Thanks Everyone,

For taking time out to share your views and guidelines. I have been reading across these forums and have came across various solution and products. Being a computer power user I can be inclined to buy any of the recovery products provided I have the assurance that it would work with my hard disk crash scenario as described above in the first post.

I just wanted to know that what tools/products can be used as the best hit to try before getting the drive physically disassembled in a clean room, which can be the last option for head/platter investigation.

I would appreciate if a price estimate (since there are users who already own all or some of these equipments) , dependability and it ease of use for non-commercial home computer user is also mentioned. Also mention if the tool is applicable for this situation or not.

Just reminding that my harddisk is making clicking noises (spin up/down) and it cannot be recognized by the computer, whether in USB or via internal SATA port.

1. PC-3000 (From Deepspar and AceLab) - Guess the price is too high so its already out of range for me.
2. Data Extractor (From Deepspar and AceLab)
3. Atola Insight
4. Ninja Kaze
5. HD - Doctor (by salvation data)
6. Data Compass Standard (by salvation data for SATA drive)

Just trying to know because before giving it to any professional services, I am willing to spend a bit more buying the minimum basic gear and learn the basics of the recovery procedure.

Thanks for your help in advance.

A Pro service will probably be cheaper than those products and those product are unlikely to help if the disk is clicking.

Thanks Science2002,

I can give the nokia CA-42 cable a try. Can you provide me a detailed guide or diagram as how to make it work or to connect it to the hard drive.

The post you have referred on msfn.com contains the links to a USB cable with type A and B connectors and is definitely not the Nokia CA-42 cable. Also mention that can I use the nokia CA-53 cable if i dont have the CA-42 at the moment.

Thanks again.

Please remember that I am "no-pro" and that my experience is limited (two weeks of learning with almost no guidance), and it may contain mistakes (as it has been pointed out). But it worked for me, and I am happy to share, again for what it is worth.
Let me start from the end of your message: I do not think that CA 53 works. The cable should contain a circuit. Look at this picture:
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i56/m ... bles3a.jpg
You may notice the difference: CA 53 is just too small to contain the adapter circuit inside.
But also the story with cable CA 42 is not so simple.
From what I learned there are three possible cases.
a.1 Nokia Original cable CA 42 (the name appears in a label on the back of the USB jacks of the picture above). If you open the USB jack you will see distinctly the circuit of the adapter and the pins for Rx, Tx, and GND. This cable does not require any power (it takes it from the USB port). This video is worth 1000 words, on how it works:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29FztWJVxbM
a.2 Nokia Original cable CA 42 (the name appears in a label as in a.1). If you open the USB jack however you will NOT see the circuit, but just a small box of copper. See this picture:
http://img205.imageshack.us/i/2606200952050.png/
In first instance someone complained that a.2 did not work. But this is not true. To work it needs its own power. I used two batteries of v1.5 in series connected to cable red and black. Rx and Tx are instead cable White and Blue. GND (that you need to connect as well near the Rx and Tx) is again the Black one.
a.3 Chinese clone cable CA 42 (there is no Nokia name in the USB jack label). It can be found usually at ebay at a small price (3-4$ or even less. I paied instead my cable a.2 €25 with a discount). It works as a.1 but you need to load other generic drivers (see below for reference). In fact the Nokia original ones do not work with this clone cable.

To be sure that they work, try first a loopback test, by shortcircuiting Rx and Tx in the CA 42 cable (batteries ON if you have a.2). If you see in the hyperterminal what you type in the keyboard, that means that your adapter is working. So you can connect the cable to the HD.

Reference: go to the forum msfn.com at pag. 90. I posted there some Questions and Answers during my learning process. I hope they may help.
Read carefully also from pag 65 to 85 of the same forum, you will find many descriptions and many pictures of the CA 42 cables (the links I posted here come from there). Use if you want the search in the forum with "Nokia CA 42", you will have many feedbacks.
From what I read, it is sure that not only CA 42 works. For instance also Nokia DKU-5/ CA 70, and some Siemens cable too. The important point is that they contain the adapter circuit. Some of them don't (as I presume CA 53) because it is contained inside the mobile set.
I hope this my limited info may help you learn many more things. Good luck again.

Zelda rules!!!

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Buy your friends Toshiba\Hitachi and your enemies Seagate.

McGyver too. And when something goes wrong... POOOF... a doctor ! a doctor !!

Hello All,

After some searching and getting in touch with professional services I am able to find out a donor drive (which the professional services asked me to bring in).

It is the closest match I could get in the local market. I am posting the attributes of both the 'Patient' and the 'Donor' driver. Please tell me the possibility and compatibility of any sort of exchange (PCB, Head , Platter) for repair to be done by the professional service providers.

Patient Hard Drive
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11
Model: ST31000333AS
S/N : 6TE08QZ5
P/N: 9FZ136-568
Firmware: SD35
Date Code: 09204
Site Code: SU
PCB (printed on right corner of PCB) : 100512588 Rev A

Donor Hard Drive
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11
Model: ST31000333AS
S/N : 9TE20DDD
P/N: 9FZ136-301
Firmware: CC1H
Date Code: 09511
Site Code: TK
PCB (printed on right corner of PCB) : 100530756 Rev A

Please tell me whether is it a correct and health donor drive to donate part to the patient.

Thanks and Regards.

I would say this part wont be good enough for heads.

Ask those "professionals" that will do the work.

If you want to do it on your own, you have to spend few moths for research, no spoon feeding

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www.datarecoveryne.com

Well,

Why do you think it will not be good enough for heads.

Or maybe you can guide me the bare minimum essential attributes that should match between the patient and the donor hard disks to have the maximum probably of working replacement parts. That would be a big help so I can search the donor hard drive more specifically.

Thanks.

Well,

I can and I will, but before taking the hard disk to them I want to make sure I have the correct and possibly the closest matched harddisk ,since now I can get it replaced. So why bother taking it once to the pros ans then getting to know that it lacks on one attribute or others. Thats why I asked in the previous post to have the minimum essentials that should match to make the things work.



If helping others make you think that it is spoon feeding , then excuse me what goods is this forum for. I guess this or any other forums are meant for people to interact, share their knowledge and help others who might be in a fix.

Research....i guess I am doing it...aint it. Trying to gain insight and benefit from the collective wisdom of everyone else on the forum, while doing reading on my own as well.

Anyways if you dont want to help, it is no problem, its not the end of the world for me and you are not the last person who would and might know something and would be willing to share.

Thanks anyways.

You've got different PCB, firmware and part numbers in the list there...

Remember one hard drive model could have different components inside. To give you the best chance at recovery I would match up the PCB number and P/N at the very least.

They asked you to bring your own donor drive??? You need to find a different DR company.

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

Thats the best I have got here, without sending harddisk to any other country which in total would cost the same.

Forgive me for going off on a tangent, but this brings up an important question for me.

I've got a drive in with a small DR company. To give you an idea of their size, they have no customer service staff and only a couple of engineers. After an initial diagnosis, I was told that either the DR firm would provide parts, in which case I'd be charged a flat $150, or I could secure my own parts drive if I wished. I was provided with very detailed information on what was needed to guarantee a match if I went down that route (model number, firmware version, DCM, names of ICs, etc.). In your opinion, is this a professional thing to do? Should I be worried?

I'm just saying if they don't have a reasonable source for donor drives I sure wouldn't trust them to work on a relatively difficult drive like that.

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

Why not send to another country then, if total cost will be the same?

Well actually a long clearance procedure is to be fulfilled before sending out any electronic equipment like hard disk out of the country via regular express courier service. If I was a business then I would have gotten all customs permissions to send the faulty hard disk unit out to the regional head offices for warranty returns and etc. But since I am an individual it is quite a hefty and time taking procedure to obtain all regulatory permissions.

Secondly in sending the hard disk to any other country the chances of confidentiality of personal/official data is always lowered to a minimum. There is no guarantee of data confidentiality either by the service provider or at the arrival or departure customs scans. I have heard it is quite regular in some countries that customs do randomly check such media sent via courier for any sensitive information they can get, which may or may not out the hard drive owner in a hassle.

Thanks.

Can anyone recommend a good online store from where I can order a similar drive with the same part number and firmware. This donor drive is needed by me to hand over the recovery work to the pros. I have searched the local market and my patient model and part is to be found no where.

Thanks.

These drives are very hard to find. I need one too for a recovery job, and till now, i have found none. (and IMHO i know where to look )


Dobre

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Murphy was an optimist

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