View Full Version : Drive loss, looking for recovery tools
Ockie
06-12-2006, 12:56 PM
Hey guys, just had a full 160gb drive fail on me, it was running a linux flavor (single drive NAS device).
I've tried ext2fs and a variety of tools and nothing seems to be working, if you guys have any other suggestions, please post them here.
I also tried ontrack disk recovery. I do have backups of the drive, but they are fairly old :(
The drive worked fine for a long time but it was always running a little hot, just recently it started slowing down and got to the point of the machine accessing it basically freezing... and now there is no action and you can't access the files.
German Muscle
06-12-2006, 01:00 PM
does the drive still spin up?
Ockie
06-12-2006, 01:07 PM
Yes and it still gets hot as usual. No clicky, no grinding, no knocking... sounds and operates as a normal drive.... just except it's not working :)
German Muscle
06-12-2006, 01:49 PM
Media Tools Pro. I have it and its worked many of times. just get another drive of equal or more capacity and then use the program and it will recover the drive.
If you want MORE INFO pm me ;) ;) ;) ;)
Ockie
06-12-2006, 02:32 PM
Media Tools Pro. I have it and its worked many of times. just get another drive of equal or more capacity and then use the program and it will recover the drive.
If you want MORE INFO pm me
you got pm :D
paradoxblue
06-12-2006, 02:32 PM
also go put the hdd in the freezer and leave for a few hours in a bag to stop water vapor. then take it out and imiidietly plug er in. some times the freezer and revive a hdd. even if only temp
Ockie
06-13-2006, 07:25 AM
I'm willing to try anything right now... nothing is working... tried a few more tools, no go.
I'm willing to dance naked around with surrounded by candles if it's going to work :D lol ... okay maybe not that far ;)
Tormond
06-13-2006, 08:07 AM
The drive in the freezer will work sometimes just make sure that you put it in the machine pretty much immediately after you take it out and get your data off it in the roder of how important it is. You will need to do this (in a perfect world) from an OS that isn't on that drive (less spins to boot the OS etc so it stays colder longer)
T(less spins to boot the OS etc so it stays colder longer)
LOL.. now that right there is funny.
Seriously... c'mon now.
Tormond
06-13-2006, 12:46 PM
I was serious. If I have a hard drive being used constantly it will be MUCH hotter than the drive that is sitting idle. Since I was talking about minutes (not hours) for him to get his data back booting from a different drive will give less stress (and heat) thus the chilling of the drive will be more apt to work.
MrGuvernment
06-13-2006, 12:47 PM
also go put the hdd in the freezer and leave for a few hours in a bag to stop water vapor. then take it out and imiidietly plug er in. some times the freezer and revive a hdd. even if only temp
This is a myth and will only damage your drive more in the long run, technically anything you do to a "damaged" drive will ruin it the more you do to it.
R-tools data recovery - but i am not sure if they have a linux version.
protias
06-13-2006, 01:31 PM
This is a myth and will only damage your drive more in the long run, technically anything you do to a "damaged" drive will ruin it the more you do to it.
well, if the drive is pretty much dead anyway, this becomes a moot point :p
general
06-13-2006, 01:59 PM
Check sourceforge. I remember using a program off of there a few years ago and it worked as well as the pricey commercial software out there.
German Muscle
06-15-2006, 04:29 AM
whats the word?
TrueChaos
06-15-2006, 08:25 PM
This is a myth and will only damage your drive more in the long run, technically anything you do to a "damaged" drive will ruin it the more you do to it.
A myth that got me 45 minutes of drive use, on a HDD that wouldnt boot before the freezer... :o
-Cameron
Vertigo Acid
06-15-2006, 08:38 PM
A myth that got me 45 minutes of drive use, on a HDD that wouldnt boot before the freezer... :oIndeed, I have revived two drives enough to get important data off them using the freezer trick. But in those cases, there were grinding/spin up problems. I doubt that this particular trick will help the OP.
You still haven't stated whether the drive recognizes in windows and if so what state it is shown in.
Ockie
06-16-2006, 09:54 AM
whats the word?
I need to run your programs still, but so far with everything else I've had no luck
Ockie
06-16-2006, 09:56 AM
You still haven't stated whether the drive recognizes in windows and if so what state it is shown in.
It's a very up and down pattern, the disk recovery software recognizes it and windows sees it but as a unkown partition.
Disk recovery starts to scan and then stalls.
The drive gets incredibly hot, and I mean hotter than hell hot. There are no real odd sounds on the hard drive and the disk is spinning as you can feel that when you move the drive while it's live (you can feel the force of the spinning disks), there are no noises, scratches, no knocking, ticking, clacking or anything... just like as if it was a new drive... very quite.
I'm wondering if any critial sectors got nuked or if the controller of the drive failed due to the heat and the small enclosure power by a weak 40mm fan. I'm going to see if I can locate another identical drive and replace the controler, thats about my only last ditch attempt.
g0dM@n
06-16-2006, 12:21 PM
It's a very up and down pattern, the disk recovery software recognizes it and windows sees it but as a unkown partition.
Disk recovery starts to scan and then stalls.
The drive gets incredibly hot, and I mean hotter than hell hot. There are no real odd sounds on the hard drive and the disk is spinning as you can feel that when you move the drive while it's live (you can feel the force of the spinning disks), there are no noises, scratches, no knocking, ticking, clacking or anything... just like as if it was a new drive... very quite.
I'm wondering if any critial sectors got nuked or if the controller of the drive failed due to the heat and the small enclosure power by a weak 40mm fan. I'm going to see if I can locate another identical drive and replace the controler, thats about my only last ditch attempt.
Have you tried putting sinks all over the hard drive and blasting fans over it? If it is getting hot... then make it cold.
I know this sounds funny, but why not have an icepack on the non-pcb side of the hdd... don't leave it on directly the entire time, but place it on and take it off every so often to help a bit... obviously have a paper towel around it... i don't see why the top of the hdd can't get a bit of condensation.. just as long as you don't keep it too cold where condensation builds up on the inside.
remember, the hdd is already dead... the worst that could happen is that it remains dead.
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