Longshot: Any of you ever done hard drive data recovery?

**dmurray14** · 01-03-2006, 01:49 PM

Hey guys,

This is probably a long shot, but worth a try. I have a failed western digital HD that i'd like to get some info off of. I fried the controller board accidentally. I requested a replacement drive expecting them to send the same model, but instead they sent one with a different controller on it. Any ideas as to how I can get this data off? Switching platters are out of the question because I want to get my money back when I return the failed one. Any help much appreciated!

Thanks,
Dan

**Song0330** · 01-03-2006, 02:54 PM

The controller board is completely fried? Won't boot/post/etc?

If that's the case, you have two options:
(a) Buy the exact drive over again, and switch the boards (costly)
(b) Send it to a commercial data recovery center (very costly and will void your warranty as they hack the drive apart)

However, if the drive is still bootable, then there are lots of ways of doing it yourself. I've used software such as Easy Recovery (on formatted/deleted files) and Spinrite (on crashed HDs) and they've worked great.

**agentloveless** · 01-03-2006, 03:22 PM

Check this out: http://www.hackaday.com/entry/1234000840067578/

**rushnrockt** · 01-03-2006, 03:28 PM

If the data is that important to you, I'd recommend data recovery services. There are numerous out there and even BestBuy has a service, I had my hard drive data recovered there and it worked out.

**AWDNUT** · 01-03-2006, 04:07 PM

I've had freezing/cooling work soooo many times that I do it anytime I have important data on a toast HD..

My personal 80gb WD just packed it in (Warranty ended Nov 7th) and it was my main system drive for my 'work' PC. I didn't have time to try freezing, but I took it along with me on a trip up north by accident in a panic pack manuver. The HD took sub-zero temps for over 2 days, and it's been working fine ever since. I had alot of nasty errors in scandisk but it seems happy now and I've been able to back it up completely.

**dmurray14** · 01-03-2006, 07:57 PM

Thanks guys. The data isn't THAT important, but I'd like to get it recovered if possible. I'm going to try ebaying another drive - I found one that was manufactured just 6 days after my drive, so hopefully I can swap out the boards.

Dan

**EsKALad** · 01-03-2006, 09:17 PM

dmurray be careful. it happened to me for my mechanics hard drive. he had allll his customers reciepts on there so it was hella important! i couldnt just get the same drive and use its board. the drive and boards have to match identically by every number. i finally found one and paid like 20 for it.