data recovery URGENT HELP!

kilograms

I'll be quick and easy on this. I have a freecom external hard drive 160bg. It fell and i couldn't access it. Got a data recovery chap online to take a look at it and he told me that it has both physical and electrical damage and he never seen one made in China so there is no way for him to get the parts needed to fix and recover. Some places have got back to me and are looking for a fee just to look at it and it is these places i want to leave to been a last resort as they can be expensive. I know it prob wont be cheap to get my data recovered but it has 10years of pics and video's on it that i just simply Cant bare to lose. Can somebody please point me in the right direction in getting this data recovered.

riclad

BUY another one from ebay ,same model,160gig swap round the pcbs, circuit boards,
can you open the case.
IF so take out drive,put it in sata caddy cost 15 euro.
case,psu,and circuit board may be dead, but the hardisk could be ok.
IN the case there s a circuit board, maybe 2x2 inch ,which connects the power ,data cable to the actual hardrive.

see

Oct 13, 2008, 05:07 PM

Nearly 12 months to the day later! I had the same problem with a Freecom 160, it was shorting to the USB socket at low current - either way its probably already damaged by laptop, anyway for future refce the way to get it apart (assuming they are all designed the same)is to remove the srew under the 'Warranty If Void' sticker, tear the rubber feet off (they can be refitted later) under which their are further cross head screws, the only problem is the X has been machined away (why do they have to make it sooo difficult, anyway drill the heads off with a 3mm HSS drill and the cover slides off like a used condom (if you'll pardon the expression. Earth youself before touching anything inside.
end quote.

you may need to drill screws out with 3mm drill bit,
to open the case.
if x indent, is not on screws, i usually use a small pliers to turn em ,
round and round, until they come out.safer than drilling em.

ED E

If you can get it spun up and mounted to some extent, you want to have this ready:

http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm



Important, if you get it going, you may only have a few minutes. So dont mess with it until you are ready to try proper and have a new drive ready to be written to.

Does it make noise when you try to power it up? A clunking or scratching?


TBH, if you value the stuff highly, dont touch it, drop it into a specialist who can take the platters out. The more you do the less they'll likely be able to recover.

riclad

http://www.ebay.co.uk/ctg/Freecom-Freecom-Mobile-Drive-160-GB-External-5400-RPM-29411-Hard-Drive-/109935471?rt=nc&_dmpt=UK_Computing_HardDrives_RL&_fcls=1&_pcategid=131553&_

I only see 1 for sale on ebay uk,you might wanna buy, it, its worth maybe
4o euro before postage .

riclad

See can you open case, put drive in sata caddy 2.5inch,
See does it come on,caddy plugs into pc thru a usb cable.
ITS safer not to use present power unit,or case ,if its faulty.
if you cant see drive, in my computer,
External drive, or control panel,admin,computer management,Storage.
grc program won,t be much use to you.
Don,t touch the drive pcb circuit board ,the pcb ontop of the drive.
IF the psu,and case circuit board, is faulty ,the hardrive itself maybe still ok.

kilograms

really appreciate the replies. Many thanks. If i buy a replacement hard drive is there anybody here that would be able to recover the data i want from the hard drive. RICLAD you seem to know your stuff

Run_to_da_hills

If it spins and gives click noises you could try placing it in a freezer for a few hours and then trying it again.

It worked for me once on a damaged drive to give me the few vital minutes to get what I wanted off it.

riclad

see
http://www.google.com/search?gcx=w&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=open+external+drive+++case++++video+
get a 2.5inch sata caddy tommorow,
put a bid say 30 sterling on the ebay drive,
IF you want to be sure to get it.Before someone else.
IF drive does come on,spin up,when plugged in, and theres no device detected from the pc,
well post back here.For more advice.
i, m assuming freecom is a standard sata drive.
ITS logical to assume present case ,psu,circuit board is faulty,
so dont use it,
just carefully remove drive from the case,remove hardisk, 2.5x3inch ,see
http://www.bixnet.com/hddvdvsahadr.html

should look like pic above,sata hd,
theres a small chance it might be an ide type drive,
in that case you,d need an ide caddy .
eg drive with old type ide interface.

some caddys ,have a drive activity light led which is handy,
lights up when drive spins up,or platters rotate
IMPORTANT thing is to see does drive power up,spin up, when placed in caddy,
plugged into a pc thru usb cable.

Capt'n Midnight

physical damage ?

if it's a 2.5" then shake it gently, if it tinkles like broken glass then game over I'm afraid

when it's plugged in does it make any strange chuggy or clickky noises ?

does windows try to format it (NEVER EVER SAY YES)

if you get a specialist to read the platter in a clean room you are talking the guts of a grand to get it done properly




most disks these days are made by a handful of well known manufacturers so doubt it's an unknown brand of drive inside the enclosure

yes you can open the HDD enclosure to look inside at the drive - if it's a standard SATA then you can simpy put in a desktop and try to read it

do NOT open the metal drive itself, game over


as long as it's only a software problem photrec will pull files off an accesible drive (except if they've been overwritten)

riclad

ITS easier for a nonexpert, just to buy a sata caddy ,plug it in to a pc or laptop,
SEE is it detected,as external device,
i have a 500gig drive,its not detected,its invisible.tried it in 2 pcs.Seems to be DOA.
OR your drive,inside the new caddy, maybe detected,
and popup says ,DO you wish to format this drive?if it says this say NO,Cancel

ITS safer to use a caddy,only costs 15euro ,maplins,pcworld, any pc shop.
Most important thing, Gently remove hd from case ,dont touch drive pcb,on the top.Maybe wear a glove.
They point of buying identical drive, on ebay,
is you MAY need to swap ,round the hd logic board ,
you cant just use a logic board from any old sata drive,
HAS to be identical model to the old drive.

ZENER

Why is everyone so sure it's SATA ? It's possible it's a 3.5" IDE -

kilograms wrote:

. . . it has 10years of pics and video's on it . . .

I've seen Freecom External drives with cheap Chinese mechanisms in them, logic boards for these are almost impossible to find and even if you do chances are the heads are screwed up anyway.

Hopefully the OP gets sorted.

Ken

zenno

It could be possible that the circuit board is only cracked and in this case if you could get someone that is handy with a soldering iron using some very thin electrical motor coil copper wire to solder from broken circuit to circuit it might fix it just to get the Data off of it.

Cracked circuits can be easily re-connected this way especially if a circuit is too tiny to solder back. Using the thin copper coil wire to make a circuit connection is the easier route if you can follow the circuit connections with a magnifying glass.

ZENER wrote:

Why is everyone so sure it's SATA ? It's possible it's a 3.5" IDE -

OP: which is it ? SATA or 3.5 IDE ?

When a HDD falls and stops working, it is most likely the internal components inside the HDD itself that are damaged. Not the enclosure. Components inside the drive are more fragile and succeptible to damage than the outer enclosure, or circuit board or any of that.

So all this stuff about removing it from the enclosure, connecting it etc - by all means give it a shot if you are desperate but it is highly unlikely to work.

'Putting it in the freezer' is something that may work in very specific cases where a drive has siezed up due to stiction over time. Again, that's highly unlikely to be the case here; you dropped it so something inside the drive is damaged. You are only going to ruin the drive even further and likely hinder professional data recovery by doing something so silly.

kilograms

It shows up in my computer but i cant get into it. it doesn't make any noise like broken glass, it loads up ass normal and then cuts out and starts again and stays like that. This is the exact drive i have.
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/111011172842?item=111011172842&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:BID&_trksid=p3984.m1426.l2783&_trksid=p3984.m1426.l2669&autorefresh=true

riclad

AS i said its best to put the drive, into a sata caddy ,its likely part of the enclosure is faulty,then you can test it from there.
THE only way to test it is get a caddy ,or install the hardisk inside a pc,
by connecting the data, and power cable.OPEN the enclosure ,see if power cable or data cable is loose.
Can You acess the drive and see any files ,folders ,even for a few seconds.
its possible its a ide 2.5 or 3,.5 inch drive,if its 3.5 ide its likely
you,ll need to buy a powered caddy ,
see
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-5-inch-IDE-SATA-HDD-USB-2-0-Enclosure-Caddy-07-/370706502275
IF you have pc with ide, older pc,
its easy to connect it up,use data power from, cdrom, dvd ide drive.
PCS TEN years old usually use ide drive.

SEE http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hard-Drive-Caddy-External-Enclosure/dp/B002K00G0W

Switch off pc,switch off esb power to pc,before
opening case, installing any drive,
When pc is off ,theres still power going thru motherboard.

Its unlikely you,ll be able to acess the drive,files using the old enclosure .
A 2.5inch caddy ide interface, is 12 euro approx.
I just notice fro that ebay link, form factor 2.5,
therefore you,ll need to get 2.5inch caddy,
probably ide interface standard.

mordeith

kilograms wrote: »

It shows up in my computer but i cant get into it. it doesn't make any noise like broken glass, it loads up ass normal and then cuts out and starts again and stays like that. This is the exact drive i have.
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/111011172842?item=111011172842&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:BID&_trksid=p3984.m1426.l2783&_trksid=p3984.m1426.l2669&autorefresh=true

When you say it cuts out, do you mean that it disappears as a drive in My Computer? The fact that is picks it up in the first place is an encouraging sign I would imagine (I'm no expert mind). Might just be a problem with the USB connection. Did the drive fall while data was being read / written to it?

ED E

Sounds like its attempting to spin up over and over.

lazlo

the wafers are just a bit dirty from the fall.

Stick it in the dishwasher on a COLD wash. I've heard stories of people having more success by putting a drop of fairy liquid in the dispenser.

You will have to wait several days for it to THOROUGHLY dry before cranking it up for use again.

ZENER

riclad

IF IT shows up in my computer , as drive e, or f that shows the logic board
is working.IS it still in the old case?

chronodisk

Buying the same "external" drive won't really help. I work for a data recovery company and we do the PCB-swap thing all the time but you need to find the exact same "internal" drive, the "thing" that is inside the case. I don't know what brand is in there but if you open it, try to find info on the sticker like the DCM and P/N, these are essentials if you want to swap the PCB.

riclad

Since drive is so old ,if i were you i,d buy one from ebay,
of COURSE there is a chance,
IF logic board is not identical,
IT will not be compatible,with your drive,AS previous post says,eg logic board must be same pn,no , dm no, etc.
So its up to you ,if you think its worth spending 4o euro on it.
OF course its possible, the hardrive,and logic board is ok,
eg enclosure, cables could be loose,or enlosure pcb is faulty.OR Enclosure power supply is faulty.

yoyo

If the data is very important, your best bet is professional recovery. It is expensive yes, but all these "tricks" like the freezer one do not always work, and have the potential to further ruin the drive, which may even make professional recovery more difficult later on. If the data is not that important then they are well worth trying, but for important data recovery hand it over to the professionals.

Nick

Unlimitedman

Those DIY tricks mentioned are fine if you want to play around and perhaps learn a bit but if the data is important you have to use a professional Data Recovery company. These guys have special equipment to bypass errors on the drive and interrogate the drive at a low level. This is a specialised professional who deals with this every day.