My ext. HD fell, now it doesn't read. It powers-up and "turns" but I think it took a nasty shock. Anyone know a good data recovery spot I can take it to? I could take it apart and try to do it at the lowest lvl, but I would rather take to someplace that has a bench and proper equipment. All help is appreciated thnx.

 

if youre saavy enough to open it up, you can probably fix the problem. something inside probably knocked loose. its impossible to say for sure since im not with you, but its pretty difficult to damage the disc itself. its just that the internals are fragile.

 

Yeah, I could open it up, and try and repair it. I don't have a ESD mat or strap. I could do it, I'm just not setup properly. I don't want to open it up and have someone work behind me also. I hate that :P

 

oh. my. goodness.

Do not open that hard drive case unless you are wearing a bunny suit in a clean room. Working on internal computer equipment is not like banging a dent out of your honda. There is much less space between the platters and the actuator arm that reads the data than a human hair, fingerprint, or even the moisture from your breath.

 

^ that's why I need to find a place that does data extraction, and is setup

 

Open up the case, inside you'll find an IDE HD strapped to a USB controller. Pull out the drive and either swap it to a new controller if you have one or plug it into a PC if it's a 3.5" drive. If it still doesn't work look for anything physically wrong on the external PCB on the drive, although I'm betting you have neither the equipment or knowledge to solder surface mount components. Time to send it off for recovery.

 

Im 2m certified micro and mini. I do that stuff all day long at work. I just can't bring stuff to work, as I don't have time to do personal stuff. I've been working IT and ET for 10yrs now. This is not beyond me technically, I'm just not setup for it, and need somewhere local to take it to

 

If it's just the enclosure case you are worried about, those are only $10 after rebate. If it's the data you want off the drive, I can do it but it will cost you some loot.

 

ok well then I guess I was wrong As far as the electronics are concerned there isn't much you can do inside the sealed part of the drive, most of the pcb is screwed to the bottom and it connects to everything with ribbon cables. you can disconnect these and safely remove the pcb and diagnose it from there without opening up the sealed portion. If you are fairly certain the pcb is broke but you arent able to fix it then you could always buy the same model HD off of ebay and swap the boards. If that's not the problem then the drive head is probably damaged. To fix that you'll need to crack the drive and swap em out with a good one. If you don't have a clean room you can make your own with some latex gloves, a shoe box, and seran wrap. You can even use one of those duster things to evacuate all the oxygen if you are worried about that.

good luck with the repair, keep us posted

 

and if all else fails this place has a lab in NC

http://www.salvagedata.com/hard-drive-recovery/