external USB HD failure

Daz

It's an 80gig SMARTDISK Firelite. It has some of my most treasured reference on it and a TON of work that I really don't want to lose. I'm pretty sure there's an animated .gif of Jessica Biels wiggling ass on there too.

In a nutshell, I dropped it last night and now no pc recognises it when I plug it in. The little blue light just flashes away and it doesn't get picked up.

I guess the fact that I dropped it makes me thinks that it's a mechanical problem. I tried some recovery software to no avail. What are my remaining options? To send it to a data recovery shop? Anyone had any experience of this and have anyone they can recommend? Exactly how pricey are these procedures anyway? Seems hard to find prices.

Any thoughts appreciated.

conte

Man, i just bought usb hd, i understand you very much.
hope all be fine, information are priceless(esp that gif)

indian_boy

i've had a data recovery shop recover all but 1 GB of my art, school work, savegames etc. etc.

i feel for u, i know how irritating it is to not be able to rely on anything...

Cybroxide

The same thing happened to me, I actually sent it back to the company and they repaired/recovered all my data for free so I can't really say how pricey it is, however, If you haven't already, maybe you could contact the manufacturer and see if they can help you.

notman

Typically the external harddrives are just basic hard drives wrapped in an enclosure. Take it out of the enclosure and throw it into a computer. If it still works, you can get a new enclosure rather cheaply. Most likely, you broke the circuit board that provides the IDE controller.

If it's a small usb HD, then it may be a laptop harddrive, which may or may not be harder to throw into a computer. Obviously you need a laptop, but if you have one, typically it only allows one HD and I'm assuming yours doesn't have an OS on it. So, to still be able to view it, download Ubuntu and boot from the CD. You can have the hdd in the laptop, boot from the CD, then view your files.

PfhorRunner

Agreed with notman, but its not so difficult to stick a notebook HDD into a desktop, you might just need to get an adapter( http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=HD-108&cat=HDD )... 5 bucks, meh...

Just note that a lot of the time they are pre-set to Master because as notman said, most laptops only take 1 hdd.

Jesse Moody

yeah man it takes a lot to break a hd physically. was it running / spinning when dropped? If not take it out of the enclosure and hook it up to a pc with cables. Could just be the enclosure. When working for Best Buys Geek Squad I saved many a lives by doing these techniques.

If that doesn't work hit me up I have some software that might be able to help you if we can get the computer to recognize it.

Slum

Is it not recognizing anything at all when you plug it in? If so, that might be a good thing.

External drives are just regular old internal drives with an IDE-USB board and an enclosure.

The fact that it's not responding at all suggest that it may be a lose connection to the adapter, or a broken adapter all together. If thats the case, your data is actually quite fine. I know those things are made pretty cheaply.

I'm not familliar with that model, but it's either a standard desktop hard drive or a laptop hard drive. You should be able to unscrew the casing and pull out the hard drive. From there, you have the options of just tossing it into another computer, or getting ahold of a USB-IDE adaptor (http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-2-0-to-IDE-Cable-Adapter-for-SATA-2-5-3-5-HDD-New_W0QQitemZ120115728571QQihZ002QQcategoryZ41994QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting)
I've used that one before, and it works like a charm.


edit: didnt read notman's post... I guess that means you have a second opinion :P

Jesse Moody

you can also get an adaptor that will allow you to hook up a laptop hd to a standard ide cable. They can be picked up at Fryes Electronics, Radio Shack or from New Egg. They are fairly cheap (under 10 bucks). I have a few laying around. Just make sure you hook the pins up right or you'll burn the cheap card up but you can just return it and say it didn't work for a new one.

Hope this is all helping ya.

Daz

OK, *really* useful info thanks guys. However, Im still a little stuck. I removed the drive from the casing no problem, and its this model: http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDisk...ies_MP0402H.asp

however (and I have to admit that Im not exactly the build your own pc type) I don't quite see how I hook it up to either my desktop or laptop. The connector is different from my pc disk drives, and my laptop hard drive is more of a card than a pin connection. So, I *assume* this is a notebook drive (ATA-6 is the connection, right?), but I really don't see how it could connect to mine. If anyone can tell from looking at the link above exactly what I need to run out and buy to hook this thing up, Im all ears thanks!

*edit* so the adaptor that PfhorRunner posted should hook this thing up to my desktop, right?

TomDunne

I don't think what PfhorRunner linked will work, as it just converts 44-pin to 40-pin IDE. What I think you need is a converter to go from ATA on your hard drive to plain ol' IDE inside your computer. Something like this is my guess:

http://sewelldirect.com/IDE-to-SerialATA-Converter.asp

SouL

pyromania

The Samsung MP0402H is a 44 pin laptop drive so what PfhorRunner posted will work. Just make sure you line up pin 1 on the hard drive with pin on on the 44 pin adapter.



If you hook it up to your computer and you still can't read it you can always try the freezer trick. It has saved a few hard drives for me. If the drive has died due to mechanical problems cooling the drive down to freezing temperatures causes the metal parts to contract and possible come back into alignment enough that they start working.

Take the drive and seal it in a plastic ZipLoc bag. You don't want any ice getting on the drive. Put it in the freezer for half an hour. Take the drive out, hook it up to your computer and hopefully you can get data off it. The drive may stop working when it warms back up so be quick. You can always put the drive back in the freezer if it stops working again.

ScoobyDoofus

That gif made me forget the advice I was going to give...

PfhorRunner

[ QUOTE ]
I don't think what PfhorRunner linked will work, as it just converts 44-pin to 40-pin IDE. What I think you need is a converter to go from ATA on your hard drive to plain ol' IDE inside your computer. Something like this is my guess:


[/ QUOTE ]

ATA and IDE are synonymous. I think what you meant was Serial ATA, and the HDD isn't SATA. You need an adapter from a 44-pin, which is what the Samsung notebook drive is, to a 40-pin ATA/IDE ribbon wire, which is what I posted.

-Pfhor, ahead of the game

ebagg

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Jessica Biel's badonkadonkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

Jesse Moody

[ QUOTE ]
The connector is different from my pc disk drives, and my laptop hard drive is more of a card than a pin connection

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah this is because it probably has a small plastic adaptor slid over the top of the pins. This is common in all most all laptop hard drives. it should just slide right off. if you have a digital camera take some pics and show us.

If we figure everything out I can help you out with the hook up to your pc part. Thats really easy.

Also I have used the freezer method. I actually saved about 75% of the data on a 200gig hd that had taken a major crash while it was writing a very large file. (THATS BAD) While it's a last resort it sometimes helps.

Keep us informed on whats up.

PfhorRunner

Depends what he meant by "card connection". It could be he meant it doesn't have pins, and it just looks like a pice of silicone with gold bits on it... (<-- Serial ATA). But Jesse could very well be correct, a lot of laptops do have an adapter that covers the pins. We'll just have to see, I guess.

animatr

good gravy that is the hottest gif ever.
hope it works out for you Daz. I cringe anytime anyone says this stuff as the majority of everything and anything is on my external.

TomDunne

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I don't think what PfhorRunner linked will work, as it just converts 44-pin to 40-pin IDE. What I think you need is a converter to go from ATA on your hard drive to plain ol' IDE inside your computer. Something like this is my guess:


[/ QUOTE ]

ATA and IDE are synonymous. I think what you meant was Serial ATA, and the HDD isn't SATA. You need an adapter from a 44-pin, which is what the Samsung notebook drive is, to a 40-pin ATA/IDE ribbon wire, which is what I posted.

-Pfhor, ahead of the game

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep, that's what I meant, I thought it was a SATA drive. I was befuddled by Biel's behind, so I can't be held responsible for any misinformation

Daz

Jesse: Yeah I meant that my laptops disk drive is a card connection (serial ATA) not pins. Therefore it's a bit of a malarke and expenditure (thanks for the link tho Verm).

So yeah, I was just gonna try and go with the cheaper option, which is to hook the removed Samsung drive up to my *desktop* pc, not laptop, with something more like what Pfhor and pyro posted.
I'm gonna run down to CompUSA tomorrow and give this a shot:
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_...e_Cable_Adapter

If that doesn't work I'll try the freezer trick thanks pyromania.

Thanks for returning at least some of my valuable data SouL! Hopefully I'll get the rest of it tomorrow.

Slum

Ah, NOO! Don't put it in the freezer. It's a bad idea, and can very well destroy the drive. It MAY be fine for about ten minutes, but once it drops down below freezing temperature, condensation will build up inside the drive and any number of horrible things can happen. Even in the most extreme conditions, putting a hard drive in the freezer is never used in data recovery. It's just a bad idea.

If the drive is SATA, you'll just need a sata-to-usb adapter, which work like a charm.

http://www.cooldrives.com/seatatousb20.html

I've used that one before. Not the cheapest around, but it beats losing all your data. Worst case scenario, just get a return after you use it, or sell it on ebay. :P

greenj2

Bad luck man, I know how frustrating stuff like this can be.

The freezer idea sounds a bit nuts to me too, but then so does liquid cooling. And if it's worked for Pyromania a few times it may be worth a shot, although I'd leave it as a final, abandon all hope resort myself. Not too sure if it would help in your case anyway, being that your hard drive didn't wear or burn out.

Because it was dropped my best guess is the disk itself and the read/write head could have been knocked out of alignment or even become stuck together. It's happened to a guy I know and he took it to a hardware shop but they couldn't help him, didn't charge him either though.

Really it could be thousands of things so small you might never know. Definitely try hooking it up as an internal disk drive as suggested above, just to rule out the problem being in the hard drive external housing itself. But if you don't have any luck with that I'd say a data recovery shop is your best bet. My two cents anyway, good luck dude.

By the way, if you don't feel that comfortable opening up your PC and hooking the drive up yourself, you might consider buying a replacement external case for the hard disk instead. Either way you rule out a problem in the housing, not quite as cheap as the pin adapter you're looking at though. Just another option to consider...

Jeremy Lindstrom

Freezer works...

http://geeksaresexy.blogspot.com/2006/01/freeze-your-hard-drive-to-recover-data.html

Panupat

Woa that freezer solution. Totally unexpected. Interesting.

SkullboX

At the risk of stating the obvious, stay away from those small pocket sized hard disks. They're small, usuaully widely available at discounts, look cool and melt. Especially that Lacie Porsche design, which was both cheap and looked cool, really sucked.

For swapping files inbetween home and work it's cool, but for backing up precious stuff, just get a tough and properly cooled one.

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=242&language=en I recently got that one, it's pretty well protected compared to most drives I've come across, the drive and cooling seem to be suspended within the case.

notman

That freezer trick really is meant for hdd's that go bad through natural usage... not dropping Many hdd's will go bad because the bearings will turn to shit, so freezing it allows the bearing to shink and the shaft to move better. That's why it's only a temporary fix.

Anyways, if you haven't bought the adapter, I would suggest that you just buy another enclosure. I bought my portable hdd enclosure for $15 and it allowed me to connect laptop harddrives to my computer through USB. That's much easier than dealing with master/slave AND it provides you with a new enclosure if it works. If it doesnt' fix things, you could always return it (guess you could with the adapter also though). Then again, mine is the PATA, not SATA, so I don't know if the enclosures are more expensive for SATA.

Daz

Well, no joy for me today. Hooking it up to my desktop pc didn't work. Windows just doesn't see it. I even rushed out tonight and bought a new USB 2.0 enclosure, incase I'd messed up the master slave jumper settings, and that doesn't work either. Windows (or dos or Ubuntu for that matter) just can't see the drive. It just sits there flashing its blue light at me. The freezer trick scares the bejeezus outta me to be honest.

Many thanks for all your help. I guess I'll try a data recovery place.

Jesse Moody

Daz before you try an expensive data recovery place give best buys geek squad a shot. I can't speak for the guys up in that area but in Oceanside, CA we had a good team of guys that saved many a hard drive for sexy college girls. We saved dudes hard drives too but it's not as cool.

Daz

OK will do, thanks. I'll put on my shortest skirt.

TomDunne

I thought you folks called it a kilt. Too much time in the SFBay, eh?

PfhorRunner

That's really too bad, man. Best of Luck!

Ruz

Oddly enough Daz I had this exact same problem with my 300 GB external HD. I was convinced it had overheated and toasted it self, yet oddly enough it started working again for no good reason.
Again when it broke , it was just not getting picked up on boot, but was making noise of sorts as if something was stuck( like a repeating clicking sound).
I still have it going off occasionaly, but have put it down to a loose connector.