This isn't my video, but my ~1 year old Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 (500gb) seems to have seized and it making the same noise. when the error first happened, I came home and my computer had turned itself off. At first boot, it said something about the cpu overheating. After that, the computer seemed to boot OK into my other drive, but this drive continued to make this noise.

I really, really can't afford to send it in for proper recovery, so I am considering it a loss but it would be really great to have a few files back if something might have a good chance of working! So I would at least like to know what my options for a DIY solution might be. When I purchased the drive, the intent was to have a smaller/faster one and to that end, I believe I purchased this drive because it has a single platter. I purchased two at the same time, so if it came down to it, I would do a platter swap into the working drive and run it long enough to make a copy of all the data. From what I could figure out, it seems like it's a seized/stuck spindle and I might be able to rotate it by hand to free it up. Other people suggested the freezer trick but it seems dubious, and I'm not sure how much knocking it could take (in the hopes of freeing up the bearing) before ruining the thing. To date I haven't tried a lot, other than hooking it up with a few different cables to various sources, with no luck.

EDIT: To be clear, the costs I was given were in the $1000+ range. if it was less than $500, it's worth it for me - so if anyone knows of data recovery in the Toronto area in Canada at that price range, it would be much appreciated!!

Could well be stiction (heads stuck to platter) on this model, which "may" be professionally recoverable for $500 if someone is feeling generous.

But if it IS seized then $1000+ is going to be the case.

Be aware that any DIY attempts will massively decrease chances of recovery and make any recovery fee MUCH higher.

If you are prepared to spend the $500 I suggest you contact a data recover centre in your area and explain the situation and send it in for a fee evaluation. But please don't waste their time if you have no intention of proceeding.

I know that we would accept the job on this basis, knowing that a genuine budget is available on the basis of a recovery from a stiction case.

I wish you luck.

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Luke Coughey is your man for this


lcoughey@recoveryforce.com

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Databusters Data Recovery Glasgow
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It is indeed stiction or spindle lock and yes, Luke is your man.

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Agree!!

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Hello,

I have the same Seagate 7200.11 1.5TB drive in the video and the exact same sound. The drive was in an external enclosure connected my laptop when it tipped over on my desk because I snagged the USB cable. It didn't fall, just fell over and it immediately started making that buzz noise. I turned off the power to the enclosure and tried to restart it but to no avail. It makes the same noise when I plugged it into my desktop via SATA. However, there is an additional noise, occurring simultaneously with the buzzing noise, but emanating from my the desktop's power supply! Is it because my PSU is trying to spin the drive but fails? Does this give any clues as to the cause of the failure: spindle bearings or stiction?

Your 7200.11 1.5tb is not the same as the original posters 7200.12 500gb, but like you say it is like the video.

Stiction is highly unlikely in your drive, much more (99%) likely to be seized.

The 500gb drive is single platter model, yours has 4.

Expect a minimum of £1000-£1500 on this.

And it's definitely NOT DIY :-

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PC Image Data Recovery
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Agreed. 7200.11 -> Seizure (99%).

Also the price range is about right, we do this all the time.

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@quintessence - PM sent

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

On this topic, just had someone call with a 7200.10 that is seized. They had opened it themselves and could make the spindle turn with their finger. So, I said it would be $100 for the assessment of the previously opened drive and that the price would likely be $1450, assuming that we don't have to do a lot of clean up. They said that we are higher than everyone else and hung up.

No sweat of my brow.

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

Hi Luke,

Hope you don't mind me bringing the PM convo. out here. You said it would likely end-up costing in the top-end of the $750-1450 range. I am hoping it's just a spindle that's slightly seized considering the very short distance that it fell over and can be just unstuck easily. Are you suspecting the entire spindle must be replaced and that would run about $1450? I guess of course there could be platter damage and that would take a more inspection work and possibly hours of imaging, etc. So that would add to the cost... Do you find platter damage in most cases of a little tipping over? I read people who drop it on carpets get the same problem but then that's a further distance from desk to carpet. I am weighing all the options people have described in this forum. Thanks for your input so far.

No problem. There are various levels of seized.

- heads stuck to the platter -> usually results in head/surface damage
- stuck spindle that can be freed up -> not simple nor are the odds high that it will work
- stuck spindle that requires platter transplant -> most common

Whether the drive dropped 1/4 of an inch or 5 feet, we don't usually see much difference in how bad it is seized up...with the exception of how much head/surface damage comes with it.

So, as I suggested, a dropped drive is usually at the top end of that pricing. If it is any consolation, I used to outsource these projects to other labs who had lower success rates than I currently have with this type of project and they would charge me anywhere from $2500 - $3500.

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