I've no experience with hard drives and the like so I went ahead and registered to ask for help. Recently, my hard drive flat out broke and it simply wont turn on when I plug it in. It was clearly my fault because I was restarting the computer over and over again for irrelevant reasons, the hard drive became noisy and really hot before it just shut off.

I wouldn't know if this is an open and shut case of a dead drive, but I'd really appreciate any help on what I can do to recover my data. I disassembled the outer case and attempted to connect the drive to my computer internally, but it turns out my Dell Optiplex 170L doesn't have the right plugs to connect to the drive.

Is seeking professional help my only option? If needed I can take pictures of the drive.

Lots of noise could me head problems or head crash. It is better to stop and go see someone for help. You will not be able to fix this alone

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Call 1-800-ROUTER-DISK-RESCUE

According to this scenario, YES.

I can't, it doesn't even turn on.

The circuit board attached to the drive? What is usually the case when a PCB is no longer usable?

Data recovery centers fix the drive or do they extract the data and send it to you in some form?

Now you say drive is dead. take picture of pcb board and post here. If drive is dead like you say could be tvs on pcb causing problems or pre amp causing problems. Start with taking pictures to post here

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Call 1-800-ROUTER-DISK-RESCUE

Any diagnosis before plugging it directly to a computer is premature.

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You don't have to backup all of your files, just the ones you want to keep.

I think I'm being misunderstood. I already stated in the first post that the drive simply doesn't turn on when I plug it in. I don't know if it's truly dead or not. I'll clarify anything if needed. Here are some pictures:

Does it spin or power up? check by feeling the drive when pc starts .

It doesn't do anything. Tried using a different power cord to no avail. I'm beginning to think the hard drive is fine, I just don't have a way of powering it up.

According to the specs on the Dell, it should have a SATA150 port on the motherboard that you can plug this drive into, may need a molex to SATA adapter for power, but you should be able to plug it in directly.

I had to go through 4 stores before finding one (I wanted it now instead of ordering it online and waiting), and it worked! After a month and a half without my data I finally got it back with your help. Thank you SO much.

First thing I'm doing is backing up all of it onto DVDs in case something were to happen to it again. Though, I have a question: I have the drive connected to the computer but there isn't a good spot to put it anywhere inside the case, so it's sitting on top of the tower. And it feels really warm, is there a chance of it overheating like that or something?

Some drives do get hotter then others. I am guessing it's probably a 7200.10 seagate which seem to get extra hot.

This is normal. most HDD run at ~35-40c which is fine.

I am guessing that the board inside the enclosure died, but the drive is fine.

You can pick up a new enclosure for it only www.newegg.com. Just make sure it supports SATA drives. I would recommend getting one with some sort of active cooling (a fan)

probably like ~30-40 bucks but well worth it.

always keep a backup!


Regards,