Dead drive-no noise

[williamk]

Got a weird problem with a drive. The machine was sucessfully backed up at 4am (of course, the user was not placing all important data in the proper locations that get backed up), user came in 8am and the machine was dead and wouldnt boot. After removing all the components we traced it to drive. The drive does not spin up at all nor make any sound. The bios does not recognize the drive is even connected but does see other drives and cd-rom drives. So, my question is:

1. Would the freezer method work with a drive that doesnt even spin?

2. Anyone have any other suggestions? I've even tried the "rotate the drive on it's axis" otherwise known as the "shake the drive in frustration" move

 

[HDDRecovery]

who manufactured the disk and what model is it. Both IBM and Fujitsu have had some not so good product on the market in the 10 to 20 gig range. If you drive falls into either category then its a clean room job I'm afraid.

 

[HddGuru]

Fujitsu are not reliable :O) IBM drive's are not very reliable that is true but not all are clean room jobs.

You can always get an exact PCB match for your drive and see what happens.

What model drive do you have? I can tell you the chances of stiction or PCB failure with more info :O)

Good luck Mater tua criceta fuit, et pater tuo redoluit bacarum sambucus
Magnus frater spectat te...

 

[srick]

This may seem a little on the simple side but have you tried hooking it up to a different power-jack from that power supply or even better, an entirely different power supply.

You would be suprised how often we overlook some of the most obvious causes of problems such as bad wiring, disconnected wires, bios configurations, etc.

 

[kshugart]

This could be the result of more than a single problem. A drive that doesn't spin could possibly have both logical and physical problems associated with it.

I've read numerous coments and possible senerios on this board with mixed results, however, no one has ever mentioned that any actual recovery of their data.

As mentioned by "HDDRECOVERY", drive manufacturer is not the issue at hand, although "HddGuru" does offer a suggestion.

To be absolutely sure that there is a possible total recovery of the data, send it to a data recovery company.

Donot try to use shareware and freeware programs as these programs rely on the drive spinning and being recognized by the BIOS.

The bottom line here is; how valuable is your data?

Would you trust a free/shareware program to your million dollar a year business? I think not.

I would suggest that you do not attempt any logical or mechanical repair before you talk to a professional. Klon Shugart
Data Recovery Specialist
Microsoft Certified/ mcp 2000

http://www.adv-data.com