Hard drive mechanical crash

[Shack]

I thought I had seen on the iPhone earlier that it failed to boot on the "HDD" but it was FDD so my idea of mbr is dwindling.

Still, you should be able to run a drive fitness test and maybe get an idea of what really is the cause.

Amazingly though, I have some video from back in 2009 where I recovered a similar situation. I forgot about this as it was a crude video I used to show someone how I got the invisible drive, no failure display or nothing, to boot into recovery as a usb mass storage device. The HDD would not show in drive C:, clicking and almost all the same issues as mabr. Figure if anything it would show mabr what options he could try before freezing and banging:

I recovered my data and sent it in to get a new drive.

[mabr]

Ok doesnt look to hard to try what you did Shack in the vid. So I would remove HD which i dont think is a big deal, hook up another puter via usb cables between the 2 puters and see what happens when I turn the one with the bad HD? Thats it? Does it matter which windows im running? I have vista on this one and 7 on the broke one.Does the good puter need to be on with no programs running?

Not sure if you seen the serial number and specs on the HD either. we posted within seconds earlier and yours showed up after my response.

[Shack]

LOL Just seen it. I will do some checking.

Due to similarities in the operating systems of Vista and 7 I would tend to think it should not be an issue. You are running the drive as a USB anyways and pulling files to put back on a working Win7 drive. If you were trying to boot into the HDD that has Win7 with a Vista updated machine, there might be some issues.

The neat thing about what I had done was being able to use the machine the drive was from, but with an enclosure adapter from SATA to use. Enclosures are becoming easier to find at retail stores such as Office Max and Wal-Mart, but if you could make it down and over to Hwy 100 and 7 you could get a cheap adapter or enclosure from Micro Center. They have pricing very close to New Egg (tad more but way less than Office Max), but that goes out the windows because they are like a Wal-Mart met New Egg but right here in town. Open till something like 10pm week nights and 9pm weekends.

I grabbed a 2.5" drive with the click of death. When hooked to Windows 7 it just clicks and does not even post as a failed drive in BIOS. Then I brought up one of my home servers that is unning Linux with a Gnome GUI desktop. Mainly to see if I could dig into it a little further compared to Windows. Used to hate Linux,. Over the last I have come to love it. I even prefer it when it comes to anything broken, deleted or missing. Hooked it up:

Maybe because it was sitting for awhile but sure enough it displays right up with just a small amount of clicking at first:

This is all done with the default disk utility and after a scan it even looked good till I scrolled down:

I am going to dig into this one and see if I can get it to test clean. Pretty much toast I assume.

[upnorth]

Shack do you see it recognizing a hard disk? No. What is does detect is a DVD drive not a hard disk.

Now if you can show me the test that shows the hard disk, type etc, then I will agree with you.

What I see is the is the bios looking for a hard drive and not finding it. Pureinsanity sees the same thing.

[upnorth]

You just blew your cover UP . How is the BIOS able to perform these tests then on "something" it can not see?????? Seriously UpNorth! Think about it dude. How can you perform tests on a server and declare it "failed" when you can not see or detect it?

You need to grow up a little bit Shack, that statement was pretty childish.

[mabr]

How successful have any of you been trying the freezer method. I have watched alot of vids in the last 3 hours. Some say yes the pros say no. Looks like the HD would be useless afterwards but I dont care im getting a new one. I want my files.

[MN Mike]

mabr, do you know there is a authorized Toshiba center in Minnetonka? I've used them many times, if it was me, I would give them a call and see what they can do for you, if they can't read the hard drive ( which looks to be the case ), maybe they could make some suggestions for other options. ADR Data Recovery is another local company.

I would say I've had less than a 50 percent success rate on freezing the drive.

Good luck.

Mike

[pureinsanity]

Shack I do have to agree with UpNorth here. The bios doesn't see the drive. If the drive was out of the computer, we would see the same thing in bios. It would show the DVD drive and then nothing for the HDD drive and it would state a failure as well.

*failure to recognize the drive not the drive has failed*

[pureinsanity]

mabr your best option is to stop and get a hard drive enclosure, If I knew where mine was I would just send it to you to use. You should be able to plug this into another computer and get the files you need. Even though its failed and isn't recognized on your laptop it most likely will work on another computer and allow you to get most or some of your files.

I have done this several times with drives having similar symptoms, and even ones that just wouldn't boot period.

[LMITOUT]

For $20-30 you can get a USB to hard drive cable that might work. Basically after you remove the hard drive you plug it into one end of the cable and the USB cable into a working computer. (They usually have different connectors for different style HD's, including laptop drives.) If it works the working computer will see the hard drive as a removable disk similar to a jump drive. I picked one up a few years ago and it's allowed me to grab files off of some buggered up hard drives, but it's no guarantee. For the price it's worth a shot.

My dad had a hard drive that failed on him so I used the cable to see if I could get a few files for him. I tried a few times but with no luck. I stuck it into their deep freezer for a few hours to get it good and cold and it made connection so I worked quick and got as much as I could before it warmed up and stopped working.

[mabr]

Thanks guys, I have a client who has a good tech friend that said he'd try and see what he could do with it. If he can retreive he said $250.00 if not no charge.

Xcel, MS programs and a few other software programs is about as techy as I get. If he cant get it I'll try the freezer as a last resort.

[MN Mike]

If you end up doing the freezer trick, what I have done in the past is to wet down a rag or towel and freeze it to, that way you can lay the hard drive upside down on that rag and buy you some extra time if you need it.

That's if you have the hard drive hooked up to another computer with adapter cables of course

Mike

[Shack]

You just blew your cover UP . How is the BIOS able to perform these tests then on "something" it can not see?????? Seriously UpNorth! Think about it dude. How can you perform tests on a server and declare it "failed" when you can not see or detect it?

Originally Posted By: upnorth

You need to grow up a little bit Shack, that statement was pretty childish.

Seriously? Ok then.

[Shack]

PI & UP the reason I am saying it is being detected is how would the bios even know to display this:

If BIOS can not detect it, how does it even know to rule it as failed? An HDD not being detected by BIOS means exactly that. BIOS has no knowledge ofthe device, so it wouldn't even know to display this message. This message is displayed for a reason and is telling you something. It would say "HDD/SSD not detected" or something similar if the heads were not transferring data. Again, unless this BIOS version has the ability along with the hard drive to perform tests based on power signals rather than the normal way. I have yet to see this with any SATA unless while using the OEM's diagnostic programs in CMD.

To me the HDD is being detected but not passing a simple BIOS test, being ruled as failed and not allowed to be displayed as bootable choice. If this is the case than recovery can be had at a very cheap price.

[Shack]

If you end up doing the freezer trick, what I have done in the past is to wet down a rag or towel and freeze it to, that way you can lay the hard drive upside down on that rag and buy you some extra time if you need it.

Good tip. Basically a frozen pad to lay the hdd on as to keep its temp cooler for longer while trying boo attempts?

[upnorth]

That message indicates the drive is not recognized Shack. If if was recognized it would show up the same way the DVD drive does with vendor and type info.

[pureinsanity]

Shack.

Here is a scenario...

Electronic failure: The computer may suffer a power spike or electrical surge that knocks out the controller board on the hard disk making it undetectable to the BIOS.

This would leave a message as we state above. is failed. if its not dectectable in the bios it will say FAILED

[upnorth]

Some of the new bios's have a feature to scan and detect problems with hard drives, but only if it can detect the hard drives. Since this is not detecting a drive it can't even go that far.

[pureinsanity]

Before we go on. Mabr... What happens when you turn the computer on with the drive connected? does it just sit there and do nothing? just a black screen.

this is probably getting stuck at POST, therefore confirming the hdd is not recognized in the BIOS

[spearchucker]

The drive is toast. Plain and simple. If the BIOS can't recognize the drive, how is any other software going to?

You can pretty much kiss any chance of getting your data back unless you want to spend 100's of dollars sending it off to a recovery service.

[mabr]

1st 2 pics are without HD Installed. Last one is with the HD Installed.

Still the same screens coming up. I had 2 people try to get into it today, both tech for major companies Ive done work for. Both their puters found the HD but couldn't get anything from it.

Looks like its off to OnTrack data recovery/Kroll unless anyone has a better idea. When I seen it was recognized I was happy but let down quick when they couldn't see anything.

[Shack]

That message indicates the drive is not recognized Shack. If if was recognized it would show up the same way the DVD drive does with vendor and type info.

I am sorry guys but you are not convincing me. Please provide documentation of this. I have well over 20 IDE and SATA that are non-detectable drives which have been tested on Phoenix, Asus, Intel and other various BIOS plateforms and there has never been a message like this. It just does not show up? Period!

Why would BIOS lie? What reason would it have? If it failed a BIOS test (which these tests can be adjusted depending on the BIOS), is not allowed to be a bootable choice, THIS is not a non-detected hard drive. Failed, toast, junk YES, but still was detected NOT showing up in the bootable options list. BIOS is trying to keep the mobo and itself safe is my opinion. It says it tested failed. Sorry I believe the BIOS. I am not buying any of this till one of us provides copy and paste proof that this is a miss worded error and not just a gut feeling. If I find it I will bring it forward as well because I have NO issue with admitting I am wrong. Just have NEVER seen an HDD that was not detected by BIOS show up with a message like this.

[Shack]

FYI I am thinking beyond any future use of this drive and only looking at it in a cost effective recovery scenario.

[Shack]

mabr you are not that far from me. I would be willing to take a non-destructive look at it. We could see what Asus and Linux has to say.

Heck you plug in an iPhone on Linux it shows you every file down to root WITHOUT jail breaking. Although I have not been looking but I have yet to see one basic Pheonix and Windows program do this WITHOUT manipulation to the iOS.

Looks like its off to OnTrack data recovery/Kroll unless anyone has a better idea. When I seen it was recognized I was happy but let down quick when they couldn't see anything.

You should still be very happy. Recovery is possible. Just need to figure out how to get it to show up.

[Shack]

Have you tried a third party program yet mabr?

Follow the below and see what happens:

1) Boot your second recovery PC normally with the non-detected drive to be replaced by the manufacture in an external USB enclosure attached to the recovery PC.

2) Download the freeware data recovery program PC Inspector (or latest equivalent with postive reviews) from CNet and install on on your recovery PC. Do not attempt to install anything on the external drive, as it may overwrite your data.

3) Run PC Inspector (or latest equivalent with postive reviews). If you accidentally deleted files on your external hard disk, select "Recover deleted files." If you formatted your disk accidentally or a system crash damaged your data, select "Find lost data." If you cannot find the drive letter or access your drive at all, select "Find lost drive."

4) Select the logical or physical hard drive that contains the lost data. A logical drive means a partition or virtual drive and a physical drive means a whole hard drive. Some drives are divided in to multiple partitions.

5) Click on the green check to scan for data. Recover all data by saving on your main system drive. Depending on the health of the external hard drive, you can now reinstall the data. This may take only hours or up to days depending on the amount of data being recovered.

6) After data is collected you can send in physically defective drive for warranty replacement.

If this does not work and by it being detected with your friends PC, I would suggest attaching to a Linux console and DD or DDRescue clone the failed drive over to a partition set up to have the mirror hdd written to.