major help regarding hard drives

so here I am playing ROSE, downloading movies and MP3s, and playing songs on winamp and then suddenly, and i mean suddenly, My PC crashed. No biggie yet until....

I rebooted my PC only to find out that my Hard drive doesn't appear on bios, much less on windows. Why? could it be toast? It doesn't look like it's toast anywhere at all. When I plugged it in on my sister's PC to temporarily test it's functionality, it's still none. It doesn't show up on Bios and on Windows. This obviously means I don't have access to my HDD.

Any ideas on how i can get to use my hard drive again? your help will be highly appreciated. Thank you

 

Sounds like your hard drive died. It has happened to almost every Western Digital I've ever owned. After a bad hard drive or two you learn to backup important data. But, you could manually insert the heads, cylinders, etc into your bios to see if that will work (I doubt it will). I think your hard drive needs to be replaced if the bios in two computers can't recognize it.

 

call me a dummy but I'd rather not try the freezer solution. I can't even tell if you're serious x.x regarding the cable/mother boards... it's not that because both PCs can't recognize the drive.

regarding the dead drive thing... is there ANY way to possible extract any data in it? i know it's a 100% no but I'm desperate x.x

 

There are data recovery services. Two data recovery services that I have heard of are Disks Savers and ESS Data Recovery Labs. But like D3m3nt3d said they probably cost a lot.

 

I've froze them also (with succes) and my boss tells me to always turn them upside down after removing them and try to extract data with them running upside down. Can you confirm this MA? Also, sometimes it a takes a few freezing/data recovery attempts to get everything.

 

ok. I'll take your word for it for next time. I've got this forum bookmarked here on my sister's PC. too late for the freezing solution because my HD is already back at the shop where i bought it from. warranty ^^

 

Odds are you will recieve a new drive!!

Whatever you get back from them...I will almost bet my wifes wedding ring that it will come back with nothing on it!!

Roger

 

I have actually seen this suggested in my PC World magazine!!!!

The whole theory behind it is...the cold causes all the parts to restrict and become tighter!! So if, for example, a moving part is worn out from friction over time...then the freezing might cause that moving part to become tight enough again to function long enough to pull some important data off of it!!!!

Like Major Geek said...Nobody here is going to tell you to do something that will potentially harm the situation!!!! And in your case...you really had nothing to lose anyway!!!

Roger

 

oh so that's how it works... My college prof told me to keep it in the freezer for 3-5 hours. is that right or does it have to be overnight? if i do try overnight... wouldn't the ice melt resulting in a wet drive and then... well i always thought that wet drives = wasted..

 

thanks

 

When you do put it in the freezer, for however long...don't be in and out of the freezer...shut it and try not to open it till time to take it out!! Everytime you open the freezer...there is a potential of moisture getting in the freezer...which is how ice builds up in the freezer, especially if the door is open for long periods of time!! Which...obviously you don't want that to happen to the drive, cause when you take it out...what you explained is possible...though, most likely...not probable!! Most hard drives are sealed up pretty good!!!!

So...when you put it in there...go ahead and get the t.v. dinner out that you want for lunch!!! LOL

Roger

 

I guess I'll have to warn everyone in this household about it. thanks again

 

Good idea...but like I said...that most likely won't happen...but it is better to be safe than sorry!!

It is not like handling a container of plutonium!!! Not that i've ever done that...LOL...but you know what I mean!!

Also...maybe wrap it in a nice and DRY towel to try and avoid any moisture freezing to the outside...so when you do put it back in the computer..it won't melt and maybe drip off into the computer!!!

Roger