WD5000AAKS woes...
July 18th, 2011, 5:06
Hello friends, and well met!
I found your forum while searching for a solution to a problem I have with my hard drive. Specifically, a seriously ill WD5000AAKS-22YGA0...
The drive in question used to be the system drive in my Ubuntu Linux file server at home. A few days ago, after a system restart, my box failed to boot with the message "Loading GRUB....Read Error", or "Error 18". What was even worse, is that the drive had erratic behavior; sometimes it showed up in BIOS, sometimes not.
So, I downloaded MHDD and fired it up from a boot CD to see what's going on. I selected the drive, started a surface scan, and after a couple of sector reads, the scan froze. After I canceled it, MHDD reported "drive not ready"; it was stuck in the "busy" state. I had to power cycle it for MHDD to see it again. All subsequent attempts had a similar conclusion; sometimes I had to power-cycle, sometimes not; sometimes it froze after 2 sectors, sometimes after 20. All this time though, I never heard the dreaded clicking noises, and I could hear the platters spinning, as well as the heads going to the park position when I shut down the drive.
I should add that this all happened a couple of days ago, in the middle of a mini heat wave here in Athens, with an ambient temperature of ~30-35C, in a non-airconditioned room, on a box running 24/7. SMART reported a drive temp. of 57C. But even after the drive had cooled down (the following morning), the behavior remained the same.
So! Any ideas? I'm all ears. Can I salvage anything from this drive, or will I have to spend the better part of my weekend to set up my system again from scratch?
On a sidenote, if the drive turns out to be a write-off, would an SSD be a better idea for a system drive? Does the lack of moving parts make it noticeably more resilient to higher temperatures?
TYIA
I found your forum while searching for a solution to a problem I have with my hard drive. Specifically, a seriously ill WD5000AAKS-22YGA0...
The drive in question used to be the system drive in my Ubuntu Linux file server at home. A few days ago, after a system restart, my box failed to boot with the message "Loading GRUB....Read Error", or "Error 18". What was even worse, is that the drive had erratic behavior; sometimes it showed up in BIOS, sometimes not.
So, I downloaded MHDD and fired it up from a boot CD to see what's going on. I selected the drive, started a surface scan, and after a couple of sector reads, the scan froze. After I canceled it, MHDD reported "drive not ready"; it was stuck in the "busy" state. I had to power cycle it for MHDD to see it again. All subsequent attempts had a similar conclusion; sometimes I had to power-cycle, sometimes not; sometimes it froze after 2 sectors, sometimes after 20. All this time though, I never heard the dreaded clicking noises, and I could hear the platters spinning, as well as the heads going to the park position when I shut down the drive.
I should add that this all happened a couple of days ago, in the middle of a mini heat wave here in Athens, with an ambient temperature of ~30-35C, in a non-airconditioned room, on a box running 24/7. SMART reported a drive temp. of 57C. But even after the drive had cooled down (the following morning), the behavior remained the same.
So! Any ideas? I'm all ears. Can I salvage anything from this drive, or will I have to spend the better part of my weekend to set up my system again from scratch?
On a sidenote, if the drive turns out to be a write-off, would an SSD be a better idea for a system drive? Does the lack of moving parts make it noticeably more resilient to higher temperatures?
TYIA
Re: WD5000AAKS woes...
July 18th, 2011, 6:41
Highly likely you a have a PCB issue.
Get a new compatible PCB and reprogram it with the ROM adaptives from the old board.
How, search keywords on the forum for ROM and learn more by reading. You may also have to post a picture of your PCB, so people can identify the ROM for you.
If all of this sounds too challenging due to lack of experience and data is important, then send it to a pro.
SSD drives are good, but they fail, too.
Get a new compatible PCB and reprogram it with the ROM adaptives from the old board.
How, search keywords on the forum for ROM and learn more by reading. You may also have to post a picture of your PCB, so people can identify the ROM for you.
If all of this sounds too challenging due to lack of experience and data is important, then send it to a pro.
SSD drives are good, but they fail, too.
Re: WD5000AAKS woes...
July 18th, 2011, 8:36
This drive doesn't have an external ROM. You will need expensive equipment in order to reprogram a donor board.
It is very common for these drives to have PCB issues, but not uncommon for them to have head issues too. If the data is important to you, I suggest you get it assessed by a pro before the cost of the recovery shoots up from botched DIY attempts.
It is very common for these drives to have PCB issues, but not uncommon for them to have head issues too. If the data is important to you, I suggest you get it assessed by a pro before the cost of the recovery shoots up from botched DIY attempts.
Re: WD5000AAKS woes...
July 18th, 2011, 9:56
Thank you both for your help. I am still undecided as to whether it is worth the trouble and cost of taking the drive to a data recovery professional, since it's just a boot -and backup- drive.
What I should do, though, is ensure that the disks get adequate airflow next time. When I took out the disk, it was so hot I could barely touch it! Apparently, the "poor man's server" solutions don't always work flawlessly.
What I should do, though, is ensure that the disks get adequate airflow next time. When I took out the disk, it was so hot I could barely touch it! Apparently, the "poor man's server" solutions don't always work flawlessly.
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