Problem with my WD15EARS - please help

[gsiozos]

Hi all

I have a problem with my drive and desperately need your help.

Its is a WD15EARS-00MVWB0, 1.5TB Western Digital Green.

It was working fine for about a year but after a restart the drive would not show on BIOS and it is doing some strange noises like bzzz bzzzz.

I opened the disk to look whats wrong. After that I read it was a stupid thing to do. I didn't do anything anyway, it looked too complicated for me, but I think I touched the disk when I was closing the top cover.

Is there any way to recover the data now or all my photos are gone?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Touchclarity]

If you are serious about your data, then leave the drive alone and contact forum user Northwind.

Highly recommended and in your location..

[pcimage]

+1 Northwind

[jono-ats]

+2 Northwind

[northwind]

Wow, thanks all

Client has contacted us and will bring the drive tomorrow.

I will let you know how it looks.

[hhddrec]

This case probably hard, because finger prints on platters is a dificult way, maybe dust inside too.

Hi northwind, report us about case

Thanks

[northwind]

Well, it is stiction.

There are fingerprints and smudges on top surface and also pcb is not original. Client said he swapped pcb because he read somewhere online that a pcb swap would fix his problem.
He also trashed the original pcb.

Will quote client and as soon as they accept, I will report back with the outcome.

Thanks all.

[ShaneWard]

That client sure made things hard for you.... God only knows what the recover price will be, especially if the ROM chip was not changed, from what I understand it might not have been, also, was the drive an external with a bridge board, won't the drive be encrypted too... Gosh....

[northwind]

Client accepted, fixed stiction, cleaned top platter, restored ROM, drive now imaging. Should finish by Monday at this speed. Luckily heads are ok.

[Vulcan]

That's great news, well done

Let's keep our fingers crossed that the heads keep working until Monday!

[northwind]

That client sure made things hard for you.... God only knows what the recover price will be, especially if the ROM chip was not changed, from what I understand it might not have been, also, was the drive an external with a bridge board, won't the drive be encrypted too... Gosh....

Drive came in with pcb 701640 which is from a Dragfly2 not a SadleG6. Client admitted they used a pcb from a 1TB drive, thinking that since both drives were WD Green they should be the same.

Yes, data is encrypted since this drive used to be an external MyBook drive.

Once imaging is finished we will decrypt it and hand over to client a new drive with his data.

[northwind]

That's great news, well done

Let's keep our fingers crossed that the heads keep working until Monday!

Cheers

Yes we will have to babysit it till Monday, so in case of head failure things won't get worse. But it's going faster now, already 100m LBA has been imaged.
Apparently this drive has ~1.3TB of data inside

[HaQue]

That's pretty impressive work, well done!
This is a real showcase for the "Take your drive to a pro", glad you were able to share it here.

[Touchclarity]

Well done Northwind!!.... Keeping them crossed for you over the weekend ....

It all goes to show, with the right approach, the right tools, and most of all the experience to match.....the seemingly impossible CAN be achieved...

[gsiozos]

Hi all

Here to confirm drive is in good hands, as I was informed there were many problems with my drive, I think I did all that

But as Dimitris told me, data is now recovering.
So I am happy.

The cost was a little too much for me, but then my data is more of value than money. I have asked them and they said they are ok if I publish the cost on this forum, I have to pay 500 euros for the data.

I didn't know recovery is so expensive, but as i said my data is worth 100x times that money.

thank you all for the replies I will post back when I get the data in my hands.

[mr_spokk]

I have to pay 500 euros for the data,I didn't know recovery is so expensive, but as i said my data is worth 100x times that money.

I would say that 500€ is a pretty fair price, maby even on the lower edge.

[northwind]

but as i said my data is worth 100x times that money.

God, we're cheap.

[northwind]

I have to pay 500 euros for the data,I didn't know recovery is so expensive, but as i said my data is worth 100x times that money.

I would say that 500€ is a pretty fair price, maby even on the lower edge.

This is the price INCLUDING taxes, so our net profit is around 1/2 of that (23%VAT + 26%taxes).

I explained to client that in the sad event the heads die during the process, the price will be different in case he wishes to proceed with the recovery.

[gsiozos]

Wow, all data (or almost all) recovered.
Just returned home with a new drive in my hands and my data inside.

Thanks all!!! Case closed.
Good job Dimitris.

[northwind]

Glad it all went well for you, even though you commited most of the DIY crimes.

Now, backup the drive we gave you.