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sschambers
n00b
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2011
- Messages
- 1
First, I am new to this site. This is my first post so I apologize in advance if I posted in the wrong section/missed a sub-forum or if this post is a bit too long. I have been using and working on computers for many years, just never took on a hard drive recovery project because of how delicate they are. But I made an exception because this is my own drive and I (don't think) I have anything of real value on it.
I am working with an older IDE Western Digital 100GB (model # WD1000BB-00CCB0). I had been using this HD since late '01/early '02. This drive has been in and out of 3 computers since then and the last computer it was slaved being used as a backup for the last 10 years of my life. A few months ago, I noticed that the HD was acting differently. Read/write times slowed to a crawl. I didn't think much of it and assumed that particular computer had way too much junk on it anyway and that the backup (the WD) was nearing it's capacity. I believe I have somewhere near 85GB used of a total of 93.1 formatted capacity.
Like I said I never thought too much about it until one day the drive was no longer recognized by Windows. I immediately tried hooking it up on another box, but no luck. I went out and bought an external IDE enclosure to use on my Linux based laptop. No luck there either.
So I did a BUNCH of research on how HD's actually work, what the internals are made up of, etc. I came to the conclusion that the PCB was shot. So I got on eBay and after a couple of weeks of waiting/searching, I came across a used PCB that still worked. The PCB was the exact model # of my drive and the make-date was literally within 1 month of mine. It seemed too good to be true. I had it shipped for ~$20. Received it within 3 - 4 days and immediately swapped out the PCB's. Unfortunately it did the same thing - nothing.
The drive spins up perfectly fine. After a couple of seconds, you can hear the arm click back and forth as if it's trying to read, then stops moving. The drive will spin forever. Just won't read or write. The BIOS, Device Manager and Computer Management all recognize the HD properly. The drive just will not show in Explorer to access. When I try to 'initialize disk' in Computer Management it throws an error "cyclic redundancy check". Linux box won't recognize it whatsoever, but again, the BIOS does.
So I spent the last few nights making my own 'clean enviroment'. It was my last resort because I refuse to spend $900+ on data recovery. I won't get into details about how or what exactly I used but I can re-assure everyone that it was/is near 100% perfect so there wasn't a huge worry about getting anything on the platters. And if something did happen, oh well it was a fun experiment. I do a lot of fabrication work on a lot of different things and am confident that I was safe in cracking open my HD tonight without much worry.
My idea was the head was stuck because I only heard the initial couple of clicks as if it were trying to move. So I was going to try and un-stick it. After cracking it open and watching it run with no cover, the initial couple of clicks were of the arm making full sweeps across the platters. After it settles down a bit, it'll sweep slightly back and forth for a few moments (which didn't make any noise and I found this to be odd). After 3 minutes or so it won't do anything. It will be stationary near the middle of the platters. The other odd thing it did was after a few more minutes, the head seemed to go back to the park position for a quick second, then back to where it was. I kept the HD running until I covered it back up (figured with the platters spinning so fast they would aid in repelling any possible dust particles). So in the end (where I am now), I am back to square one. It's doing the same thing as before. Which is nothing when powered on. I came on here to see if anyone had any ideas or input on what might be the cause of my problem.
Thanks in advance for any help or ideas.
Steve
I am working with an older IDE Western Digital 100GB (model # WD1000BB-00CCB0). I had been using this HD since late '01/early '02. This drive has been in and out of 3 computers since then and the last computer it was slaved being used as a backup for the last 10 years of my life. A few months ago, I noticed that the HD was acting differently. Read/write times slowed to a crawl. I didn't think much of it and assumed that particular computer had way too much junk on it anyway and that the backup (the WD) was nearing it's capacity. I believe I have somewhere near 85GB used of a total of 93.1 formatted capacity.
Like I said I never thought too much about it until one day the drive was no longer recognized by Windows. I immediately tried hooking it up on another box, but no luck. I went out and bought an external IDE enclosure to use on my Linux based laptop. No luck there either.
So I did a BUNCH of research on how HD's actually work, what the internals are made up of, etc. I came to the conclusion that the PCB was shot. So I got on eBay and after a couple of weeks of waiting/searching, I came across a used PCB that still worked. The PCB was the exact model # of my drive and the make-date was literally within 1 month of mine. It seemed too good to be true. I had it shipped for ~$20. Received it within 3 - 4 days and immediately swapped out the PCB's. Unfortunately it did the same thing - nothing.
The drive spins up perfectly fine. After a couple of seconds, you can hear the arm click back and forth as if it's trying to read, then stops moving. The drive will spin forever. Just won't read or write. The BIOS, Device Manager and Computer Management all recognize the HD properly. The drive just will not show in Explorer to access. When I try to 'initialize disk' in Computer Management it throws an error "cyclic redundancy check". Linux box won't recognize it whatsoever, but again, the BIOS does.
So I spent the last few nights making my own 'clean enviroment'. It was my last resort because I refuse to spend $900+ on data recovery. I won't get into details about how or what exactly I used but I can re-assure everyone that it was/is near 100% perfect so there wasn't a huge worry about getting anything on the platters. And if something did happen, oh well it was a fun experiment. I do a lot of fabrication work on a lot of different things and am confident that I was safe in cracking open my HD tonight without much worry.
My idea was the head was stuck because I only heard the initial couple of clicks as if it were trying to move. So I was going to try and un-stick it. After cracking it open and watching it run with no cover, the initial couple of clicks were of the arm making full sweeps across the platters. After it settles down a bit, it'll sweep slightly back and forth for a few moments (which didn't make any noise and I found this to be odd). After 3 minutes or so it won't do anything. It will be stationary near the middle of the platters. The other odd thing it did was after a few more minutes, the head seemed to go back to the park position for a quick second, then back to where it was. I kept the HD running until I covered it back up (figured with the platters spinning so fast they would aid in repelling any possible dust particles). So in the end (where I am now), I am back to square one. It's doing the same thing as before. Which is nothing when powered on. I came on here to see if anyone had any ideas or input on what might be the cause of my problem.
Thanks in advance for any help or ideas.
Steve
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