I have a 5K500.B-500 HTS545050B9A302 that was pulled from a Mac mini and used in an enclosure for a while. While in the enclosure, it started having problems. It would power off occasionally while in use. Initially I assumed there was a short in the USB cable or that it wasn't receiving enough power. When this continued to happen after testing other cables (including dual-USB ones that would definitely supply enough power), I decided it was time to move my data to a different drive. Unfortunately the Hitachi drive stopped working before I could move everything. The drive would not spin up, and it sounded like the spindle was stuck. It was not recognized when plugged in. I shook the drive, which unstuck it, but the drive is still not recognized. The heads make a loud clicking noise when it is powered on. They flail for around 5 seconds before stopping. The disk continues to spin after this ends. When booting, with the BIOS set to wait 35 seconds for devices, the heads will click for the entire time.

This is what the Linux kernel log reports:

[ 7530.677256] ata5: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x4050002 action 0xe frozen
[ 7530.677261] ata5: irq_stat 0x00400040, connection status changed
[ 7530.677266] ata5: SError: { RecovComm PHYRdyChg CommWake DevExch }
[ 7530.677273] ata5: hard resetting link
[ 7535.535473] ata5: SATA link up 3.0 Gbps (SStatus 123 SControl 300)
[ 7535.535731] ata5.00: both IDENTIFYs aborted, assuming NODEV
[ 7535.551423] ata5: EH complete

The data isn't important, but I would like to recover it if it's easy or inexpensive. What might be wrong with the drive? How much would professional recovery cost, and how likely is it to be successful? What could I do myself?

Are there any low level tools that could help with diagnostics or enabling the drive to be recognized?

Thanks

Good work, this is how things go from worse to a disaster! This is a textbook example of DIY...
It's now beoynd DIY, if your data is importent seek a pro...don't expect low cost on this one.

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As you now realise this wasnt a good thing to do & not the professional way either. When you shook the drive yes it might of released the stiction but you dont know if the heads were damaged in the process. If a head for example was partially ripped off, hanging loose or slightly bent then when you powered up the drive it would scrape across & damage the platter surface thus losing any data stored there.

Your only option now as DIY is not an option is as mr_spokk said to seek a dr pro.
The price would depend on what is found after a professional internal inspection of the drive in a cleanroom


Loki

I did that with the understanding that it could make it worse. The data on the drive can be replaced. I'm more interested in just finding out what was left on there (I can't replace something if I forget that I had it). I used the technique on an old 40MB drive (no data, but I didn't want to buy another 50-pin SCSI drive) several weeks ago and it fixed the problem.

How would a professional have fixed it (prior to shaking it)? What causes the drive to not be recognized if this is a mechanical problem?

Stiction is where the head(s) get stuck to the platter surface, this in turn has enough stiction to stop the platter(s) rotating when trying to power up.
A professional would do an internal inspection of the drive in a cleanroom environment. They would manually check to see if a head is stuck to the platter. If it is found that this is the fault then they would release the stiction using tools, experience & knowledge that they have & then park the heads. Then they would check that the platter(s) rotate freely. They would most likey replace the head stack for a known good working & compatible donor set. Once this has been completed they would see if the drive becomes initialised it so then they would most likey use a hardware imager to image/clone the drive to a good working drive & then recover the data.
This is why data recovery is not cheap.

There is a lot of expensive specialised equipment, research & development, time & training involved. It is not as simple as take it to your local pc repair person who will try cheap software fixes & then say its not possible.

Loki

I've done some research before when looking for a data recovery company. At this point, I think it's clear that data recovery companies are very expensive. One regular 500GB Ext. Seagate HD needed a platter replacement, so I get in touch with Drive Saver (apparently the biggest data recovery company in the world). Their estimates were from $700 to $2200. I ended up sending the drive since the data was valuable. However, they sent me a quote for $2900 because it'd require more time since a platter replacement is very delicate... of course I requested my drive back.

Then, a guy in CompUSA recommended a company named Datalab in Florida. Their potential cost: $100 evaluation (non-refundable) and $400 to $1200. I sent them my HD (then again, the data was important) and I received a quote for $1080 plus parts ($145). It hurt my wallet, but they recovered my data.

Data recovery is indeed expensive, but worth it if your data is important.

Good luck

and a great website for backing up your files for free. better safe than sorry...
goo.gl/MbZ2o

What's a platter replacement?

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Your post made several years ago is interesting....i hope you now know what it is??

Highly suspicious that the platter was replaced and you got your data back. If the platter was replaced you either got nothing or another customers data. Your post reads like an ad and even follows up with a one poster and failed web link. If this is a "real" post and DataLab said that your drive needed a platter replacement they lied to you.

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Buy your friends Toshiba\Hitachi and your enemies Seagate.

Nope. Enlighten me, please.

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http://www.datasaversllc.com

I suppose they mean platter transplant to a new chassis, but indeed the post is suspicious, to say the least.

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