Hi,

Really hoping for some help

I have recently upgraded my laptop, ensured all my files and pictures from last 10 years including Sons first 2 years were backed up onto a hard drive. One night I came home last week and my harddrive was on the floor and it would appear my son took it out of a drawer and had been playing with it. I have no way of telling if it had been dropped, the power lead was plugged in (From Iomenga Caddy) but not plugged into the mains.

So i dont know what happened to the drive but now it does not work, the light on the caddy comes on and there is a beep noise every 3 or so seconds. A freind of mine has taken the drive out of the caddy and put it into his tower, sadly the same issue happens, does not spin up and is not recognised by the computer, it states 0GB in the bios.

Is there any hope. i am hoping that it is an issue with the PCB and not the drive itself... does this sound feasible to you all and if so what is the next step. I have done a far amount of reading about this and can buy a new PCB board but then it talks about soldering a chip from old board to a new one... now that is when I get scared but I dont have the money to get pros look at this as quote I got yesterday was £400 to have a look... Can anyone help as it has irreplacable memories on that drive... Many thanks...

Many thanks in advance!

I am afrade to tell you that its probably the heads on the drive that have been damaged and possible meda damage too when your son played with the drive. It was probably plugged in at one point and could have sustained damage when it was played with. Even if it was not plugged in, vibrations and damage would warp the cover and un-alline the heads so they would not work. Only hope I can see is to take it to a pro for an assessment. the assessment should not cost much. But take it to a good one.

Hard drive are VERY fragile things. The bigger in size they are, the more valuable your data can fall into a black hole.

I am afraid that your drive has more issues than a PCB exchange. Save your money and do not change out the PCB on this one. If your drive did power up and gave you 3 beeps but no spin this is not a PCB issue. It can be a stuck motor, heads stuck to the platters, or a number of different internal issues depending on the final diagnosis after it is opened in a clean room. I think you will need to save your money and hire a company to fix your drive for you. This is not a job you can do alone. I am so sorry for your loss on this one but if you stop now and stop to try and power up the drive you have a chance to get back your data by using a DR company to do this for you.

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Iorana Haraharaini