Computer hard drive

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
kreeper

kreeper

Active Member
Messages
76
I have a second hard drive that i use to store photos. It has crapped out on me. I was wondering if anyone on here knew how to fix it or at least get the pics off of it. I don't care about the hard drive its self but it has pics that can not be replaced.
 
You might try computer repair shops there is a way to retrieve files from old harddrives but i think it is pretty expensive. But your photos may be worth it.
 
You could try the freezing method since it's free. You pop you hard drive in the freezer for 15 minutes and then take it out and haul @$$ to your pc. Plug it in and start it up. I did this about 4 years ago with one of my hard drives and it worked. Putting it in the freezer won't ruin your hard drive so it's a good free thing to try.
 
Could he physically removes the hard drive platters and install them in a different hard drive?
 
Its an internal. Yeah I could just take it to a shop but I thought there might be a trick I can try first. I'm not sure how it went bad. One day it was working good and today when i turned on my pc it wont recognize the hard drive is even plugged in.
 
Check the bios and see if the drive is recognized. If not try unplugging the drive from the system completely and then plug it back in and check the bios again. As long as the drive spins up and the bios recognizes it you should be able to recover the files. If you want PM me with the results. I have some utilities you can use if need be.
Let me know.
 
Ive checked in the bios and it says its plugged in with the correct hard drive name. but all the hard drive does is click. like its trying to spin but cant.
 
I just had one that did that, but it was an external and usb, so I took it apart and plugged it into my old computer bypassing the usb cable to get the files off of it. I'm guessing that what FX was thinking??? You still have life, work with KeithV and try some of his utilities
 
That could be a problem. We need the drive to spin up if there is any chance of recovering the files.
With the system off place your hand on the back of the drive and turn the computer on. Can you feel it start to spin? You should also hear the heads moving like its reading the plates.
You may want to try a different power connector too. Ive had them go bad before.
Let me know if you get it spinning and we can go from there.
 
Ok Keithv yes it does spin. Then it starts to click. I even tried it on my sons pc with other plugs and its all the same. up close you can hear it still spinning. I guess its maybe that arm that reads the disk that clicking?
 
That could definitely be a problem.
Does it show up in windows at all? Is it that you just cant access it or its not listed?
 
In the system bios it says its there but when I get into windows it doesnt show up on the list. I have tried every config. you can think of with the jumpers just incase and still nothing.
 
The point of freezing the HD is because it can allows a seized bearing to temporally spin. If a bearing failed in your HD this may work.
 
The freezing method can work. be very careful with condensation. There are companies that can retrieve data from the platters but it is costly. You will be looking at a few hundred dollars. I would say give the freezing method a go. Google some articles on the process as the articles will give good info on how to prevent condensation (it will occur once the drive comes out of the freezer). A last resort method is to hit the HDD. Sounds stupid but it does work in some cases but it is a last resort method cause if it doesn't fix it it will destroy it. I have used these methods before with varying success, really depends on the drive and what is wrong.

Good Luck.
 
Fxstrongside said:
You could try the freezing method since it's free. You pop you hard drive in the freezer for 15 minutes and then take it out and haul @$$ to your pc. Plug it in and start it up. I did this about 4 years ago with one of my hard drives and it worked. Putting it in the freezer won't ruin your hard drive so it's a good free thing to try.
Click to expand...

I did mine for 15 minutes some may say longer or shorter but that's what I did and it gave me a good 30 minutes to get all my p0rn....er..pictures off my HD. jk about the p0rn...
 
well I'm not worried about the stuff thats not family pics. The other stuff ive seen to many times and its time to change up anyways.
 
you said it does not pick up the harddirve on windows right well plug it back in and on the desktop right click on my computer go to mangage and then go to disk managment and it should pick it up as it pick it up from bios have a look at the status and let me know what it says you might need to format it throw dos then download a recovery program from the web and recover you files hope this helps
 
Do not take the drive apart. if you are not in a sterile environment you will kill it 100%. That is why I run raid on my drives. If I loose one drive all info is stored on the other. You might want to think about it. Your pc depending on the age should have a raid controller.
 
Well all my stuff is stored on that hard drive with the pics. I did use it as a back up hard drive. We had all the pics stored on that hard drive and my wifes laptop but she sold her laptop to get a newer one and the shop that she traded it into wipe the hard drive clean.
 
You still might be able to recover your files. You need to run a partition utility on the drive.
Where are you located?
 
I'm in NC but a friend of mine has an uncle that works on pc's so I gave it to him to try. Thanks for the help everyone
 
I hope it can all be recovered for ya. I know how bad that sucks bud.
 
Keep us posted on the outcome. And if he gets it to work, what the problem was. Good luck.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 680 (members: 1, guests: 679)
Back
Top