[gui_m]

Hello! I remember reading up a long time ago on techniques to recover data from hard drives that were malfunctioning.

I have a 250GB IDE HD. It's detected during the BIOS boot but in windows it won't appear.

I tried booting up with miniPE and Hiren's BootCD and using filemanagers but they all either 'freeze' when i select the 250GB HD and I basically can't access these very important files.

In miniPE, I even tried running OnTrack Recovery HD Diagnostic tool but it also freezes when I scan this HD.

I've heard some bizarre techniques of people like leaving their HDs sealed and protected in the fridge, and then they could get the drive working for a couple of mins to back up data...

any suggestions or comments on what I should do? is that technique possible or just BS?

thanks

[Zxian]

What kind of hard drive is it? I know that Seagate has diagnostic tools to test their hard drives, and I'm guessing that other manufacturers have similar programs/ISOs.

Check the manufacturer's website for such programs and let us know how things go.

[ravashaak]

Quote

I've heard some bizarre techniques of people like leaving their HDs sealed and protected in the fridge, and then they could get the drive working for a couple of mins to back up data...

This is an actual and sometimes effective technique. I know this to be true because I have used it myself. It's not always successful, but it has worked for me on several occassions.

I sealed mine inside an antistatic bag and then stuffed that inside a ziploc freezer bag. I let the drive chill for a couple of hours, then pulled it out and quickly connected it to a system, then recovered the data. This method (if successful) only buys you a small amount of time to retrieve the data. So make certain that you have your gameplan in order before you begin (what data to recover, location to recover data to, etc).

- Ravashaak

[firefoxthebomb]

gui_m, on Aug 2 2005, 12:19 PM, said:

I've heard some bizarre techniques of people like leaving their HDs sealed and protected in the fridge, and then they could get the drive working for a couple of mins to back up data...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thats intresting never heard of this technique, but hey if it works great, Quesiton though, what about when freezing you HD in a freezer bag, like you say, you take it out and plug it in to your ide slot, It is going to start generating heat, so what about the condensation, it is water, does it not fry your electronics.

[D8TA]

Have you tried using BartPE or WinPE? I have been really successful pulling data from dead drives using BartPE.

You also may need to wait several hours when trying stuff on the drive. 250gig drive with a bad cluster/block could take awhile to respond.

This post has been edited by D8TA: 02 August 2005 - 01:11 PM

[ravashaak]

Quote

Thats intresting never heard of this technique, but hey if it works great, Quesiton though, what about when freezing you HD in a freezer bag, like you say, you take it out and plug it in to your ide slot, It is going to start generating heat, so what about the condensation, it is water, does it not fry your electronics.

If the procedure actually works, it won't work for very long. We're talking minutes here in most cases. There have even been instances where I had to repeat the procedure several times in order to limp the data off the drive in sections. And if this procedure actually works for you, it means that by the time the drive heats up enough to cause condensation, you're most likely unable to get data off it at that point anyway (since this procedure causes the metal components within the hard drive to contract due to cold, and thereby become temporarily functional...so, once the drive has heated up enough to cause condensation, it's likely that the components have swelled due to the heat, and your data is once again inaccessible).

- Ravashaak

This post has been edited by ravashaak: 02 August 2005 - 10:40 PM

[PaCiNoLiFe]

Can you hear the drive spinning? If so, I suggest booting up from a norton ghost boot disk if you have access to one and cloning the bad drive to another working drive. Everything will be exactly as it was on your first drive an exact replica. Another option is to do a clean install on a working drive and set it as primary then hook up the bad drive as secondary. Hopefully when you boot up the working drive into the clean OS you just installed it will assign the bad drive it's own letter under my computer and you should be able to navigate through and backup files before it totally goes south. Good luck

This post has been edited by PaCiNoLiFe: 02 August 2005 - 11:44 PM

[darph]

have you tried to plug the bad hd over usb or firewire on your pc and look if the os find it ?

[gui_m]

thanks for the help!

So I put the HD in the freezer for a couple of hours, took it out and plugged it back in... same problem.

I managed to run the utility from IBM/Hitachi (make of my HD) and it was unable to repair and told me I had a defective drive... I would still like to retrieve the data.

Using a DOS filemanager from 'Ultimate BootCD', I actually managed to browse the files within the HD for the first time but when I tried to copy any files it would freeze up. What could I use to retrieve the data? I could try Norton Ghost but I only have like 150GB of free space... can i create an image of only part of the HD?

I've already set the disk to slave and tried booting Windows from another drive but it won't recognize this defective HD. I'll also try BartPE as people have justed.

Thanks for the help people.

This post has been edited by gui_m: 03 August 2005 - 09:18 AM

[PaCiNoLiFe]

I doubt you have used the entire 250GB on your defective drive so if there is at least 150GB of space left on your working drive it should clone fine. It's worth the try because it sounds like your drive if gasping for it's last breath of air. If the data is truly important to you and you truly can't live without it I suggest getting a quote from a data recovery specialist that will open your HD in a clean room and extract the platters and recover your data depending on how much damage the drive has taken. If the drive is making any kind of grinding sounds they suggest to power off and remove the drive because the disk platters might be getting destroyed even further. This is a pretty expensive option though unless you know someone that can cut you some slack but if this interests you google "data recovery specialists" and there you have plenty of choices. Good Luck Again.

[Technoguy]

well Norton ghost wud take some time 2 recover what i suggest u is just keep the drive in a cold place and just gently hammer it and then connect it as secondary and try 2 copy the data quickly thru Xp mite work.

[sakulati]

Hi I suggest you try to seal your hard drive in a plastic so that water will not condense and put it in a freezer for like 2 days. I'm sure its going to be detected in the bios and and will still give you little time to recover all your files. Its based on my experience so try it theres no harm in trying.
Good Luck and Regards.

[rjz]

2 days for the time are you sure?

[indianarchie]

f u put the drive in a freezer ttht long..wont all the components just freeze up totally?