My Harddrive died :( Any recovery tips?

[Steven-1979]

My Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 died last night It had about 440gigs of data on it that wasn't backed up. Completely my fault too ... I had bought a 2tb drive last week when newegg had the $90 special and the new drive (which was supposed to back this and a 1.5tb one up) was just sitting on my table. I told myself I'd clean my pc's interior and stuff when I installed the drive so had been putting it off until the weekend. Everest showed all hard drives as perfectly healthy, so I wasn't that concerned ... well the drive died yesterday

The drive seemed to be working perfectly. Everest showed it as healthy with no issues, it never made any clicking noises, and it transferred data fine. I was using it as my dump drive so it was under a lot of use. I turned my pc off to go to bed and it was working fine. About 2 hours later of not being able to sleep, I decided to surf the net and turned my pc on. The drive did not show up under "my computer." I restarted a couple times and nothing. I then entered BIOS and checked to see if it was showing up there, it wasn't.

I stuck it in the freezer for about 10 hours and tried it again using my eSATA slot and it didn't work. I could definitely hear it spinning and powering up. It seemed to be spinning the whole time I had it connected but it just wouldn't show up on my computer or in BIOS. I stuck it back in the freezer and did a few google searches. This article seems to describe what happened to mine, except that I can't be sure this is the issue: http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1050374/seagate-barracudas-7200-11-failing

I was using this drive as my dump drive which means the data I lost was all my newest stuff So I'd really like to try something out if anyone has any suggestions? The drive is sitting in the freezer right now wrapped up in an anti-static bag and a few zip-locks. That article mentioned the drives having the issue were from thailand, which mine was.

- edit - Just checked the drive and it was the "Drive origin and firmware seem to be Thailand and SD15" as the article mentions.

 

[King107s]

Well you're in luck because all of your data is still there and can be recovered but the cost of that recovery is what is in question...

If you never heard any mechanical noises and it was still spinning up then the controller probably went on it... You could try to replace it yourself from using another identical drive so that you can get your data off then trash the drive... or

There are also a bunch of companies that specialize in data recovery from crashed drives and RAID arrays that you could call and ask for a qoute for your drive, probably would not cost much at all....

Here are some places I found off a google search:

www.salvagedata.com
www.securedatarecovery.com
www.drivesaversdatarecovery.com


Good luck....

 

[Marshmallow64]

Sorry to here that bud. Hopefully nothing too important was on there.

 

[benbaked]

Hopefully your problem is just related to that infamous 7200.11 firmware bug and your data is still OK, hopefully. Try sending Seagate an email at [email protected] or [email protected] and see what suggestions they have. There were rumors that Seagate was offering free data recovery service on a case-by-case basis for users affected by the firmware issue, that is something worth inquiring about. They have an updated firmware for that drive, I'm not sure if you'll be able to install it if the drive is not recognized in BIOS, hopefully somebody else knows.

Interestingly, the latest statement (and the knowledge base article) say nothing of the free data recovery services Seagate promised last week. Nevertheless, Seagate spokesman Mike Hall tells us, "[There is] no change from our previous stance on data recovery. Seagate will work with customers to expedite a remedy to the firmware issue, and in the unlikely event that it is determined data recovery is necessary, we intend to make that available on a case-by-case basis."

 

[Steven-1979]

Thanks everyone. I just checked their site by entering the model and serial numbers and it seems the drive is still under warranty:

In Warranty
Expiration 10-Aug-2013

Hopefully that helps. I'm gonna try to contact them at the emails you've listed. This article says Seagate claimed:

"There is no data loss associated with this issue, and the data still resides on the drive. But if you are unable to access your data due to this issue, Seagate will provide free data recovery services."
http://techreport.com/discussions.x/16246

So hopefully they honor their word.

 

[jazon1]

Thanks everyone. I just checked their site by entering the model and serial numbers and it seems the drive is still under warranty:

In Warranty
Expiration 10-Aug-2013

Hopefully that helps. I'm gonna try to contact them at the emails you've listed. This article says Seagate claimed:

"There is no data loss associated with this issue, and the data still resides on the drive. But if you are unable to access your data due to this issue, Seagate will provide free data recovery services."
http://techreport.com/discussions.x/16246

So hopefully they honor their word.

yes hopefully they will,i had this happen to a drive once myself,what i did and for some reason it worked ,i put the drive into an external hdd enclosure and it showed up right of way so i got all my files off it and trashed the drive after.

 

[Steven-1979]

I heard back from their support. They were prompt and friendly ... it seems though that they don't offer free data recovery, they just update the firmware. Does anyone know if this kind of thing would work?

Dear *****,

We provide a service to update the firmware on the drive if you cannot. This may be able to restore the drive to proper operation (and thus the data). Here is a web link to contact our i365 service regarding this service

 

[nd4spdbh2]

the only way your going to get data off that drive is to swap the PCB with a known working of the same model. Cus thats the typical 7200.11 series failure, works fine, shut down, then walla, bios wont detect next startup or hang on post... had 3 comps come in with that exact issue just my last day at work.

im pretty sure a firmware flash is going to make your data unreadable.

 

[Deathhorse]

Your going to have to do a hdd platter transplant and hopefully it works. Man that sucks i lost about 200gigs worth in a pc that was stolen. It really sux to lose pictures. Cruise youtube to see what you can do to recover.

 

[Steven-1979]

I feel your pain bro. I must have over 1000 pdf's on this thing along with tons of other media. BUT I just found some hope. ahhh hope ... what a wonderfull feeling, even came with zelda music.

 

[Steven-1979]

Update - I ordered the cable for $1.99 off ebay and those contacts for $3 from Fryes. I'm going to attempt the fix when they arrive. The cable is being shipped from Hong Kong, so it might be a while. But I'll post an update after trying it out. Wish me luck!

 

[Deathhorse]

Cool i hope it works there may be hope for my old 250s content