Hard Drive issues - what to try next?

I've never attempted to fix hardware before, but this time I'd much rather save some money and go it alone. So here is my situation. The problem began when I slammed my laptop shut one day, and from then on it wouldn't boot.

-Tried Startup Repair, it attempts to load and just bluescreens.
-Tried starting normally, just pauses for about 2 minutes then restarts.
-Tried safe mode, didn't work.
-Removed Hard Drive and put it in an external hard drive in another laptop (which I no longer have access to) and tried 3 or 4 data recovery programs. Some of which didn't recognise the drive, and those which did recognised it as RAW. Their scans of the HD which were supposed to last an hour or two, lasted about 3 weeks, and when I attempted to then recover the data they crashed.

The data was recognised though as being about 100GB so I know that my files are still on there. So what now? Should I open it up and check for abnormalities?

It's a Toshiba MK1652GSX 160GB drive. I think I posted this in the right place but mods feel free to move if I got it wrong. Thanks in advance for any advice!

http://thumbnails32.imagebam.com/12146/c6ada2121450070.jpghttp://thumbnails27.imagebam.com/12146/20c049121450073.jpghttp://thumbnails29.imagebam.com/12146/8e0ce8121450074.jpghttp://thumbnails39.imagebam.com/12146/e412de121450075.jpg

 

If you opened the drive you would let in dust and dirt and totally void any warranty or the ability of a data recovery company to get your data back.
Abnormality? I'm quite sure you wouldn't know one if you saw it, unless a read head is broken off and then you'd not be able to fix it anyway. So leave it closed.

If the data on that drive is worth a lot of money to you, then inquire of the Data Recovery Companies, what they would charge you to recover it.

Good Luck,
:cool

 

Thanks for the reply, I only opened the cover of the drive as shown, and didn't expose the really important parts inside, so now I've put it back together.

However, I'm wondering what data recovery people could do that I couldn't. I think it's a physical problem inside the drive like perhaps a head coming into contact with the platter? I'm open to any suggestions, whether it involves opening it up or plugging it back in and trying something.

 

Greetings, Gib48.

In a clean room environment, the 'data recovery people' would be able to physically dismount the platters and salvage the data contained on those disks. They are not repair outfits, so they're not worried about returning your drive - all they're after is the data.

In your recovery program testing, did you try booting to a Linux distro? Occasionally, Linux can mount a drive that other programs can't and enable you to save files to a flash drive.

I'm not finding any Toshiba diagnostics tools.

 

Okay, so the physical dismantling of the drive can only be done in a laboratory setting? Not in a relatively clean/dustfree room or outdoors when it's calm? To be honest, just to retrieve the data would be great, repairing the drive would just be a bonus.

No I haven't tried that, how would I go about this? Install Linux on a flash drive and plug both the flash drive and the hard drive into the computer that won't start?

Also which version should I use?

 

You really need to think back to what was happening before and during the demise of the drive. Noises, smells, hangs, everything. You need to get a reasonable diagnosis before deciding what route to take.

It's a SATA, it will connect directly to a recent desktop/tower PC, if you can do that, you'll be able to hold it and listen/feel for problems. Connecting internally to another PC will almost certainly allow all recovery software to work - no USB drivers for the external device to load or to get in the way.

No point in dismantling a drive if the problem lies with the electronics side of it.



Never a good idea to dismantle a drive to attempt data recovery - unless the next stop is a dump.

 

The drive was in good condition before a rush of blood caused me to slam my laptop that fateful day. No noises, smells, performance issues or anything out of the ordinary.

Unfortunately I don't have access to a PC at the moment, not one where I can be swapping HDs over anyway.

Seems as though dismantling is a last resort then, so among any other suggestions I'm hoping for some elaboration on booting to Linux.

 

Download a GPARTED live CD, and boot from it. You can clone your hard drive partitions onto an external, and plug that into another PC and see what you can and cant use.

 

Slammed it shut?
Possible that something other than the drive was jarred loose.
Have you checked the memory modules for being fully seated?
What about cable connections?
I always check those first before going any deeper.

 

I tried this last night and it didn't work, just resulted in a black screen with a flashing cursor in the upper-left corner. This is the method that I used:

-Download GParted Live
-Burn .iso file to blank CD-R
-Put CD 1st in boot order in BIOS
-Start computer with CD in drive
-Hit any key when it says "Hit any key to boot from CD/DVD..."

and that's it. I guess tonight I will try it from a flash drive. Probably won't make a difference but at least I'll try.

Nope, I don't know how or where they are.

Which?

 

Hi again guys, small upate. I downloaded GPARTED to a USB drive and tried booting it with that, but it reacted as though I tried to boot from the hard drive - basically ignored it and went to the "Windows failed to start" screen where I have the option to Launch Startup Repair or Start Windows Normally.

Maybe I did it wrong? Just downloaded the iso and drag-and-dropped it into the USB.

I still have a few outstanding questions from before:
-How do I check that the memory modules are ok?
-Can a drive only be safely dismantled in a lab?
-Was the method I used for booting from the CD correct?

Thanks

 

I successfully managed this yesterday, and booted my computer with GParted Live on its default settings. I didn't understand what the other settings were. It recognised my HD as a device and it appears as though all of the data is still on it as it was showing as 147.58GB.

The first thing I tried was clicking Device, then Attempt Data Rescue, but it just said that it was searching it for about half an hour with no progress appearing to be made. Also it clicked louder than usual at the start, then stopped. But if I put my finger on it then it clicked loudly again.

So is there anything else I can do with GParted? There is the option to click Partition then Check & Repair but I did this and it said something like "are you sure, this may cause loss of data" so I got scared and didn't do it. Also there is of course the option to Format, but then I've lost everything right?

The only other thing I found when booting to GParted is what I imagine to be irrelevant info, by clicking Device Information:
Partition table: msdos
Heads: 255
Sectors/track: 63
Cylinders: 19457
Total sectors: 312581808
Sector size: 512

Oh also when my HD showed up it had next to it the "caution" yellow triangle with a ! inside it.

 

Good morning.

Since you can boot to GParted, your best bet now might be to follow Groinsh0t's suggestion and transfer the data to another drive if possible. The longer you manipulate that 'clicking' drive, the closer you're coming to losing everything.

 

Using the gparted CD, see if you can copy the files on the defective HDD to an external drive. You may need to go through it and figure out what you want and what you don't want. Either way, copying over to an external is your best bet at this point. You are still in good shape if you are able to see your data with the gparted CD booted up. As Caliban said, don't waist time in doing this as your HDD may get to a point where data recovery at YOUR level becomes impossible.

Gotta love Linux!!!!

Best of luck to you in recovering your data.

All the best,

Ian

 

Thanks for the suggestions, just to clarify I can't actually see my file-tree or anything, just that my HDD still appears to contain a lot of data. I will allow it more time to search for data to recover and report back later this week.

 

Did you ever try Minitool Power Data Recovery? It may be able to get past the RAW problem as it will try to find lost partitions.

You could use it with the drive slaved to another computer or if you install the program then there is an option to burn a boot CD where you could try that method if necessary.