Hard Drive with my OS suddenly shit the bed
 

Despite Crystal Disk Info telling me the drive was feeling crescent fresh, suddenly the computer could no longer see it.

I took it to my local guru and he noted the awful clicking noise as it tried to spin up.
The drive didn't have a lot of important files on it, but it did have all my software, most of which I believe is backed up.

I need to decide if I want to send the drive out to have the data recovered or not. It is not cheap, apparently.

Mainly, I'd like to know what is on there to see if it is something that needs recovering or if I can let everything go.

In the meantime, I have a spare drive with XP so I will have to start populating that with software now.

Over a grand in some cases

I suppose my not remembering what was on that drive might be an indication of how important it was.

Or it's critical: you used that drive to remember tomorrow what you agreed to forget today.

So I investigated having the drive opened and assessed for recovery by one of the reputable companies that does this thing. They will look at it and if nothing can be recovered there is no charge. If they can recover stuff but you elect not to there is a $35 charge.

I'd mostly like to see what's on the thing to decide if there is anything worth saving. On the other hand, there are a number of videos of guys opening up drives in their living rooms and manually moving the stuck arms back into place. e.g.


Being the cheap-ass, DIY motherfucker that I am, I'm considering opening the thing up and just seeing what happens. I'm 99% sure there are no pictures of files on there that aren't backed up elsewhere or can't be downloaded again. The main problem is that all the service packs and updates are on the pooched drive, and a number of bits of software I have rely on the most recent (for XP) service packs and updates. I hae been been downloading them and installing them by hand since I can't connect that machine to the internet without dragging it to the library and hooking it up to their connection. At which point, I'm sure every XP virus will swarm to my computer like iron filings to a magnet.

One guy has a video with a clicking HD and he swapped out the control board from a working drive of the same barnd, size, etc. and the thing began working. He did have to check three or four different boards until he found one that worked. I don't have three or four boards so that method is out.



However, if the board is the problem, opening the drive is irrelevant.

Hmm. here is a video with a link to where to get circuit boards.

be sure to evacuate your clean room before proceeding. one speck of dust can crash a hard drive head

So I've heard. I will try the new PCB for $30 first. ;)

Long before doing all that, execute the manufacturer's comprehensive hardware diagnostic. Numbers in that report what is useful to see the defect. Even Crystal Disk is insufficient. Numbers that mean nothing to you say so much to others.

The software can't diagnose a drive it can't see.

There is a big difference between what third party software's can see and what the manufacturer's diagnostic can see.

If third party diagnostics cannot see it, well a number of items can be defective. If the manufacturer's diagnostic cannot see it, then its PC board is defective or motherboard line drivers have failed.

Not specifically stated - does its disk platter spin up?