Need Seagate Barracuda 500GB for data recovery

rolf

Hi!
I need this hard drive for data recovery purposes:
Seagate 500GB (3"/workstation format, not laptop...) SATA, Barracuda 7200.10
ST3500830AS <-that's the product code. It should appear in the BIOS

I have one of these, and the data is not accessible on it, so I am looking for another one to swap controller boards with. If you have this drive, in working condition (or one that has a compatible controller board), then I will buy it, or pay you to borrow the controller board (I guarantee no data loss and a replacement if it is damaged)

Thanks

Padre

how do u know it's the controller and not the head it stuck ? :P

rolf

Padre wrotehow do u know it's the controller and not the head it stuck ? :P

I dont... How can I know? Some guy told me it's the head that's stuck, but I didnt believe him. Do you think I can open it and "unstick it" then? I already did this once but on a 3 MB decade old disk.

J4D

try to turn the disks with your hand if you feel they are stuck , and the read write arm is above the disks ; ya3teek il 3afyeh . if they turn freely its most probably the board . have you tried to mount it on a Linux system because that seemed to work out for me once ago .

sys-halt

PLEASE DON'T OPEN IT rolf, Hard Disks and other Electromagnetic Storage's only opened in Clean Rooms, not our rooms!! Big different:-).

Part of my job is Data Recovery, and most of the times like 90% of the times controller issue I found it when you boot your PC but your system does not detect your HDD and you will not feel it working no faint noise or smooth movement internally, so you put your hand on it and you feel nothing and with time it does not get warmed, so no energy is being dispersed. In that case you can 90% say it is a controller issue, so doing your technique will mostly do the work properly.

is it is Internal Error, like Head Stuck, you will hear loud ticking and noise and your PC starts to Detect it and then get Freeze for a while and when you check it in the BIOS it give scrambled name and numbers so it does not detect it right. in that case it is really better to take it to a Data Recovery Company, the normal charge is between 400 to 600$ depends on how much the Mechanical Part is damaged, they normally order the same HDD type from the manufacturer and use the parts to get Data Back.

But did you check first your Motherboard? Did you swap cables, connectors or jumpers? maybe your SATA controller on the Motherboard is damaged, try change it to another SATA connector. and I advice you first to buy external enclosure, but your HDD inside it and plug by USB to your PC and see it will be detected.

if your PC detects your HDD but giving you inaccessible Error Message, like it may say Disk is un-initialized and needs to be formatted. I normally do format it and use Recovery Software to pull the Data back.

jadberro's idea is applicable, sometimes we raise it like 15 cm and drop it to the ground or put it in a freezer. such techniques might work depending on the real problem

hope your HDD it is not a part of a RAID Strucuture!!

if you can tell us more information we will see more ideas to help you properly rolf.

rolf

sys-halt wroteis it is Internal Error, like Head Stuck, you will hear loud ticking and noise and your PC starts to Detect it and then get Freeze for a while and when you check it in the BIOS it give scrambled name and numbers so it does not detect it right. in that case it is really better to take it to a Data Recovery Company, the normal charge is between 400 to 600$ depends on how much the Mechanical Part is damaged, they normally order the same HDD type from the manufacturer and use the parts to get Data Back.

The PC freezes on BIOS for a long time, then the disk does not appear in the BIOS disk list. It doesn a repeating noise (once every 3-4 seconds) but it's not a click but a mechanical beep noise.

sys-halt wroteBut did you check first your Motherboard? Did you swap cables, connectors or jumpers? maybe your SATA controller on the Motherboard is damaged, try change it to another SATA connector. and I advice you first to buy external enclosure, but your HDD inside it and plug by USB to your PC and see it will be detected.

Yes, yes, yes, tried 2 external enclosures and also directly on a board.

sys-halt wroteif your PC detects your HDD but giving you inaccessible Error Message, like it may say Disk is un-initialized and needs to be formatted. I normally do format it and use Recovery Software to pull the Data back.

I know, thanks. The disk is giving weird noises as outlined above and is not spinning (I cannot feel the centrifugal forces). It does try to spin though.

sys-halt wrotejadberro's idea is applicable, sometimes we raise it like 15 cm and drop it to the ground or put it in a freezer. such techniques might work depending on the real problem

Thanks, I might try that.

sys-halt wrotehope your HDD it is not a part of a RAID Strucuture!!

if you can tell us more information we will see more ideas to help you properly rolf.

No, it was an external drive containing lots of unbacked data. It was actually inside a "LaCie" enclosure. (LaCie 500GB external drive).
What other info can i give you?
:)

nuclearcat

putting on freezer or dropping it can make your case really difficult. If i had time... we have russian forum where is data recovery engineers sitting and they can give advice.
Best way - u need special interface to get something like JTAG access to controller, and they can know exact error code number.
Btw, sometimes flash of controller containts adaptation data for your media, so changing controller not always works.

nuclearcat

Mechanical beep noise - can be issue with reading service sectors on HDD (service data corrupted).

rolf

@nuclearcat

Thanks!
I dont know if I can find a JTAG interface though... I might just keep trying to find a similar board and swap. I'll do a google research too.

I think I'm going to give up on data recovery.

Padre

is it is Internal Error, like Head Stuck, you will hear loud ticking and noise and your PC starts to Detect it and then get Freeze for a while and when you check it in the BIOS it give scrambled name and numbers so it does not detect it right. in that case it is really better to take it to a Data Recovery Company, the normal charge is between 400 to 600$ depends on how much the Mechanical Part is damaged, they normally order the same HDD type from the manufacturer and use the parts to get Data Back.

lol .... if the head is stuck, the disk dosen't spin. if i received a shock or smth of the sort, then u will hear the "click of heath".
and i already operated stuck heads without a clean room. just make sure u wear gloves, and have a decent "clean air pump" to remove all the dust that might fall on it. if u are really hopeless i can give u a hand there :D

sys-halt

I tried Freezing couple of times and it worked fine with me nuclearcat, but the issue is that you need to backup your data immediately because it might not be detected again properly. and as I said it really depends on the actually type of problem. it might work it might not. and please note I never noticed an article cautions users that freezing will make things worth.

Padre please read right, I didn't say if head stuck it will spin! the noise ticking is from the mechanical process of trying to spin, and it needs clean room. otherwise, if it is that easy we will be all able to open a Data Recovery Company!

anyway, the idea is to try give a help if possible to rolf not to try to throw comments without any result.

for removing the doubt please check this link:

http://www.datarecoverypros.com/hard-drive-recovery-freeze.html

good luck rolf,

J4D

Drop the Drive

Drop the drive into a big black waste bin from approximately 20-30 m above. You should drop the drive onto the large closed side. If you miss the bin the first time try it again at a higher altitude of 3000 m , you can also try dropping the drive onto each of the four edges thus killing every hope of reviving the drive .

my personal suggestion is not to drop it ! nor hit it ! if the head is stuck it may scratch the surface of the magnetic disks thus killing your data ! .
good luck with the recovery , if i find anything useful to help you out ill tell you .

rolf

sys-halt wrotePadre please read right, I didn't say if head stuck it will spin! the noise ticking is from the mechanical process of trying to spin, and it needs clean room. otherwise, if it is that easy we will be all able to open a Data Recovery Company!

Maybe we can??

sys-halt wrotegood luck rolf,

jadberro wrotegood luck with the recovery , if i find anything useful to help you out ill tell you .

Thanks :)