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How do I get info of "dead" hard drive

derby1

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I have some really important files on an old Western Digital laptop hard drive, which is now out the computer.

I have one of these wiring set ups you can buy, that plug into the 12v/hard drive/ then USB on current computer to read files.(this works perfectly fine as has been tested on another abandoned HDD)

my old internal HDD i presume is dead, as it does nothing and no command prompt appears on my new laptop, when i plug into the USB, so I can extract files.

However last night when i plugged it in to the wiring loom, the HDD started making a clicking noise, so something is trying to happen?

can I rescue this?

cheers

just to clarify the wiring loom makes your new computer think theres an external hard drive. but really its an old internal hard drive with 12v going to it
 

AureliusMaximus

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I have some really important files on an old Western Digital laptop hard drive, which is now out the computer.

I have one of these wiring set ups you can buy, that plug into the 12v/hard drive/ then USB on current computer to read files.(this works perfectly fine as has been tested on another abandoned HDD)

my old internal HDD i presume is dead, as it does nothing and no command prompt appears on my new laptop, when i plug into the USB, so I can extract files.

However last night when i plugged it in to the wiring loom, the HDD started making a clicking noise, so something is trying to happen?

can I rescue this?

cheers

just to clarify the wiring loom makes your new computer think theres an external hard drive. but really its an old internal hard drive with 12v going to it
See:
It can recover really damaged and dead drives and if you're lucky make them operational again. I used it myself several times and vouch for that. Se the video in the website where they explain how it works.
 

Alvafe

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meh strange forum to ask this lol

but before going after recovery software, are you trying to boot from this hd or just trying to access it from your laptop? with that setting you have, you could access the HD as you would with a PenDrive, if that is what you are trying and can't read it anyway then only way is the covered software, but if the damage is physical, then you will need to spend money on a company who can recover the data
 

derby1

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meh strange forum to ask this lol

but before going after recovery software, are you trying to boot from this hd or just trying to access it from your laptop? with that setting you have, you could access the HD as you would with a PenDrive, if that is what you are trying and can't read it anyway then only way is the covered software, but if the damage is physical, then you will need to spend money on a company who can recover the data
Might be PC wizards for all i know. and yes im trying to access it like a pen drive, but it does nothing, i know the pen drive wiring loom works though as ive used it on another Removed Hdd
 

logicallefty

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If the drive is not physically toast what I would do is stick it inside a Windows desktop computer as another SATA drive (assuming it's SATA) on one of the spare ports in there. It may automatically come up in Windows as like a E: or F: drive or something like that. If that doesn't see it I would run a utlity called "Computer Management" just to see if it sees it at all. If it does, then my next step would be to run a program called "Sleuth Kit Autopsy" for Windows. It's a digital forensics package, it's free, and it kicks butt.

Your idea trying to access it through USB/pen drive style is good, I would have done that first too. But putting it directly on a SATA port inside has a better chance of getting to it if the USB route doesn't work.
 

AureliusMaximus

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Spinrite is the way to go.
It does some really advanced sheit on bit by bit on sector level of the drive and interacts with the hardware drive chip itself.

There is one disadvantage with SpinRite which is that you need to use either a floppy or CD to load it with. It uses old tech for the very simple reason that hard drives hasn't evolved much over the last 20 years or so. So in that case you either need to buy a floppy drive or CD/DVD drive, the latter is obviously the most simple one as floppy drives are almost impossible to find these days.

Also be prepared for that SpinRite takes a long time. On really huge drives it can take a week or so to finish its operations. So you are best off with using a spare/older pc to recover the damaged drive with .

Below some videos' where Steve explains how it works:

and


Good luck with recovering the drive @derby1 . :up:
 

Atom Smasher

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You mentioned you hear a clicking noise. That’s bad. It indicates mechanical failure. I advise you to stop trying to read it this way as continual clicking only makes it worse.
I have had success a few times by putting the drive in the freezer overnight and then trying to read it while it’s freezing cold the next day. This has worked for me three times in my career.
If that fails, your only solution is to send it to a data recovery specialist. They will dismantle the drive and get your data back at a cost.
 

derby1

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Spinrite is the way to go.
It does some really advanced sheit on bit by bit on sector level of the drive and interacts with the hardware drive chip itself.

There is one disadvantage with SpinRite which is that you need to use either a floppy or CD to load it with. It uses old tech for the very simple reason that hard drives hasn't evolved much over the last 20 years or so. So in that case you either need to buy a floppy drive or CD/DVD drive, the latter is obviously the most simple one as floppy drives are almost impossible to find these days.

Also be prepared for that SpinRite takes a long time. On really huge drives it can take a week or so to finish its operations. So you are best off with using a spare/older pc to recover the damaged drive with .

Below some videos' where Steve explains how it works:

and


Good luck with recovering the drive @derby1 . :up:
our man looks like sean connery
 

HaleyBaron

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I have some really important files on an old Western Digital laptop hard drive, which is now out the computer.

I have one of these wiring set ups you can buy, that plug into the 12v/hard drive/ then USB on current computer to read files.(this works perfectly fine as has been tested on another abandoned HDD)

my old internal HDD i presume is dead, as it does nothing and no command prompt appears on my new laptop, when i plug into the USB, so I can extract files.

However last night when i plugged it in to the wiring loom, the HDD started making a clicking noise, so something is trying to happen?

can I rescue this?

cheers

just to clarify the wiring loom makes your new computer think theres an external hard drive. but really its an old internal hard drive with 12v going to it
This is why you should always backup and have redundant drives. I have a home server in my house that my main desktop backs up to every two weeks. And then I backup the data there to a hdd that I keep offsite for more backup. You can backup to a cloud if you want, but I suggest encrypting it before sending it up as there is no gaurantee the cloud provider will not have a breakin or that they will not snoop through your data.
 

FlexpertHamilton

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You mentioned you hear a clicking noise. That’s bad. It indicates mechanical failure. I advise you to stop trying to read it this way as continual clicking only makes it worse.
I have had success a few times by putting the drive in the freezer overnight and then trying to read it while it’s freezing cold the next day. This has worked for me three times in my career.
If that fails, your only solution is to send it to a data recovery specialist. They will dismantle the drive and get your data back at a cost.
Yeah, clicking noises in a hdd are pretty much a guarantee they're failing or about to fail completely. Data recovery specialists are the only way to go. Data recovery software for failing harddrives is unlikely to work.

Honestly man in 2021 you shouldn't be using hard drives anyway, unless you have them backed up or don't care the data. Only use SSDs from now on. And always back up important data, ideally on two different devices.
 
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Alvafe

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Yeah, clicking noises in a hdd are pretty much a guarantee they're failing or about to fail completely. Data recovery specialists are the only way to go. Data recovery software for failing harddrives is unlikely to work.

Honestly man in 2021 you shouldn't be using hard drives anyway, unless you have them backed up or don't care the data. Only use SSDs from now on. And always back up important data, ideally on two different devices.
ssd still can fry, only save the mechanical problems, with even so its rare to happen, I have some over 20 year HD lost here who still works, and I had some SSD fry for some random event, or lost a lot of blocks over time, but yes if the file is taht important having a back up and a back of backup should be done, I had once deal with someone who lost his data and his backup was bust
 

FlexpertHamilton

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ssd still can fry, only save the mechanical problems, with even so its rare to happen, I have some over 20 year HD lost here who still works, and I had some SSD fry for some random event, or lost a lot of blocks over time, but yes if the file is taht important having a back up and a back of backup should be done, I had once deal with someone who lost his data and his backup was bust
I haven't seen any stats but I'd imagine SSDs are much less prone to failure, especially over long periods. I have definitely seen many SSDs fail though.
 

AureliusMaximus

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I haven't seen any stats but I'd imagine SSDs are much less prone to failure, especially over long periods. I have definitely seen many SSDs fail though.
Actually SSD drives are less stable which is why manufactures recommend that more important data which need to be stored over longer time should be stored on hard drives and not SSD. A part is this is the shelf life of SSD is much shorter due to the intense read/write they do.

So short term data = SSD
Long term data = HDD


As an personal example:
I have 2 SSD which one of them only contains windows the other is used for short term data/applications that needs to read/write fast like for example photoshop and then 2 huge HDD's where I keep all important data. Those two HHD are then backup automatically elsewhere.
 
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AureliusMaximus

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Honestly man in 2021 you shouldn't be using hard drives anyway, unless you have them backed up or don't care the data. Only use SSDs from now on. And always back up important data, ideally on two different devices.
That's actually a terrible advice. Due to what I just wrote in my previous posting mate.
 

HaleyBaron

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SSDs are prone to write fatigue, something HDD still beat them in. Use SSD for speed processes, but don't expect them for data storage.
 

derby1

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Yeah, clicking noises in a hdd are pretty much a guarantee they're failing or about to fail completely. Data recovery specialists are the only way to go. Data recovery software for failing harddrives is unlikely to work.

Honestly man in 2021 you shouldn't be using hard drives anyway, unless you have them backed up or don't care the data. Only use SSDs from now on. And always back up important data, ideally on two different devices.
I use laptops about 8 years old and I install windows 7 on them. I never have a prob usually,

I never have a prob, just in this instance the thing turned off and seemed to have fried the hard drive.
 

MatureDJ

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There is an adapter that can turn an internal hard drive into an external one. You could also put a Linux boot distribution onto a stick drive and read the other one like a regular drive. If that doesn't work, you're pretty much hosed unless some recovery firm can recover it. This is why I always backup regularly. :rolleyes:
 
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