Computer People - Hard Drive Crashed

[KCLover]

I need help. I have a hard drive that I took out of my old computer when I purchased my new one. So the old one i put into a case and use it as an external hard drive.

So the other day it just shot shit and so now I supposse I lost everything on it which is really bad. When it's on, my computer no longer sees it so the icon doesn't show up. It makes a high pitched buzzing noise, but it's not real loud. And if I put my ear up to the casing I can hear a clicking/ticking noise much like the noise you hear on a clock.

Is there anything I can do to get it started back up long enough to get my files off of it?

[DaveKCMO]

take it (or send it) to a professional data recovery service. unless you're a pro or have exactly the right software it might be hard to recover the data yourself. i took my failed drive to river city solutions and they were able to rescue about 95% of my data. i don't remember exactly what it cost ($300?), but i also bought a new drive that cost at least $100 of the total.

[anniewarbucks]

I do not think that you can. I think that your drive is gone. The thing that you can do if you are knowledgeable doing it wold require a drive of the same make and model number. You would have to take both drives apart, remove both disks, replace the disk with your disk, put the good drive back together and you should be able to retrieve your files. 

[Angel]

You should have a professional do it.  But be prepared in case they can't recover anything.  Did you have the important stuff backed up?

[PumpkinStalker]

Too bad it's not a 6 disc cd changer.  I now have some experience with those!

[KCKev]

Don't give up hope..It may be your external case causing the problem.. Try reconnecting it the original way on the computer you took it from... (I take it it was your boot drive , so trieing to use it as a non boot drive can cause trouble as it is formatted to boot the start up)

[phuqueue]

Has it ever worked since you took it out of your computer?  It's obviously important to determine whether the hard drive is actually damaged or you just didn't hook it back up correctly.  Why exactly did you take it out of the computer in the first place?  Most computers should be able to handle at least two internal hard drives (mine actually has three, and I have another computer that only has one drive in it but can accommodate up to four, two PATA and two SATA).  Did you specifically want to use it as an external or were you just unable to use two internal hard drives?  If I were you, I would try doing as KCKev says and put it back into the computer.  But make sure you switch the jumpers to make it a slave if you neglected to do that before, then see if you can access it.  If you did just hook it back up wrong, all your data should be fine and easy to recover.  If it actually is damaged, then as others have suggested, your best bet is to try a professional data recovery service.

[AllThingsKC]

Has it ever worked since you took it out of your computer?  It's obviously important to determine whether the hard drive is actually damaged or you just didn't hook it back up correctly.  Why exactly did you take it out of the computer in the first place?  Most computers should be able to handle at least two internal hard drives (mine actually has three, and I have another computer that only has one drive in it but can accommodate up to four, two PATA and two SATA).  Did you specifically want to use it as an external or were you just unable to use two internal hard drives?  If I were you, I would try doing as KCKev says and put it back into the computer.  But make sure you switch the jumpers to make it a slave if you neglected to do that before, then see if you can access it.  If you did just hook it back up wrong, all your data should be fine and easy to recover.  If it actually is damaged, then as others have suggested, your best bet is to try a professional data recovery service.

I would recommend taking it to a professional.  This kind of work can be very tricky.  Even if a professional can't recover the data, they could have better odds than you would, if you tried to do it personally.  On the flip side, professionals can be very expensive.  So, if you think you are fully capable of recovering the data by yourself (if you have the proper tools and knowledge), then you might be wise just to take the risk and try it yourself and save whatever money a professional would charge. 

When my 6-disc CD changer broke, I had to take it to a professional.  Needless to say, I'm still making payments.   :x

Good luck!

Too bad it's not a 6 disc cd changer.  I now have some experience with those!

You know, if it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be able to say that.  So, you're welcome! 

[phuqueue]

I don't know, I wouldn't necessarily take it to a professional right away unless my suggestion that it may have been incorrectly connected is wrong.  People don't really seem to realize just how remarkably easy it is to mess around inside a computer, and how little knowledge you really need to work in there without messing anything up.  If you've got all the components and a screwdriver, it literally takes all of about 15 minutes to build a computer from scratch, and if you know how to read then that's about 90% of the knowledge that you need.  But, as easy as it is, there are lots of little details that are easy to overlook and can hinder functionality.  If he simply misplaced a jumper or something (not sure if the jumpers matter in this case, I've never converted an internal hard drive into an external before, but the jumper is just an example of something that's small and easy to overlook but really easy to correct), that's something that he can fix in a few minutes on his own with virtually no risk of damaging anything, and if he takes it in to a professional he'll get charged a bundle just because he took it in to a professional.  On the other hand, obviously if the drive itself is damaged, taking it to a pro is his only real option.  Annie's suggestion that he get an identical hard drive and swap the platters himself is utterly ridiculous and I imagine wouldn't work anyway even if it was feasible.  But it certainly makes sense to figure out whether he can troubleshoot it himself first; if he can then it'll get done much faster and free of charge.  If he was confident enough to turn it into an external hard drive on his own in the first place, then I assume he's already looked into all of this himself, but it doesn't hurt to throw it out there just in case.  If it really is just a misplaced jumper or some other minor thing, he'll save a ton of money.

[mean]

I do not think that you can. I think that your drive is gone. The thing that you can do if you are knowledgeable doing it wold require a drive of the same make and model number. You would have to take both drives apart, remove both disks, replace the disk with your disk, put the good drive back together and you should be able to retrieve your files. 

Don't do that, you'll destroy any chance of getting your data off. Hard drives are assembled in clean rooms and sealed for a reason.

[KCLover]

Don't give up hope..It may be your external case causing the problem.. Try reconnecting it the original way on the computer you took it from... (I take it it was your boot drive , so trieing to use it as a non boot drive can cause trouble as it is formatted to boot the start up)

Thank you Thank you! This was it!
I got it to work by your method! I would have never thought about that. I really Appreciate it! 

Has it ever worked since you took it out of your computer?  It's obviously important to determine whether the hard drive is actually damaged or you just didn't hook it back up correctly.  Why exactly did you take it out of the computer in the first place?  Most computers should be able to handle at least two internal hard drives (mine actually has three, and I have another computer that only has one drive in it but can accommodate up to four, two PATA and two SATA).  Did you specifically want to use it as an external or were you just unable to use two internal hard drives?  If I were you, I would try doing as KCKev says and put it back into the computer.  But make sure you switch the jumpers to make it a slave if you neglected to do that before, then see if you can access it.  If you did just hook it back up wrong, all your data should be fine and easy to recover.  If it actually is damaged, then as others have suggested, your best bet is to try a professional data recovery service.

I got it to work but to answer some of your questions. Yes it did work and all off a sudden it stopped working. I'm either guessing the external case itself caused the problems and the connections inside went bad or somehow VISTA lost my drivers.. I took it out of the computer because I bought a new one that was built for me wasn't a boxed computer and it didn't have a older Ribbon cable hookup inside it. The HD is ribbon and not the newer SATA. So I used it external for the time being. Then, several months ago I went out and bought another new computer from Best Buy- boxed HP variety and used the external on there up until several days ago when it stopped working suddenly. I opened it up and realized there was a ribbon cable connection hidden in there so I went up to best buy tonight and got a longer cable so I could try it out and sure enough it works!

And thank you for telling me to hook it back into the computer!

Thank you guys, your a life saver! 

And thank you everybody else for the suggestions I really appreciate the input as I was pulling my hair out.

[Joemoney]

I'm not sure if it would work for this instance, but many people fix their hard drives by putting them in the freezer and then running them cold.

http://www.lockergnome.com/blade/2006/1 ... e-freezer/

Edit:  Oh darn you fixed it.  Put it in the freezer anyway, for giggles.

[KCLover]

I'm not sure if it would work for this instance, but many people fix their hard drives by putting them in the freezer and then running them cold.

http://www.lockergnome.com/blade/2006/1 ... e-freezer/

Edit:  Oh darn you fixed it.  Put it in the freezer anyway, for giggles.

Someone else told me about the freezer trick, sounded interesting. Glad I didn't have to do that approach, thank you for the effort to help me though, much appreciated. 

[phuqueue]

Glad you got it to work.  For future reference, even if you find yourself with a motherboard that only has SATA connections, you can buy a PCI card with IDE connections.  Here's one for example, just the very first one I found.  Twelve bucks, two IDE connectors.  I'm actually using one in my computer, except it's a SATA PCI card; my motherboard is pretty old and doesn't have onboard SATA.  You've evidently got another computer now with a motherboard with onboard PATA, but just something to keep in mind if you ever have this problem again and no longer have that motherboard handy.

As far as what might have caused the problem, did you by any chance leave the hard drive constantly connected and turned on?  I'm afraid I don't know enough about computers to explain why this is a problem, but it can be -- I pretty much burned out my external hard drive's USB connector by never turning it off, and I know other people who have done the same thing.  The drive itself is completely intact, just very difficult for me to use unless I feel like shelling out for a PCI firewire card (yeah, my motherboard doesn't have firewire either).  Mine didn't completely stop working though, it just will only work for limited periods of time before it needs some downtime.  If you never turned it off, you might have a similar, albeit apparently much worse, situation.  If that's the case, I don't really know what you can do -- start using the firewire if you can (or start using the USB if it's firewire that has stopped working) or just get a new external enclosure all together.  Depending how long you've had it, maybe you can call in the warranty on the one you've already got.

[KCLover]

Thank You for the reference on that PCI card. After this scare, I think i'm going to go out and buy a new HD and put it in my computer so it will have SATA connectors. I'm suprised this HP that I have had the onboard PATA connector, it was hidden pretty well though.

You know I don't know what could have caused it. Earlier my new Western Digital external hard drive wasn't showing up on my computer earlier, now it is. I think you might be prety close on the connections. Either that or i'm having a problem with Vista recognizing my hard drives drivers.
I did leave that external on pretty much all the time. Infact, it was on and when I came home from work I got on the computer and I noticed the high pitched sound coming from the hard drive and the clicking noise. I also have a habit of leaving my computer on for long periods of time. On the problem hard drive I was using Firewire and on this Western Digital i'm using USB. I'm going to guess that external enclosure went bad, but not for sure because of the other hard drive not being recognized by Vista. Computers make my head hurt. 

[KCKev]

Thank you Thank you! This was it!
I got it to work by your method! I would have never thought about that. I really Appreciate it! 



I got it to work but to answer some of your questions. Yes it did work and all off a sudden it stopped working. I'm either guessing the external case itself caused the problems and the connections inside went bad or somehow VISTA lost my drivers.. I took it out of the computer because I bought a new one that was built for me wasn't a boxed computer and it didn't have a older Ribbon cable hookup inside it. The HD is ribbon and not the newer SATA. So I used it external for the time being. Then, several months ago I went out and bought another new computer from Best Buy- boxed HP variety and used the external on there up until several days ago when it stopped working suddenly. I opened it up and realized there was a ribbon cable connection hidden in there so I went up to best buy tonight and got a longer cable so I could try it out and sure enough it works!

And thank you for telling me to hook it back into the computer!

Thank you guys, your a life saver! 

And thank you everybody else for the suggestions I really appreciate the input as I was pulling my hair out.

Great news! Im still running win 98 and have had to do all my trouble shooting and driver hunts every time I have a problem...

guess it might be time to upgrade to at least xp pro.

[anniewarbucks]

You would enjoy XP Pro KCKev. I have been using XP for a while now and enjoy it. Just make sure that you have enough memory to run it though.