External HDD faliure

[class 313]

Hello,

I have a Freecom FHD-2 80GB external Hard Drive. It has unfortunately fallen off my leg when I was plugging it into my PC. From what I saw, it fell onto its nose. I picked up then continued to plug it in. It started up like normal but this lasted for less than a minuet. The blue light that lights up when its plugged into something went off but the HDD was making rough noises, the motor was louder than usual. So I unplugged it, I then tried plugging it back in, the light then stayed on but the computer didn't pick it up. I then picked up the Hard Drive whilst it was still plugged in. The Hard Drive was trying to power up but couldn't so was making some kind of clicking high pitched noise. Nothing has changed. I don't know what to do. Some people have suggested data recover company's, but I was wondering if anyone knows of any different.

Thanks,

 

[Z12XE]

When Hard Drives click it usually means they are dead or dieing - its refered to as the Click of Death

Wikipedia's thought on Click of Death:

On a hard disk system, the click of death refers to a similar phenomenon, generally a read/write error during a seek. The hard disk has a hard error (hardware failure that cannot be undone by rebooting) or servomechanism failure, the head actuator will buzz and click as the drive tries to recalibrate. In most cases, the defect is due to physical abuse or a manufacturing error.

 

[class 313]

I'm pretty certain that trying to read the files is not going to happen, the data will still be on there though.

 

[Donny Dave]

It's dead. If the heads have gone, then it's very unlikely you'll get anything from the hard drive at all.

 

[5872]

Out of Intrest, what did you have on it?.

 

[class 313]

It's dead. If the heads have gone, then it's very unlikely you'll get anything from the hard drive at all.

If the heads have gone, it wont read/write. Which of course renders it useless but the data should still be there, just not readable.

Out of Intrest, what did you have on it?.

Lots, music, 80% of my photos I've ever taken, and general other types of files. So really, its a damn big loss!

 

[Donny Dave]

True, but you might as well just throw away the HDD, as there will be no way of getting to the data.

 

[mbonwick]

It'll be very hard to get it back. On hard disks, the read/write heads are 7 - 9 nanometeres above the disk platter which is spinning at anything up to 10000 RPM.

 

[class 313]

True, but you might as well just throw away the HDD, as there will be no way of getting to the data.

As long as the platter isnt damaged, I can send it off for data recover. £££ I know. But still.

It'll be very hard to get it back. On hard disks, the read/write heads are 7 - 9 nanometeres above the disk platter which is spinning at anything up to 10000 RPM.

It wasn't plugged in at the time of dropping. So I don't think that would be an issue. As said above, as long as the platter isn't damaged in some way. It should have the data on there.

 

[Broken Viking]

Hail, Class313!
Like others have said before, it's clearly a head failure. Ye mentioned that ye dropped it on it's "nose", which would cause a lateral shock to the HDD itself, which in turn could possibly dislodge the (Magnetically held) heads from their parking positions and cause them to scratch the disc as they pass across.

From what has been discussed so far, it sounds to me like a group of lower sectors (Holding HDD config and op info, partition and boot sectors etc.) might've been destroyed. Chances are, at least one of the HDD heads (I'd guess head 0) has crashed as well, meaning that it's possibly gouged out a section of the physical disc itself.

Either way...Every time the disc spins now could cause more damage to the physical disc. So whatever ye do, do NOT re-connect or otherwise power up the HDD for any reason whatsoever! Insted, store it somewhere safe (Preferably in it's original packaging if ye still have it) and treat it with the same amount of care ye would treat a fully functioning HDD.

From what I know of HDD technology, a lot of your data may still be recoverable. It mainly depends where on the disc your OS has put stuff (Windows tends to gravitate towards the lower sectors, I don't know about other OS's) in relation to the discs "landing zone"...But hopefully the only things that will have been lost are BPB, partition and boot sectors - Which are rarely customised by users anyway and should be restorable with most OS-native tools. (Those who do could knock a replacement up in two minutes using Debug! )

Anyhow...The best way to recover thy data at this stage is to seek the aid of a professional data-recovery service, and make sure that they are a decent one! Recovering data from HDDs is a process where there is virtually no margin for error at all, and it makes sense to use a company with a good reputation. If ye work for a large firm or attend school/college, I'd recommend asking the I.T. department what their usual company is for this purpose.

Hints and tips for less volatile storage:
Personally, I find that single HDDs aren't nearly as "break-proof" as I'd like them to be, so what I do at home is use two seperate internal HDDs and keep an up-to-date copy of my "volatile" data (Photos, personal video, documents etc.) on the secondary HDD in case of failure. Furthermore, I also back-up my documents to a secondary PC every week or so. Although this wouldn't protect me from simultaneous failure of both drives, it's a cheap option that offers a little more security than having the one drive alone, and the secondary machine backup means that I'd only lose a maximum of 14-days data, and that's far preferable to losing ALL of my data!

Although the best form of storage might be a RAID array, they are often very expensive for a home environment, and their operational method means that ye lose 33% of your total storage space due to parity checksums. A RAID array made of three 100GB discs would only give ye about 200GB available storage...But on that token, if one of these drives was to completely crash without warning, all of the data on that drive would be restored automatically from the other two discs as soon as ye put a new, fully working HDD in!

When it comes to backing up stuff for longer term "archival" storage, an external HDD handled with care can be a good option (I use a 120Gb 5.25" Iomega one) but I'd advise supplimenting this with backups to CD/DVD-ROM where possible. Don't worry so much about backing up publicly released music and movies to CD/DVD though...As long as ye keep a list of which albums/movies ye have (And a backup of the user licences if ye use a service like iTunes), ye could always obtain fresh copies of the material off of peer-to-peer networks insted, assuming said material is popular enough.
(All I back up are my photos, documents and similar "volatile" files. Using this approach, my backups are only 1.5Gb in size, as I don't really need 75Gb of music and movies in every damn backup after all! )

Oh...And if ye are planning to transport data around in thy pocket or bag: Invest in a USB flash drive (Key) insted - They are both faster AND more resistant to damage than HDDs will ever be. Currently, USB keys range in size from about 256Mb to 32Gb on the open market, and I find that my ancient 64Mb key serves me very well too.
Don't place thy full trust in HDD-based MP3-players either, as they're pretty much the most likely of all HDD devices to fail - They do roll around in your pocket most of the time after all! Apple iPods are especially prone to HDD failure after 1-3 years of service, and my personal feelings on the subject suggest that such failures are actually programmed in to the iPod firmware by Apple to keep repeat sales high! hock:

Farewell...And hope this has been of help to ye! It certainly took me long enough to type! hock:
>> Death <<

 

[class 313]

Hail, Class313!
Like others have said before, it's clearly a head failure. Ye mentioned that ye dropped it on it's "nose", which would cause a lateral shock to the HDD itself, which in turn could possibly dislodge the (Magnetically held) heads from their parking positions and cause them to scratch the disc as they pass across.

From what has been discussed so far, it sounds to me like a group of lower sectors (Holding HDD config and op info, partition and boot sectors etc.) might've been destroyed. Chances are, at least one of the HDD heads (I'd guess head 0) has crashed as well, meaning that it's possibly gouged out a section of the physical disc itself.

Either way...Every time the disc spins now could cause more damage to the physical disc. So whatever ye do, do NOT re-connect or otherwise power up the HDD for any reason whatsoever! Insted, store it somewhere safe (Preferably in it's original packaging if ye still have it) and treat it with the same amount of care ye would treat a fully functioning HDD.

From what I know of HDD technology, at least a lot of thy data can be recovered, but only through a professional service.
[Will edit the rest in shortly. ]

Thanks, that is what I was told by my brother, so I have put it up in my room. So now I'm looking for places that can recover the data.

 

[Oracle]

The trouble is that some sources (entertainments) are suggesting that CDs and DVDs can deteriorate with time. I use a portable HD and now back up especially e mails on to that, and then back that up again on firstly a second PC with three, yes three HDs, and now another, third machine.

I wonder in due course what Blue-ray discs will hold in the way of data, and how long they will last?

 

[Gizmogle]

I use a portable HDD and then keep the data on my PC and Mac, so I'm okay 8)

As for CDs, DVDs and Blu-Ray. They're going to get scratched. Even if you're careful with them, if you're expecting them to last forever, they won't. Sunlight and heat can also damage them.

I don't know if there's really a 100% secure way of storing data though...
Maybe try keeping portable HDDs in padded cases.
Maybe try using one of those online storage things...but that could end up being quite expensive if you're keeping hundreds of photos on there.

Just try and backup as many ways and as often as possible, so that you've always got a spare.

 

[Broken Viking]

Hail!

The trouble is that some sources (entertainments) are suggesting that CDs and DVDs can deteriorate with time.

I've been aware of that for a while, as some of my CD-R backups from 2003CE were throwing a lot of CRC warnings when I last tried reading them, and these are high-quality CD-Rs we're talking about...So give that some careful thought if ye have old backups lying about on cheap CD-Rs!

I use a portable HD and now back up especially e mails on to that, and then back that up again on firstly a second PC with three, yes three HDs, and now another, third machine.

As I mentioned towards the end of my previous post, I store all of my essentials (Basically; My Documents and everything within) to USB flash stick and rarely exceed 1.5Gb for the whole lot including photos, so I find that a 2Gb stick is more than good enough for backing up to, not to mention having the second HDD in machine A, and the backup on machine B also!
I copy my e-mail (All in MIME format) to a second 32Mb pen-drive as well, and with everything ZIPped up normally the whole lot - Every e-mail that's passed through my hands since 2002CE - Barely touches the 8Mb mark!

I wonder in due course what Blue-ray discs will hold in the way of data, and how long they will last?

I've already been discussing Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD on another forum, and Blu-Ray discs can hold up to 25Gb single layer, or 50Gb double. I know there's not much about it over here yet, but I've already seen Blu-Ray burners on sale in Germany, although they and the discs themselves are pretty f***ing expensive at the moment! hock:

Given that Sony invented the format, don't expect BR discs (Lol! ) to be cheap...Sony'll probabally be keeping the BR format as tightly controlled as possible, so PC World own-brand or cheap Chinese made discs probabally won't be available. On top of that, I'd guess Sony'll try to reduce the lifespan of a BR disc to around four years to keep their sales up.
See This page for more info on Blu-Ray.

Farewell...
>> Death <<

 

[Turbostar]

I thought flash drive technology is improving all the time??? If that's the case, surely it'll just be a matter of time before you'll be able to get a drive with a reasonable amount of space on it, not just the one's that are around at the mo. Chip technology is improving all the time, so surely it'll be the same for flash???

 

[yorkie]

It would have been much cheaper for you to have invested in a good backup solution, than to recover the data after the event.

'Death' is right, the data is probably still there. But when you find out the cost of recovering it you may change your mind about getting it recovered.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I thought flash drive technology is improving all the time??? If that's the case, surely it'll just be a matter of time before you'll be able to get a drive with a reasonable amount of space on it, not just the one's that are around at the mo.

True.

Chip technology is improving all the time, so surely it'll be the same for flash???

Flash memory is a type of computer 'chip', and you're right the technology is improving all the time.

http://preview.*******.com/3cehju the chip on the left is the flash memory. The chip on the right will be the controller.

Someone I know had a USB memory stick that didn't work, but the only thing that was wrong with it was the capacitor was off the board. So the capacitor was held in place for just long enough to copy the data off it. They were very lucky. It wasn't economically repairable (the capacitor was tiny and the contacts very small).

Moral of the story? Backup. And portable storage methods should NEVER hold the only copy of data, they should only hold copies of data that are also held elsewhere.

 

[Gizmogle]

Just out of curiosity, roughly how much is he looking at for it?

 

[class 313]

Just out of curiosity, roughly how much is he looking at for it?

Ranging from £100 to £1,500.

 

[Z12XE]

The trouble is that some sources (entertainments) are suggesting that CDs and DVDs can deteriorate with time.

I've not yet seen a CD become unusable through deterioration, but I've had CD-R discs which have become useless over time as the film on the top which holds the data has peeled off the plastic disc!

 

[Broken Viking]

Hail All!

It would have been much cheaper for you to have invested in a good backup solution, than to recover the data after the event.

'Death' is right, the data is probably still there. But when you find out the cost of recovering it you may change your mind about getting it recovered.

Ranging [up to] £1,500.

Surely they wouldn't charge that much just to install a temporary set of working heads in the drive, and hook up an external controller to run the thing whilst they copy all the data off of it, would they? hock:

And just out of pure curiosity: When ye use an HDD recovery service to recover data from a "crashed" drive, what media does your recovered data get presented to ye on?

Someone I know had a USB memory stick that didn't work, but the only thing that was wrong with it was the capacitor was off the board. So the capacitor was held in place for just long enough to copy the data off it. They were very lucky. It wasn't economically repairable (the capacitor was tiny and the contacts very small).

I've had USB sticks with damaged PCBs before - I once accidentally snapped a microdrive clean in half because I'm very heavy-handed and I'm prone to using excessive force without realising!

Thankfully it broke in such a way that I was able to reconnect the two halves electrically without too much difficulty using a bit of ribbon cable that I had lying around and a soldering iron with a sewing pin attached to the tip. The drive still works perfectly, although the whole episode put me right off of buying microdrives for good. :roll:
Although I'll agree that trying to work with surface-mount components can be a pain in the ass...A sewing pin lashed to the tip of your soldering iron, a pair of tweezers and a steady hand is all ye need for general repairs!

From what I remember, USB media is actually the most durable form of data storage out there. There was a TV programme once where several types of media were subjected to very rigorous destructive testing, and the USB stick - Whilst needing specialist equipment to read the silicon wafer (It had been blasted at 2" range with a shotgun! ) - Still had most if not all of it's data intact!

Moral of the story? Backup. And portable storage methods should NEVER hold the only copy of data, they should only hold copies of data that are also held elsewhere.

I'll certainly second what Yorkie just said...Always keep at least two (Preferably three) up-to-date copies of thy valuable data across seperate physical partitions (Three copies of data on the same HDD is totally pointless!) for disaster recovery purposes. hock:

Although I do use a USB pen for backing up my PC, it's a secondary backup compressed using the ZIP file format for last-resort use if a major event wiped out all of my HDDs at once, or an evacuation order meant that I had no time to strip the HDD out of my PC. For normal restorations, I use the backed-up data on my second PC as my first option...But having a copy available on USB pen is handy as well, although ye have to consider the potential security issues of such a practice - I.E: Your private data could be stolen quicker and easier if the stick were not sufficiently guarded! :eek:

Personally...I treat my other USB pen drives as if they were insecure web servers. Therefore I only use them to carry data that wouldn't cause issues for me if it came into possession of a third-party. If I do have to load personal or sensitive information onto it, then I encrypt it first using methods of my own creation, note any decryption keys needed on paper, and make sure that the two are stored nowhere near each other!

Farewell...
>> Death <<

 

[class 313]

And just out of pure curiosity: When ye use an HDD recovery service to recover data from a "crashed" drive, what media does your recovered data get presented to ye on?

I presume DVD's? Or a new HDD which adds to the costs. I'm really not sure.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Right, I've taken off the silver casing which has left me with...




No cable to which I was expecting. The pins look fine. This looks to be bad news!

 

[466.networkers]

... a standard 2.5" laptop drive.

Not sure how much it will cost but at least 90% of the data can be recovered.

As for flash memory, it is quite expensive atm, and only a few computer manufacturers use them in laptops (the Asus Eee range is the most popular). Not forgetting the latest iPod's ...

The highest capacity SSD (solid state drive) is 16gb at the moment; compared to a 1tb (1000gb) hard drives the prices - £120 for the 1tb and £160 for the SSD - are high now but as with all electronics the prices will drop as more of the drives are used. The only downfalls with SSD are the high prices, limited capacity and the risk of overheating is slighly higher than a standard HDD.

 

[class 313]

... a standard 2.5" laptop drive.

Not sure how much it will cost but at least 90% of the data can be recovered.

Indeed, this is true, well the top bit anyway. But as my brother said, its more than likely only 90% could be saved if any. Of course this is better than 0% but it is a hefty price! I've seen companies offer from £100 to £1,500!

 

[Broken Viking]

Hail again!

Right, I've taken off the silver casing which has left me with...

No cable to which I was expecting. The pins look fine. This looks to be bad news!

I hate to say this mate, but if there was any form of Freecom warranty left on the drive, ye'll have voided it in removing the outer casing.

The failure would be inside the actual HDD itself (The stuff inside the steel casing) and wouldn't be visible from looking at it externally. The PCBs that ye can see there are most likely still in full working order, it's a fault or physical damage to the actual data disc itself that's causing the problem. It's probabally only one or two sectors (Holding 2-4Kb of data) that have become damaged, but the hard-cheese is that they're probabally BPB sectors that hold critical information the HDD controller needs to operate the drive properly.

Just in case ye are interested, the lower PCB (The larger of the two) is the HDD control board, and the upper one (Freecom branded) is a converter board that changes USB-2 format power and data into the mini-ATAPI (mini-IDE) format used by a lot of older HDDs.

So far mate, ye don't appear to have done any additional damage to the drive (I'd put it back in the casing if I were ye, though! ) but I'm thinking ye may have been tempted to try and fix the fault yourself:

Whatever ye do, do NOT open up the actual HDD itself...Otherwise it'll be completely FUBAR'd as soon as air enters it! hock:ad::cry:

HDDs are very sensitive micro-engineered devices, and a single piece of dust or dirt can and will destroy a lot of data. HDDs have to be opened and inspected in a clean-room environment similar to that in a CPU factory, where no dust or dirt exists to corrupt things. hock:

If ye want my advice, call up a decent data recovery company and get them to give ye a quote. Ye should shop around for prices (It sounds like a relatively simple problem after all) but make sure that in the end ye choose a company with a good reputation, high success rate, and insurance to cover ye in case something goes wrong and the HDD is totally lost. hock:
A "No fix, no fee" guarentee can be a good thing to look out for, too!

Edit: A quick Google search led me to the following websites, which to my eye look like they may be professional companies...Although avoid companies that will only give a P.O. Box or other non-explicit address. When obtaining quotes, remember to point out that it's a suspected head/disc failure due to the drive being dropped.

• Salvage Data - See their Laptop HDD and Standard HDD recovery sections.
• CBL Data Recovery - See HDD recovery section. Recovery labs in London and Newcastle.
• GeekSnerds - See HDD recovery section. Recovery labs in London, Aarhus and the U.S.

Farewell, and hope this is useful to ye!
>> Death <<

 

[class 313]

I only took off the casing (which was glued on) to see if the HDD itself had dislodged itself from the pins. In this case this has not happened. This in itself is not good news, as you said above the damage now will likely be inside the actual HDD case. I will not try and get into the actual HDD case as I know how it will fubar it. I have now placed the silver plates back onto the HDD (the bottom actually still being fairly sticky) and is placed on top of my draws which is the safest place for it at the moment.

 

[AlexS]

As someone whose scrapped numerous computers and particularly hard drives as a job before, it's also a bugger to get any further into it without causing some serious damage.

I used an electric drill and a rather large hammer and pair of pliers myself.

Probably no good if you want to retain them!

 

[class 313]

Probably no good if you want to retain them!

No Alex, it isn't

 

[5872]

Well my HDD sits plonk on its tonk under my computer desk 24/7 Its left connected to the Computer and turned on, its an Iomega 320GB HDD , Still have 298GB left...

 

[class 313]

Here is another update.

http://class313.50webs.com/HDD_noise.wav

Its the sound of the HDD when plugged into the USB. The motor doesn't start so there shouldn't try to spin so that means it shouldn't scratch itself to pieces if its embedded or something. Could this be a connection to the USB the problem? If so, I could just try getting an IDE converter and plugging it into my PC and it should work, in theory.