Getting data off a blown HD

retalivity

Hi, i think this is the right spot for this, if not then mods, please move.

I have had a WD external HD for over 10 years now, no issues with it but due to time and change in technology, bought a new 2tb hd and was looking to move all my stuff across to it. Went to plug in the old one this morning (it was a Western Digital Myboox that came with its own power supply), however I plugged it in using the wrong cable (laptop charger) and it below something on the internal board and was actually on fire for a second or so. Since, I plugged in the corect power source, turned it on, and while the power light is on, I hear no whirring of the disk. Connecting it to the computer does nothing either.

I read up a bit about it, apparently there is a fail-safe mechanism around this for issues where the HD is connected directly to the mains, and that a fuse/diode blew and the data itself is possibly ok. I took the HD apart, took the casing off and the boards apart. It appears that it was a small chip related to the power that blew, however I am now stuck with the HD and what can I do.
Basically, the HD has all my photos, music, videos etc from the past 10+ years and while i have bits and bobs backed up in other places, this was the main repository for all.

So people of boards, what are my options? What do I need to 1)Check that the HD is still working correctly and 2)Get the data off it? The current situation is below - the disk is out, appears to have molex(?) connecters. What do i need to do, who do i need to call??

TerrorFirmer

That's a standard (albiet ancient) IDE connection type. You will still get a new enclosure on ebay/online that'll work with it.

EG this will do IDE (old standard you have) or also SATA2 (newer standard for newer drives so you could reuse it at some point)

retalivity

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

That's a standard (albiet ancient) IDE connection type. You will still get a new enclosure on ebay/online that'll work with it.

EG this will do IDE (old standard you have) or also SATA2 (newer standard for newer drives so you could reuse it at some point)

cool, so the enclosure in the link there has the same connections that I need, so should slide in handy enough?

TerrorFirmer

Yep. Not saying specifically buy that one, but it's an idea of what you need from a UK seller. You can get IDE only ones for less, and ones for a third of that if you buy from China.

NialltheITGuy

Drive should be fine, a USB to IDE adapter can be bought on ebay or where-ever.

No point getting USB 3 model as data transfer speed is limited by drive technology, USB 2 is fine and cheap too.

I use USB 3 version for SATA Drives all the time.

If drive does not 'Spin Up', you will need a Data Recovery Specialist like Data Rescue.

retalivity

Thanks for the replies...got another enclosure, connected it all up, plugged it in, the power light came on for a split second before going off again. It is still flickering a very low light, no sound of the drive spinning up.

Guess its data recovery so...any recommendations for the Dublin area and expected cost?

Cuddlesworth

You have to have a high end clean room and other expensive equipment, most will just end up sending to ontrack in the UK.

If its just a board problem, it shouldn't be hugely expensive, but its going to cost you.