator arm while the disk was spinning etc your chances of recovery have went down from somewhat possible to most likely impossible. What were you thinking when you did this ? I would send it off to a DR vendor for analysis to see what their tools tell them about the condition of your drive. Don't hold out a lot of hope. This is not a DIY job.

What was a relatively possible and routinely recovery turned into a challenge and the quote (if any would still try to put hands on) will be multiplied by at least 2 or 3x if not more....

This is the problem of too much Youtube and CSI

I realize that one should be in lab conditions to make a move like that, but my daemon told me that the arm had just jammed in some way.
The conditions mentioned above still stands, drive was not further jeopardized.

Still in disk management, my win 7 system tells me to initialize the disk, and the same error "device not ready"
It spins up beautifully, it sounds like a new disk.

I got a hold of a guy in China who had the exact PCB for my model, its on its way and I`m hoping that will bring my disk back to life (I realize my old bios chip has to be soldered to the new one) It was cheep, $12.

Or am I going the wrong way?

Very much YES.

_________________
www.datarecoveryne.com

Since you are a harddrivespecialist, what would you have me do? Or what would you have done?

Well, you need to understand that first of all, you should understand how hard drive work, and their basic components, or else you might be trying fixing something that is not related to the problem.

It's just the same as me having a car issue, and without any experience disassemble my car and start to change parts.
What would you say to me if you were a mechanic?

At the moment, only suggestion is to take it to a pro, but I guess you expected such an answer already.

_________________
www.datarecoveryne.com

If I were a mechanic, and if you had white smoke coming out of your exhaust pipe, I would tell you that most likely your top sealing was leaking and water was entering the combustion chamber, resulting in white smoke..

That`s the thing, I would like someone to just tell me if they have heard of such a problem before, and then give me they`re opinion of the most likely cause..

As you said "most likely", so the mechanic in the end will have to check what's wrong indeed.

So, in your case, could well be the preamplifier that is damaged and that can cause heads not to move. Can be a Firmware issue also, but that can only be checked by accessing Firmware.
Or could even be a damaged PCB.
The options are too many so that we could explore in details without checking it.

Taking my drive a pro, is last option for me. In my country, Norway, I would be paying $1700 to $1900 to get my data back. That`s steep..

If none of you mind, I`m gonna try the PCB thing

Or wait, does someone know of any other pro`s that could do this a whole lot cheaper? Never mind crossing some borders, I`ll send this sucker to Kairo if needed.

Nobody will do it cheaper especially after reading this forum or seeing / realizing what you did. Wrap the drive in a safe envelope and spare money till you can afford pro service. Good luck.

P.s. - sorry for consecutive posts - the drive has been opened in non safe environment so must in any case be decontaminated first, then when touching the head arm, it is probable that media damage (micro or macro) has happened, and on Hitachi this is not fun. Final note - beware in this case of 'no data no fee' unless you are 1000000percent sure of who does the job/analysis

If you have opened the drive then no reputable labs will look at the hard drive for free. If your willing to send the hard drive out of Norway you should be able to get it recovered for a lot less than you think.