Model: ST3500630AS
I took apart my external drive.
My housemate tripped over the power cord while it was powered on. At the time the drive was still an external drive I took it apart and broke 2 troublesome plastic clips. It's an internal drive now . I don't think its spinning. It's definitely buzzing/vibrating. It buzzes for about 15 seconds and stops, then is followed by a beep. This is repeated maybe 5 times, then stops completely until I reset the power.

The best description I can give is in the following site: http://datacent.com/hard_drive_sounds.php
The buzzing sounds too similar under "Seagate desktop drive with seized spindle trying to spin up."
The beeping sounds exactly under "Seagate desktop drive with bad heads slowly clicks and beeps on spin up."

There are no other sounds like clicks, trashing, etc...
I was wondering who can fix it and at what price?

I tried to do as much research as I could. I'm thankful that I did because I almost took it apart in a non-clean room

Motor problem and or head problem is quite likely. Good you Didn't open the drive, its not DIY.
Without examining the drive , it will be difficult to give an exact cost for recovery.
Some good and reputed DR companies do the evaluation free of cost , suggest you try it.
Recovery cost will be high as donor parts will be necessary, including cleanroom facility and professional tools . If data is very important ,take DR professional help.
Good luck

On dropped drives, one of the most common issues is seized spindle.
Also one of the most difficult ones, as even after swapping damaged parts, will have excentricity and could have some misalignment also.

I would be careful to select a good DR pro to take care of your drive.

I posted on this forum because I never had to do a DR nor do I know anyone who had one before. Can anyone please recommend me or advise me on how to look for one. I did try looking but, I am biased towards lower prices lol. Any advice or recommendation to which company to trust would be very much appreciated. I noticed there are some locals here who can do DR, and I was wondering if that option was also possible from my location. Thanks again guys.

If the problem is the price, you better clearly say how much MAXIMUM you want to spend.

I know very good pro's from the US and Canada, but I don't think any of them is located in CA.

If you want I can give you their contacts.

Hey now!

_________________
Buy your friends Toshiba\Hitachi and your enemies Seagate.

Ops... it was not my intention

So problem solved, you have already a CA DR pro around.

$500 sounds a bit much for me as a max. price , because I think its only a seized spindle. I am only a student with no job. Approximately how much would it cost to create a clean room or chamber, and buy the proper tools to fix this kind of problem? Right now I'm asking other companies how much they charge for their "force spindle tool." But they sell their tools in kits, or they don't give me a direct response about the selling price. So I'm having trouble finding where to buy one. Anyone know where I could get it?

It's far more than 500$....

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ACELab partner

Well, even if you buy one of those tools, I'm sure you'll spend your money and will not have the data in the end.
Don't forget to use properly any tool you need experience.

Also, I don't think 500$ is a high price for this job. Probably any quote will be much higher than that.

if you are a student with no job, how can you afford the tools?

So you will be a student with no job, with a useless tool in your hand, no data, and $xxx (the price of the tool) poorer.

I suggest you store the drive somewhere safe until you can afford professional data recovery.
It should cost you at least 2x the amount you mentioned.

_________________
http://www.northwind.gr
SandForce SSD Recovery
Ransomware Reverse Engineering - NoMoreRansom! partners

This is where bulls... internet reading come useful : the answer is 0 $ if you have a drill (BLACK&Decker is good, Hilti would be the best but if you have only a Milwaukee it is OK too) and you do it in your bathroom after leaving the shower open to flatten down the dust....

Of course it is not guaranteed to get the data back but come on, it's the internet. Liquid knowledge can't be wrong ! And it would save a lot of money too.

Is this "solution" cheap enough and is it possible to close this thread ?

I once read that when doing the bathroom trick, it is necessary to work laying on your back (ie. with the drive facing the floor). This way humidity or dust won't sit on the platters

_________________
http://www.northwind.gr
SandForce SSD Recovery
Ransomware Reverse Engineering - NoMoreRansom! partners

BULLSHIT. You just need an haidryer after working with it. The hot air will blow away the dust and get rid of the humidity too.

Was there something about the drill ?

You can also start a small fire. It will take away all humidity.

_________________
http://www.northwind.gr
SandForce SSD Recovery
Ransomware Reverse Engineering - NoMoreRansom! partners

If I'm buying the equipment and doing the labor, it's affordable since there are ways to get your money back.



I read that rumor a couple times. I saw some people use a drill to force a stuck spindle, and I want to confirm if this is a safe method? Regarding a clean room setup, I thought people used some sort of air purifyer, if not, how are people setting up clean rooms?



If I were to use a hair dryer on the plates, I imagine it would have to be a brand new one since it's possible somehow that a used one could get dust on the platters.

I appreciate your guys' concerns, but I just might attempt to fix it on my own. I will definitely record or at least document how it goes. Any advice about the whole process of doing a DR for a seized spindle? More specifically, any knowledge that I might not have read about? Other than let a professional do it lol

It would probably be better if I say what I know already. I know the torque on the screws for the hard drive have to be measured. I know you can't get "anything" on the platters, such as fingerprints, dust, smoke, etc... Since I see most people use finger cots, I will buy those.

It's not confirmed yet, but I still am considering letting a professional do it. What do you think of these guys? http://www.300dollardatarecovery.com/chance-form.html I sent in a quote and they said 15% chance of data recovery.

I can't reply to your PM dmarques, because I just registered. I emailed you a couple days ago. Please respond.

Was my previous post too big? because I'm not sure if it will get approved or not.