All,
My backup hard-drive that I have been using seems to have controller problems. I am looking for an IDE controller board to see if I can pull some data off of it and put onto my NEW Element backup HD. I am fairly sure it is the controller, as I can hear the head move, and I have tried 3 different USB to IDE interfaces, and they all three act the same.

That's probably not the problem, and even if it is you would not be able to just use a new board.

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

Why don't you think that isn't the problem? The drive works (acts) the same way for now 4 different interfaces, so it is narrowed down to either the drive itself or the controller, so it seems the next logical thing to do is try to swap out controllers.

Why wouldn't the same controller work for the same drive?

Keith

The unit powers and head seeks - very unlikely that PCB is bad

It is likely that the spindle motor stops after several seek attempts

Changing PCB will not work because a) is likely not the problem, and b) PCB contains unique information required for disk initilisation

Read some other threads around here with similar issues.

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

OK, I guess I am still confused.
Then what is the problem? Does the PCB contain information that is specific to my HD? It seems like the controller would contain information that is specific to the drive model, not to my personal specific drive.

Your right about the spindle spinning and the head moving.


Any other ideas? I have one file that I am interested in recovering, but... it isn't worth the $500 - $10,000 data recovery sights are wanting.

Keith

Yes

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

Interesting!! So there's memory onboard that holds information about bad sectors, items to this physical drive, etc.....

If that's the case then, "Dang-It", I'm stuck!!!

Keith

No

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

The following article should go some way towards explaining why modern drives have adaptive information:

HDD from inside: Tracks and Zones. How hard it can be?
http://hddscan.com/doc/HDD_Tracks_and_Zones.html

BTW, information regarding bad sectors is stored on the platters.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.