Hi guys,

I have a Seagate Momentus ST9250827AS HDD in my Dell Laptop. The drive is less than 3 months old and last night I left it on next to my bed playing music. When I woke in the morning the power was off (I think there may have been a power cut) and my battery was dead. So I tried to power up the laptop and found the HD making strange noises. Best described as the sound of a dot matrix printer. It makes this sound 4 or 5 times then makes a different sound.

The drive is not recognised in the BIOS and does not work on my other latop either.

Logic tells that since the drive did not fail after it was dropped or knocked - is it reasonable to suggest that this is NOT a head problem. Could the board replacement method save my data or is this just wishful thinking?

Any help or suggestion would be very much appreciated.

Regards and thanks in advance,

Rob.

Hello Rob, Firstly I would like to thank seagate for manufacturing this drive, especially in China. I'm afraid that this drive is only recoverable by a professional lab. A terminal log would help diagnose the fault but my money is on heads and or media damage.

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Hi,

Many thanks for yuor reply - I have sent a message to Sean and I am waiting for his reply.

Can I ask what makes you so sure the heads have crashed. If I had dropped the drive I would have agreed this is the likely outcome. However this was not the case - the drive was simply sat idle playing an MP3 duing a power cut. Also the fact that the drive does not show up in the BIOS makes me thing the problem is with the board. I have had drives in the past which have clearly had crashed heads but they always showed up in the BIOS and OS without any problems.

Of course you guys know far more than me - I am just wondering when is the likely case that the board is the problem?

Thanks in advance,

Rob.

If I take an identical working new drive - is there a way to swpa out the failed parts for working parts in order to recover the data?

Rob.

Yes Rob. If you don't need your data back you can try and swap the heads yourself.

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Are there any guides for this?

BY the way here is a sample of the sound my drive is making - does this give any indication as to the nature of the problem?

http://www.robburne.co.uk/_ftp_dump/seagate.mp3

Thanks,

Rob.

sound like spindle do not spin caused by head sticking. if you need data. you need pro help

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Maybe the fridge method for an hour would help?

Rob.

Yes this will help to preserve the head and platter if you indend on eating it in a few weeks. Seriously, if the data is important get a pro to help. Pro as in data recovery specialist not Mr (I can install windows so therefore data recovery must be easy) PC Repair Guy.

I can not imagine.. what is the fridge methods

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Apparently users report that putting a drive in the fridge/freezer for an hour can help ceased spindles/drives.

Don't shoot me I'm only the messenger!

Rob.

I suppose there are some instances where this could help such as when chips overheat and affect HDD performance, but to be honest there is more bad than good associated with this. Definately would not consider doing this.

Do not freeze the drive.

If you can't/won't pay for the recovery then either do without the data or save up until you can.

Sorry if this sounds harsh, but if we thought you could fix it DIY (even with help) then we would have said so.

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Ok I have had a professional opinion on my drive - it would seem that the drive is not spinning up. It was suggested that the problem lies with the spindle. Does this give an indication with regards to chances of success if I seek professional help?

I just picked up an 'identical' drive - however they are not the same. I was going to try swapping the boards but this is now not an option. New drive is a Momentus 5400 '6' (firmware 0001SDM1) opposed to the '4' which is bricked. Is this new drive as likely to crash like the other piece of junk?

Thanks in advance,

Rob.

It depends how you treat it. If spindle has seized that normally points to impact damage. I suggest you don't leave your pc/laptop on overnight, 8 hours max before letting it cool.

Are the pros able to recover your data?

Fridge method is a thing of the past now. There is the HOT TUB method nowadays. Get updated !

I just put my drive in the bath and now it sparks when I plug it to my external usb case.

Any ideas?

Are you sure the water was hot? This seems to be a problem when using cold water.