Hi,
This is my situation. I have a WD 160 gig SATA that will not spin up. I know that because I’ve listened with a medical stethoscope. The bios reports “drive 0 not found”. However, if I put it in a Venus hd enclosure, it will spin, but very slowly. Runtime data recover program flags the drive as many 2 terabytes in size. The frequency that I hear is if you make a “grrrrrr” sound. I need it to spin up at least once for me to pull the My Documents folder off it.

What would be your technique here? Freezing, heating, bumping, twisting, etc. ? I’m assuming that it will spin up better in the enclosure - since I at least see something there.

This hd belongs to a teacher, and has some important school projects on it. Nothing earth shaking, but things she has a lot of time devoted to. Also, their family photos.

Thanks for any directions.

Packrat1947

Hi,

First check it with a known good PCB of the same model and see if it is spinning and also check the patient PCB on a known good HDA wether it spins correctly or not.
If it shows a PCB problem, U got an easy case. If not:
Check the motor windings with an ohm meter and compare the values to ones of a working drive! If it shows significant difference, the motor is burnt and probably contaminated the HDA inside with some smoke too, not an easy thing to recover.
The bearing can also be seized a bit, that's not easy either.

regards,
pepe

_________________
Adatmentés - Data recovery

Hi Gents,
I would like to pass along an update.

I was successful in retrieving the data. That’s great, and the customer is ecstatic.

I’m sure many of you are aware of the document floating around the universe called “200WaysToReviveYourHardDrive”. In it are various techniques of slamming, freezing, heating, tapping, dropping, and twirling HDs to get them to boot one more time.

This is what I did. Taking the path of least destructiveness, I put the hd in the 35 F. deg. refrigerator for about 3 hours. Then I put it into the Venus enclosure again. The voltage or current was enough to at least move the platters before. Anyhow, I donned my stethoscope and flipped the switch. The hd slooowly spooled up, and I heard the heads starting to do their work. This was about ½ way to full rpm. The computer made its normal bong sound, and I was off and running using ExplorerPlus (an enhanced Explorer), to quickly copy the My Documents to a prearranged folder. I had left the cover off the Venus, so I ran upstairs and prepared a baggy with 5 ice cubes to lay on the WD 160. This kept it icy cold for about 45 minutes. Then the hd quit providing data. But that was OK, as everything was safe. I haven’t tried to boot it again.

The Venus was purchased at NewEgg about a year ago, and it is now sold under another name. It is pretty decent, and has a nice fan in the bottom to pull some air through the box. I did modify the activity light so that it pops out of the top, instead of hiding behind a smoked plastic cover.

So that is my story. Perhaps this will help someone else. If this forum allows private messages, I'll send the document to anyone, if you can't find it on the web. I'll need your email address.

This is in .doc format. It must have been converted at one time, because there are some spelling errors. It was copied off a forum, so the layout might not be perfect - but it is useable. These are IT personnel giving their experiences.

Cheers,
Packrat1947