How to recover a crashed laptop hard disk (windows NTFS)

So others start where we left off ...

Here is the freeware/demoware that PC World suggests at

If the drive spins up ...

- Start the PC with a boot disk & back up data.

- Ultimate Boot CD for Windows v3.05 (6/23/2007)

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If you have bad sectors ...

- Use HDD Regenerator v1.51 demo version bootable regenerating CD

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If you know the manufacturer ...

- Download manufacturer specific freeware diagnostic utilities

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Data recovery software ...

- File Scavenger v3 Disk Data Recovery

- Stellar Phoenix

Mechanical recovery for clicking but not spinning drive ...

- Wrap in cloth & zip-lock bag and freeze for 24 hours

Mechanical recovery for stuck drives

- Frisbee the disk to overcome stiction

Electrical recovery for not spinning drives

- Connect to a high wattage power supply

Last hope

- Data Recovery Service like 800-440-1904

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I don't understand this one. Doesn't the device draw the amps it needs regardless of the supply's maximum output rating? I can see it making sense if the original power supply was overloaded/overrated and not really delivering, but the video implies that the power supply "pushes" the current rather than allowing the device to draw it.

Cheers.

I agree with you - this is a wierd suggestion by PC World. But, I can tell you watched the video because that's exactly what it says.

PC World seems to imply that a larger capacity power supply INITIAL current/voltage (they call it wattage) surge into the reluctant disk drive could JOLT the dead disk drive into cooperating - sort of like a Taser for reticent hard disks.

Interesting!

So, you're saying that, since I clearly hear a sequence of initial loud clicks (about a score of them in about as many seconds) in the naked laptop hard disk drive hooked up to the USB port via the IDE-to-USB adapter ... then my drive is spinning for sure because it's clicking?

I had already realized it was spinning because when I pressed on the top of the hard disk drive, I could hear a whirr as I made something touch something else.

I've already put a spare hard disk in the kid's laptop - but now I have an activation problem. I can't get past the activation screen which just hangs. I'm sure the hard disk has a valid WinXP but obviously for another laptop (not the one I put it in) - so I'm not surprised the Winxp OS balked ... but shouldnt' Windows XP give me the opportunity to enter whatever information it needs?

How do I enter whatever information it needs if it just comes up with a blank Windows Activation box which hangs for hours with no way to enter anything.

Why is the world punishing me! :) Was I a bad girl or something! :)

Urban myth!

The copy of wins on the drive doesn't like the changed hardware that it sees when it trys to boot. Re-install time.........;-(

Yep, it was that furious drunken grave dancing that you were warned about.

You wouldnt listen...

Its always science. Tho rather mangled in the case of that article.

Hard drives are immune to that.

I think I get what Rod Speed is saying. When I start my blender, the lights dim for a second in my California kitchen. Then everything is fine.

I think what Rod Speed is saying is, if the hard disk drive motor is drawing too much current for the original power supply to handle, then adding a larger capacity (more current) power supply, will allow it to draw more current than the original power supply could handle.

That, in an emergency situation such as mine, might be the way to free a "stuck" drive.

As noted, my drive isn't stuck - it's just clicking and spinning until the clicking gives up ... so I think I'll give up on the larger power supply. Plus, I'm using the Vantec IDE-to-USB adapter which comes with its own power supply.

Funny thing, the hard drives I tested STILL WORK on the Vantec IDE-to-USB adapter even without plugging in the external power supply. I guess they get power from the USB - but I'll use the external power supply also to power the naked laptop hard disk drive.

The good thing is we're learning - the bad thing is that we probably can't use any freeware on earth to resurrect this drive ... or can we?

Interesting article. It's an IBM laptop so it has a Hitachi 2.5" hard disk drive in it, not an IBM desktop hard drive. But, in the end, if I don't resurrect the disk by less drastic means, it will be time to go in for the kill and rip the innards out and put them in another drive. But that's for later.

For now, I found the IBM Thinkpad recovery disks and have re-instaleld the operating system - having given up on the buggy Windows Activation (it should at least have given me the chance to type SOMETHING in - and not just hang like that).

The good news is the computer is back up - the bad news is I have to install all the programs all over again, like WinXP SP2 and all the updates. For example, I have to dig up how to load Wireless Zero Configuration stuff so that WPA2-Personal works again (it's not even an option in SP2 - I remember digging that one up on google so I'll dig it up).

If you know of better freeware that can diagnose this hard drive, let me know.

It seems to me I heard somewhere that Erica Eshoo wrote in article :

Wattage, as everybody here seems to agree, is the actual power consumed by a device; the wattage rating on a power supply is the highest power it's capable of or designed to supply. Amperage is only drawn to the level required by a device; if a device is not defective it will only draw up to its rated amperage and the supply has to be able to meet that demand. Voltage higher than the designed operating voltage of a device may damage or ruin the device. ISTM PC World must be outsourcing its technical writers these days.

Nope, its got a hardware problem, thats why it isnt seen by the OS.

That's BS, even the smallest PC power supply can produce enough current to vaporize the traces right off the circuit board in the hard drive. Sometimes when semiconductors get marginal, increasing the voltage slightly will allow them to work, but a higher wattage power supply won't necessarily (and shouldn't actually) produce any higher voltage, but variation from one to another may be enough to make a difference in some extremely rare cases.

If the drive is not spinning, the motor control IC is probably bad.

James Sweet wrote

kitchen. Then everything is fine.

draw more current than the original power

What's bullshit ?

traces right off the circuit board in the

Pity about the short circuit current limit that all power supplys have.

will allow them to work,

The problem aint with the semiconductors.

produce any higher voltage,

Thats wrong too when the power supply is marginal and cant supply the full rated voltage to all the rails and the hard drive rotation motor when the heads are stuck to the platters.

extremely rare cases.

Nothing extremely rare about modern systems which have enough of a load on the 12V rail that sees that sag when its also trying to spin up the hard drive.

Or the heads are stuck to the platters, stiction.

Most laptop hard drives have a label that says DO NOT PRESS HERE!

A hard drive depends on a 100% dust free interior to work correctly. By causing the cover to rub on the spindle that holds the disc in place, even for a moment, you have likely ground off a few tiny metal particles. These particles will probably end up between the heads and the disc. This will scratch the disc and damage the heads. That hard drive is no longer reliable. If you get the system up and runnig you should retrieve all the data you can off that drive then destroy it (to prevent someone else from stealing your information.)

This sounds pretty bad, because it is complete nonsense. "Pushing" the current would imply a current source. PC PSUs are voltage sources, i.e. the connected device decides how much current it draws.

Nonsense. Modern drives do not start up as soon as power is applied. There is at least s slight delay until the voltages have stabilized. It is also possible not so auto-spin, i.e. the drive starts up when it gets a reset signal or a start unit command.

It is voodoo. Might have worked with historic drives > 20 years ago and a marginal PSU. Does not work with todays HDD motor controllers.

Arno

Yes. To people that do not have a clue.

Arno

No. While the idea is sound, the numbers and other facts are not. One problem is that PSUs (unless dying ones) supply far, far more power than a HDD needs to start.

Thet is the next problem. Historically HDDs used to have heads stick to surfaces. With better coating this has not been an issue for a decade or two.

Standard, although it overloads the USB port on drive startup. Typically not a problem.

I don't think you can. From a certain point one, hardware defects cannot be corrected or worked around with software anymore.

Arno

I think the key words in the video just prior to the unusual tricks were "Last ditch" and "Slim chance". Rush