Data recovery and disk repair questions and discussions related to old-fashioned SATA, SAS, SCSI, IDE, MFM hard drives - any type of storage device that has moving parts
September 30th, 2019, 4:11
Purpose is to recover some data from bit locker encrypted hard drive.
Bought new January 2018 Western Digital RED WD60EFRX WDC 3.5" desktop drive fails to initialize.
Drive spins up, then there is continues clicking sound of actuator for 30-50 seconds and drive stops.
HDD32 destects drive but drive doesn't react to RECAL command and no test is started.
Is there any diagnostic software capable to achieve any more information about failure reason?
Any software to try to recover any data from such disk?
Sometimes it feels l like drive initializes later but Windows is not capable to detect it after boot.
Drive is bit locker encrypted and unlocking key is available.
Also Windows 7 PC to unlock bitlocker automatically is available for this task.
September 30th, 2019, 4:32
My advise would be, do not power on that drive any more.
Locate a recovery lab close to "Faraway", and get a quote.
"continues clicking sound of actuator for 30-50 seconds and drive stops" is typical behavior when heads are bad, with a big risk of destroying data every second the drives is powered.
September 30th, 2019, 16:01
digisupport wrote:My advise would be, do not power on that drive any more.
Locate a recovery lab close to "Faraway", and get a quote.
"continues clicking sound of actuator for 30-50 seconds and drive stops" is typical behavior when heads are bad, with a big risk of destroying data every second the drives is powered.
Agree with every word.
Don’t keep messing with it!
September 30th, 2019, 19:05
Data loss isn't a very big problem, since there exists 90% backup of data.
Just some latest files, which possibly also can be restored from other sources.
But all content wasn't documented and probably on the drive was something no one doesn't know it existed.
I'd try all basic tricks to survive drive just to have a last look onto it's content.
As bitlocker encrypted after this it's going to RMA.
When spinning up actuator clicking noise varies a lot.
Sometimes 15 seconds and sometimes 30 seconds.
Sometimes after this noisier procedure drive rotation stops and sometimes doesn't which then is followed by another 15-30 seconds calibration cycle.
Sometimes drive remains spinning without any extraordinary noise - then is there any tricks how to attempt to mount it to Windows 7?
From PC logs I see that failure also was recovered several times before computer was shut down.
October 4th, 2019, 11:21
Appears on the disk might have on it worth to restore.
If there is no conventional methods to try, is there there any options to bypass disk firmware and access directly platter sides which are still good state?
My guess is that broken head has most likely damaged only one side of a one platter. If disk has 3 platters, then there still might be 5 heads/sides in good condition.
Anyone having experiences, is it possible?
October 4th, 2019, 16:37
Nobody in “faraway” can help you?
Sorry for sarcasm, but smart ass “locations” is very annoying for me, at least.
October 5th, 2019, 5:16
RPT wrote:Appears on the disk might have on it worth to restore.
If there is no conventional methods to try, is there there any options to bypass disk firmware and access directly platter sides which are still good state?
My guess is that broken head has most likely damaged only one side of a one platter. If disk has 3 platters, then there still might be 5 heads/sides in good condition.
Anyone having experiences, is it possible?
Yes it is possible . You need tools and equipment for 10-50k$ and 2-10 years experience and specific knowledge which need to be archived .
October 5th, 2019, 11:03
pcimage wrote:Nobody in “faraway” can help you?
Sorry for sarcasm, but smart ass “locations” is very annoying for me, at least.
Sorry, it I didn't mention separately but my question was "theoretical".
That is something I need to know when communicating with professionals and options there exist or not.
Perhaps it is not possible at reasonable cost.
October 8th, 2019, 14:44
pcimage wrote:Nobody in “faraway” can help you?
Sorry for sarcasm, but smart ass “locations” is very annoying for me, at least.
There wasn't any content in "pcimage" message, which apparently is also one reason GB must leave EU.
Please could also anyone with actual knowledge reply - how common knowledge is bypassing HDD Firmware to access plates directly, when drive refuses to initialize.
2 nd option is that manufacturers firmware can't be altered at reasonable time resources.
I have few offers but I need some background information selecting between options.
When it's difficult to descend into details don't reply.
October 8th, 2019, 16:33
RPT wrote:Please could also anyone with actual knowledge reply - how common knowledge is bypassing HDD Firmware to access plates directly, when drive refuses to initialize.
2 nd option is that manufacturers firmware can't be altered at reasonable time resources.
I have few offers but I need some background information selecting between options.
When it's difficult to descend into details don't reply.
If your drive has bad heads and could not read, it's like a car with with broken engine..... It will not take you from point A-->B anymore
You can't bypass the firmware to get to the data...your data it depending on the firmware to be read.
And yes, with the right tools and knowledge you can get a partial recovery...but as you also have Bitlocker on it a partial recovery will not help you...you will need to get a full clone of the drive.
But as stated here before, repeating power on the drive will kill it, and data will be lost forever
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