mechanically dead hdd

right... so all i did was connect a floppy drive, switched my computer back on and the hard drive started clicking away like mad, so apparently that means the arms broken (?), and it happens to have half of the only copy of my 3rd year undergraduate project on, and i happen to be too poor for data-salvage companies...

so my only option is to try it myself. has anyone ever tried this before, with any success? everything ive read has warned me off it, but i really dont have any choice! any help would be VERY VERY appreciated
thanks!

 

Ouch....the arm just...decided to break? Its probably got a mind of its own, and thought it would be funny....Ive never read any articles or reviews on Personal Data Salvage....if it were me....I would just leave it up to the pros...see if you can borrow some money from your project team members...

Do you have any links or information on where I can read up on doing it yourself....I actually Might have to do it myself as well...I have 2 drives that went out on me...and Although I can afford the price in a few weeks....Id like the stuff now, lol. Also how much does it cost to have it done? Best of luck to you man, I know whats it like to loose important stuff

 

I know a guy that actually takes the drive apart, and swaps the discs into
another identical drive, fires it up and salvages the data.

 

The clunking sound ( repetitive clunk clunk clunk ) is normaly a sign of a crashed head....Iv never seen a drive with a broken arm...( and iv thrown them bildings and ran them over ) Id say your only chance ( other then pro data recovory ) whould be to put the drive in the freezer for ~ half and hour then try it ( after it warms back up and thare is no chance of condinsation ) its a long shot but it worked for me twice.......donno how it works heres a quick link havent even read it yet..... its 4:25 AM here im getting some sleep...

http://www.meetmyattorney.com/slink/mt-archives/000275.html

 

It sounds like you may need to replace your hard drive i know what it's like when your hard drive goes bad on you.

 

Wow that freezer idea is crazy...im reading some of those posts on the link you provided...looks like it actually works...I will try that on my drives as soon as I get another one

 

" This definatley isn't an urban legend, like someone said earlier; it's a crapshoot. What happens sometimes on older drives or drives that are over worked is that the READ and Write Heads expand over time, once these expand so much they will not write to the platter. By puttting it in the freezer for about 30 min to 45 min it actually shrinks the Read And Write Heads back to an operatable state. If this does work for you copy your important data right away as this is usually only a temp. fix which may last for a few min. or a few hours. Make sure you put your hard drive in an air tight zip lock bag when you put it in the freezer, you do not want any moisture to get in it."

Mmmm thares some general ID10T errors on my link ...stuped posts.....

 

Noted....will do that....And ACE...for the record if you didnt see my post in the Overclocking section.....

Oustanding Post on Overclocking....Someone who knows minimal knowledge of the BIOS and FSB....could read that, and learn how to overclock with no problems. I learned alot I didnt know about RAM and FSB, so thank you.

 

Heres another good bios how to ... http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20050922/index.html .... And ISY keep us up to date on your hard drive prob....

 

THANKYOU so much for the freezer idea, im going to try that on thursday, as soon as my new drives come (i say "drives" as im not taking any more chances, and everythings getting backed up for evermore!), fingers crossed. my housemate (who does a degree in computer science) told me the arm has slipped off the plates, so i dont know what freezing would do if thats the case, but he could be wrong. i will report on the freezing though!

 

If the arm slipped, or if it really did break, then freezing it probably won't make the problem any worse.