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how do you recover data from a broken hard drive?

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honeypot

Technical User
Mar 6, 2001
147
GB
one of our workstations wouldn't boot up this morning because there is a hard drive I/O error. The hard drive is going to be replaced because it is still under warranty, but how do i retrieve data from the broken HDD???
 
Be forewarned, recovery services are expensive, starting at around $1 per megabyte plus clean room time and breakdown.
 
I agree with what they posted, slap it in another system and copy it over. Once you have done that to the best of your ability, see the reply I left to the thread "BAD SECTORS" and they will ad you more. You can also use software that will read and read and read and read the same sector over until it THINKS it knows what the data there is. I've been able to recover data many times that was thought to be hopeless.

If you can't get any other data off it you could turn to good old American ingenuity and smack the drive while it's trying to access the damaged area, but only if the HDD heads are plinking. This jars them enough that they can sometimes read the data. I don't recommend that, but if the drive is bad anyway?!?!

Scott
 
Where is the i/o data error coming. If during boot you can write new system info on it that may allow it to run
Or booting from a floppy may allow access to it.
You could try pulling it out of the system and changing orientation while it is running. this was particularly effective on older drives.
Because it is a i/o error it indicates that it has partially, or fully, booted, so the slave drive approach is a good idea. But make note of where the problem is before hand so you'll know what to suspect when you get your data transferred.
Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com

Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.

Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 
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