Details:

Model ST9120822AS
SN 5RMODXWD
PN 95133-042

Symptoms:

First of all I have read all the newbie stuff and I am a newbie. Second of all I'm not really looking for an instant fix, but I need the data off my drive so I am exploring my options.

The drive is from a MacBook. It just froze up during use and would not reboot. The hard drive is making a unique noise but it's not clicking. It's more like a short healthy search cycle. But I cannot hear it actually spin up.

I removed the drive and the pcb to inspect. The contacts looked pretty dirty so I Cleaned them and hoped for the best but no luck.

Any recommendations of things to try would be great. Recommendations of data services in my area would be welcome as well.

On this drive you cannot just change the PCB correct?

I would post pics of the pcb but there isn't much to see. Nothing looks fried or smells bad. The only part that looks funky are the contacts. They're pretty dark looking. Almost look like they got wet or hot at some point.

Thanks

Look up member jono-ats here on the forum he runs Data Savers in Atlanta great prices and service.

I'd bet on stiction on this one.
And i second networks' proposal for jono-ats

_________________
http://www.northwind.gr
SandForce SSD Recovery
Ransomware Reverse Engineering - NoMoreRansom! partners

I hope it's not one of these: http://www.retrodata.co.uk/media/apple-seagate-flaw/

_________________
Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily.
Data Recovery Cape Town

Stiction often responds to "percussive maintenance". However, it's a last resort.

A typical repair charge is US$650. It involves rotating the platters in their normal direction of motion with a screwdriver while firmly and smoothly retracting the head stack to the unload ramp with the other hand. That's only a few minutes' work, but you need to be careful, and you need to do it in a cleanroom.

See http://community.wdc.com/t5/My-Book-for ... 0296#M2719

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Even after carefully replacing heads to the ramp after stiction, heads/sliders are often damaged. Power up the drive after that and cause irrecoverable damage to platter/s. I always swap heads with stiction jobs to be on the safe side.

_________________
Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily.
Data Recovery Cape Town

Agree, especially on Momentus drives.

_________________
PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

New!! HDD-PCB.COM for all your PCB and donor HDD requirements!