I have hit a stumbling block... Am helping a friend recover her data from her laptop hard drive that's gone belly up...

It's a Toshiba Laptop HD 320gb...

It isn't being seen by windows and makes a click click click noise. Yea, I know not good... It DOES spin and the arm does slide across, but seems to get stuck in the center and then tries a few times before it finally slides back to its resting position...

I've tried everything I can think of -- I really appreciate any suggestions or discussion you may have...

I've tried whacking it, tapping it, putting it in the freezer, putting it on a hard surface with something on top of it, putting it on it's side, back, and front, singing to it, cuddling it, and threatening it with complete dis-assembly to be put in my hard drive box of horrors that will never be again collection lol... I would have thought that last technique would have worked -- but it didn't... Both inside an external usb case and internally in my pc -- it's a sata drive. Tried it both on my desktop running xp and laptop running windows 7. no dice. Again it does run, I can hear/feel it spin -- I feel the spindle sliding across hitting the center then tap tap tap several tries before it slides back home again...

I didn't bother spinning the drive at it starts up as it spins fine... Unless that helps this issue too?

So what's the problem with it? I know it's not the card on the hd... it's not a power issue... is it a spindle / assembly issue? Suggestions? Ideas?

I really appreciate it... Thanks.

You certainly need a pro, if you didn't already guarantee the total destruction of the data with your efforts. Don't expect the pro to look at it for free and don't be surprised if your price quote is at least twice what it would have been prior to your opening the drive.

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Luke
Recovery Force Donor Inventory: 5,000+ Fully Cataloged HDDs & Growing

Hi Luke,

I appreciate your response but I can't afford to have an "expert" look at the HDD for any cost. Besides, it's NOT MY HARD DRIVE. As I stated. I am helping a friend who I know can't afford an expert... I was hoping for some suggestions and/or guidance as to what to try -- I am a tech with lots of experience in fixing things and have a pretty good success rate at broken HDs although that's not what most of my expertise is in I don't have a problem learning or taking instruction... BTW I never said I opened the drive -- thanks for the assumption. But I haven't, if I had I would have said so... Thanks for the post it did nothing but aggravate me as the tone was nasty and condescending. I didn't destroy the data. I did nothing of the sort. Drive was broken when it came to me. I didn't make it worse... If you don't want / can't help -- and didn't read what I wrote (in it's entirety), which is obvious -- I have no idea why you felt the need to post anything... Other than to rattle my cage... blah. Thanks anyway.

Are u sure..

This post must be a joke

Wow. I posted on this site hoping for some help, suggestions, or at very least discussion on what is wrong with the drive, even if it's not fixable.

All I got instead was just harassment and insults.

NOT HELPFUL GUYS!

how do you know you did not make it worse? You said you whacked it, tapped it, put it in the freezer... you think doing these things cannot make it worse?

Just because it was already broken , you can always makes things worse.

That aside,


clicking sounds is indicative of a head failure on Toshiba Drives

Unless you know the internal workings of a hard drive and how to change/manipulate them, then there is not much more you can do.

I think the assumption that the drive was opened would have come from this statement:

I also said I could hear it / feel it...

Putting my hand on the center of HD I can feel the arm sliding back and forth and hear the noises.

Wow. Don't know what part of me being technical you guys don't get.

I have over 20 years fixing a huge variety of things... I didn't just wake up this morning and learn how to turn the computer on and decide to play computer tech...

What are you guys afraid the girl is going to steal your jobs? How about offering some discussion and help instead of digging in on me? Otherwise I have no idea why you have a technical forum open to the public... Thought it was to actually help people...

Here is the thing. Working on the internals of a hard drive is not somethingyou can just ask how to do and do it right the first time.

If the data on the drive is critical, it is recommended that you friend save up some money. If you friend does not care if the drive gets destroyed in your attempts of data recovery they by all means, Open up the hard drive and start swapping out parts. Since the failure is inside the drive

It is not a matter of people stealing our jobs... it is a matter of giving advice to someone that has never done it before and ultimately causing the drive to permanently be unrecoverable.

Just because you are a tech , that has nothing to do with how to do mechanical data recovery. That is like a nurse of 20 years saying they can do brain surgery since they are in the medical field.

I am not asking you how to do brain surgery.

What I was asking for was what could be wrong with the drive and what the options are.

You guys are soooo secretive with your info -- you don't want to give it out cause then people would actually learn how to do what you do.

To assume I don't have the ability to learn is wrong.

To assume I don't have the ability to comprehend geek speak is also wrong. I may be a newbie to mechanical engineering but I am not completely green. I do have many years in electronics and some mechanical engineering history too.

Again I have no idea why you have a PUBLIC FORUM if you aren't really willing to help when someone asks for advice. Instead I get jumped on, bullied, and talked down to. You're a bunch of <fill in the blank here>.

I don't need step by step instructions cause I know you would never post it. What I would like is an idea on what is wrong and what the options are to fix it.

Please don't say hire a pro... Cause that's not helpful.

You guys stick together like vultures and then swoop down on any person whose not in your tiny little click ripping them a new one instead of actually offering any insight or help. Wow. This is the only tech board I have encountered that in.

I told you that the problem is inside the hard drive.

So you would need to open the hard drive and check inside. The platters could have a crash on them. The reading mechanism could be bad (99% that is the issue, at least).

So to attempt a repair you would need to know how to work on the inside of a hard drive.

A crash? If you are saying the arm is resting on it -- the answer is no... It does eventually go back to its home position -- it just hits the center of the drive several times (the average is three but sometimes four) before returning to its home / resting position... Makes a tick tick tick noise too. Again, can feel that. The case isn't all that thick on a laptop hd so simply putting my hand on it I can feel all that...

How would you check a platter crash or a reading mechanism crash? What are the symptoms or what do you look for?

crash as in a physical crash line on the platter that is caused by the reading mechanism hitting the platter. The heads can still move but it could of caused a crash line on the platters, and that can only be determined by looking inside.

I can almost guarantee that the main fault of the drive is the heads (reading mechanism) are bad. And that is based off of what you already told us. This is a common failure with Toshibas.( actually it is common with all drive manufacturers) It is not a board issue since the drive is spinning( almost positive on this). So all that is left that could be wrong is inside the drive. The heads/platters and motor too. I doubt it is a motor issue since it is spinning.

So IF you wanted to attempt to fix it... You would need to buy a like part and swap the reading mechanism from the parts drive into the bad drive. Doing this incorrectly can cause permanent damage to the drive.

Good Luck

I used to feel the same way about people not sharing information and recommending taking drives to a professional.

I am just a regular computer tech as well, but after months of research and learning about data recovery, I have come to realize that you really do need a significant amount of experience, skills, knowledge and specialists tools for diagnosing and fixing a problem like this.

From my basic knowledge, it MIGHT be any of the following problems:

*Faulty PCB
*Faulty heads
*Faulty pre-amp
*Firmware corruption
*Damaged platter/s

Sorry I cannot be more helpful...

After reading the entire thread, realistically, here are the step by step instructions:

1) Put disk in a drawer and leave it there.
2) Gather money or have your friend gather them
3) Take disk to a pro.

THERE IS NO OTHER WAY around this. The chances of recovering data from this case are 0. Null. As Luke politely explained in the first post, you have caused further damage to the disk by putting to freezer, tapping or hitting. These are delicate devices extremely sensitive, but since you're an experienced tech, you already know that.
Luke gave you the proper and only advice but you jumped him.

Hence, good luck.

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