hard drive problem - can't read

[brettsinger]

have a user with a computer problem that i can't solve yet.
the hard drive on his PC suddenly became unbootable. we installed windows on a new drive and installed the other as a slave. have tried a couple of data

recovery apps, but so far they can "see" the drive (windows explorer can't) but can't get any data off of it. one error message is "The request cannot be

performed because of an I/O device error" (see a screen shot here:

http://www.brettsinger.net/lookhere/dgpc.jpg)

is it possible that the jumpers on the drive are misconfigured somehow? if not, any thoughts?

Trying to avoid a data recovery house if at all possible. Any advice is hugely appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Kofy]

Try using GetDataBackFat or GetDataBackNTFS depending on the format of the drive. I've managed to recover over 30 gigs from an NTFS formatted drive before.. and also helped someone else recover nearly 80 gigs from a drive. you can possibly try and find it on Kazaa Lite, but its an obscure program.. I now keep a copy of both versions in my tool kit.

 

[brettsinger]

Wow, a google search for GetDataBackFat turns up two results:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=GetDataBackFat

I'll give that a shot. Took it to a consultant today who said that he couldn't read the drive and wanted to send it to a "clean room" to take the thing apart. That doesn't seem like the way to go if we can avoid it (very expensive and potentially still won't get the data).

Thanks again!

 

[MediaFrenzy]

Is the drive seizing up? If it is try this.....

- remove drive from case
- place drive into a glad FREEZER bag
- with a straw suck out all the air you can and seal the bag
- place bag with HD in you fridges freezer for 1 hour
- quickly remove the drive from the freezer bag and return it to your system
- you should be able to quickly copy drive contents to another drive on your system.

The reason why this works is because if the drive has totally seized; then, freezing it will cause the internal drive parts to very slightly contract allowing the platters and read arm to move freely.

This has work for me with a few clients older HDD that seized. you have about a 50/50 chance of this working providing you HDD is seized.

Good luck


Ken

===================================
Rebooting your computer does NOT
mean kicking it for a second time!!
===================================

 

[brettsinger]

If by seized you mean clicking or something physical, that doesn't seem to be the problem. If that's not what you mean, what do you mean by siezed?

 

[MediaFrenzy]

No I mean the HDD platters are not even turning. The drive can actually get pretty hot when this happens (seizing). The graphic you posted says alot and my best guess is that the drive is history...all you can do is try to recover what you can...thus I will stick to my original suggestion. The way I see it is that if the drive is dead anyway the best that can happen is you are able to recove some or all your data.

Before you attempt the above I would also possible swap your IDE cable and verify your jumpers are set master or slave (which ever is appropriate) and that the IDE cables are solidly attached to the mobo and the drive. If you are unsure of the jumper settings check with your HDD's manufacturer.

Good luck



Ken

===================================
Rebooting your computer does NOT
mean kicking it for a second time!!
===================================