Keith RW Posted July 3, 2023 Report Share Posted July 3, 2023 Morning all, looking for recommendations with regards to possible data recovery from a goosed laptop hard drive that I’m pretty sure has failed due to mechanical issues other than anything else after being dropped whilst in sleep mode. Drive removed from laptop and checked this morning by local pc shop who confirm that it’ is indeed dead. Could do with recovering personal files etc off there which in hindsight should have been backed up on a regular basis ……. Just looked online and there are businesses out offering a service so just need recommendations if anyone been here and done same… cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miserableolgit Posted July 3, 2023 Report Share Posted July 3, 2023 (edited) For DIY I had some success extracting data from a dying external hard drive and deleted files from an old laptop using EaseUS. The process takes a while depending on how deep the program has to go and could corrupt data left on the drive. Encrypted files were not recoverable. I've also removed discs from one drive and swapped them to an identical one and also swapped printed circuit boards from drive to drive but doing both are fraught and needs to be done in as clean an environment as possible. Edited July 3, 2023 by Miserableolgit Rubbish predictive text! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith RW Posted July 3, 2023 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2023 1 minute ago, Miserableolgit said: For DIY I had some success extracting data from a dying external hard drive and deleted files from an old laptop using EaseUS. The process takes a while depending on how deep the program has to go and could corrupt data left on the drive. Encrypted files were not recoverable. I've also removed discs from one drive and swapped them to an identical one and also swapped printed circuit boards from drive to drive but doing both is fraught and has to be done in as clean an environment as possible. Yes, swapping out of the actual discs is what I believe is required, don’t think my dexterity may still be up to it though, look like spending a wet afternoon researching this one, cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discobob Posted July 3, 2023 Report Share Posted July 3, 2023 13 minutes ago, Keith RW said: Morning all, looking for recommendations with regards to possible data recovery from a goosed laptop hard drive that I’m pretty sure has failed due to mechanical issues other than anything else after being dropped whilst in sleep mode. Drive removed from laptop and checked this morning by local pc shop who confirm that it’ is indeed dead. Could do with recovering personal files etc off there which in hindsight should have been backed up on a regular basis ……. Just looked online and there are businesses out offering a service so just need recommendations if anyone been here and done same… cheers Hmmm - if it is a mechanical drive it could be that the arms have smashed the disk - do you know if it spins up all - does it detect as available but not accessible?? Data recovery companies can be quite expensive. If you could find the same model and revision of drive - you may be able to do a transplant but when you get to the platters/arms - as you can imagine the tolerances within them are very tight https://www.wikihow.com/Swap-Hard-Disk-Drive-Platters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miserableolgit Posted July 3, 2023 Report Share Posted July 3, 2023 7 minutes ago, Keith RW said: Yes, swapping out of the actual discs is what I believe is required, don’t think my dexterity may still be up to it though, look like spending a wet afternoon researching this one, cheers As I say it's a fraught process and the chances of success are not that great. If the data is of value to you it might be worth sending it off to a reputable recovery firm but nothing is guaranteed - only the cost! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith RW Posted July 3, 2023 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2023 1 minute ago, discobob said: Hmmm - if it is a mechanical drive it could be that the arms have smashed the disk - do you know if it spins up all - does it detect as available but not accessible?? Data recovery companies can be quite expensive. If you could find the same model and revision of drive - you may be able to do a transplant but when you get to the platters/arms - as you can imagine the tolerances within them are very tight https://www.wikihow.com/Swap-Hard-Disk-Drive-Platters Not sure if it fires up, would have to put it back in and see, the chap in the shop mentioned something along lines of it requesting formatting when they put it in their “reader” thing to see, my son had a look when still in laptop and played around in some bios settings or other( he knows more about these things than me) and said it wouldn’t recognise the drive being present. 1 minute ago, Miserableolgit said: As I say it's a fraught process and the chances of success are not that great. If the data is of value to you it might be worth sending it off to a reputable recovery firm but nothing is guaranteed - only the cost! Seen one online at £79 just before starting this thread, if all else fails Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miserableolgit Posted July 3, 2023 Report Share Posted July 3, 2023 10 minutes ago, Keith RW said: Seen one online at £79 just before starting this thread, if all else fails Best make sure it's a pukka outfit, not some lad in his bedroom tinkering between video games in a room full of dead and disassembled laptops and HD's 😉 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith RW Posted July 3, 2023 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2023 10 minutes ago, Miserableolgit said: Best make sure it's a pukka outfit, not some lad in his bedroom tinkering between video games in a room full of dead and disassembled laptops and HD's 😉 Exactly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith RW Posted July 16, 2023 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2023 Saga continues, Picked up brand new identical drive off the auction site with the intention of swapping the heads out as a starting point as everything else looked fine, intact and as clean as a whistle when the original drive was initially opened up and with the drive having a single platter which should theoretically make the task even easier. Having studied various YouTube video’s, The Idea was to remove heads on the old drive and then simply transfer new ones over as they live in a parked position on a ramp at side of platter, simples…. Bit of a faff removing the old heads with a home made “separator” in place and a tip picked up off YouTube with regards to fashioning one out of plastic strip folded in two but meanwhile noticed a stiff possibly stuck drive motor which got me guessing if that was the real issue despite being assured the drive was spinning up when checked and prior to removing it from the laptop by one who knows better than me… So I then decided to swap the platter over instead and leave everything else in place and in situ on the new drive which being brand new and unused should guarantee all else should be good, this being with the exception of moving the parking ramp a couple of mm aside with heads still parked on it so as to facilitate platter removal and replacement, look feasible as you can see below. All seemed to go well apart from slight fiddle and faff moving ramp and heads aside and then back into place. job done, drive cover replaced, drive plugged into borrowed cradle and then plugged into sons computer….. and nothing detected. Thought about it for a while and decided to remove drive lid, secure the arms/heads with screw to its spindle and power it up to see what, if anything, was happening. What I am getting is the motor spinning up temporarily, a couple of beeps and a couple of twitches from the head arms and then motor shutting down and which I now suspect are the arms/heads are possibly stuck and also possibly fubared in situ on the parking ramp. Not wanting to progress further and risk platter damage attempting to use either of the heads, Plan “C” is to consider purchasing another new unused drive of the auction site and swap out the new heads into the first new unit, would be great if I could get a hold of a proper separating comb prior to doing so…. Would also have been great to spot the stuck motor, if that’s what it was, and retry drive before having removed the original heads, but we are where we are as they say, hopefully fat fingers is just the issue here and next head change will be successful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miserableolgit Posted July 16, 2023 Report Share Posted July 16, 2023 PC board ok? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith RW Posted July 17, 2023 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2023 10 hours ago, Miserableolgit said: PC board ok? I’m Presuming so with the unit having been purchased as being new, I’m strongly suspecting it is the heads that I moved out of position on the ramp and then back into position to create clearance to remove/replace the platelet that I have disturbed and possibly damaged that the issue, Might try pc a pc board swap from old drive to see if same symptoms as nothing to lose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discobob Posted July 17, 2023 Report Share Posted July 17, 2023 If I recall correctly, the platters have to be aligned as well when they go in - to make sense of your data on there.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith RW Posted July 17, 2023 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2023 33 minutes ago, discobob said: If I recall correctly, the platters have to be aligned as well when they go in - to make sense of your data on there.... Just the one platter in this drive so should be no issues along those lines Bob. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miserableolgit Posted July 17, 2023 Report Share Posted July 17, 2023 I hope your next attempt is successful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.