My first dead clicking hard drive
Bella Jones
the COD (click of death).
This doesn't surprise me as this was always the buggy one.
Thankfully I don't think there was anything unique on it. But it's put
the wind up me as regards backing up photos in more than one place.
Has anyone ever put one in the freezer?
--
bellajonez at yahoo dot co dot uk
Jim
> Finally, it's happened. My Western Digital MyBook drive has developed
> the COD (click of death).
>
> This doesn't surprise me as this was always the buggy one.
>
> Thankfully I don't think there was anything unique on it. But it's put
> the wind up me as regards backing up photos in more than one place.
>
> Has anyone ever put one in the freezer?
Opinions differ as to whether this actually works or not, but if the drive
is effectively written off then you have nothing to lose. If it _does_ work
it will almost certainly be a very temporary solution - you'll get hours of
life back from the drive, not days. Well, that's my guess anyway.
Jim
--
http://www.ursaMinorBeta.co.uk http://twitter.com/GreyAreaUK
"A Microsoft spokesman said: "We spent five years and $350million
developing a system that would make it really easy for us not to
give you your money back." The Daily Mash
Dr Geoff Hone
wrote:
>Has anyone ever put one in the freezer?
Freezer - no. Fridge - yes.
Note that I have never done it with a modern high-capacity drive.
If you try it, remember that it should go into a plastic bag without
holes, which is then sealed. Give it a good cold-soak (several hours)
and then transfer into a warm dry room, open up, connect up, and see
if it has worked, If the drive comes back to life, take all the data
off, because this may only work once - and maybe not for long.
There are several theories why this works:
1 - A bad solder joint which has separated over time, and which
re-connects when the drive is chilled.
2 - Worn bearings which have allowed mis-alignments, and which return
to spec. when chilled.
And a few fanciful ones.
The real question is: What have you got to lose?
This is a bit like using a file recovery program when one or two files
have "disappeared" and you know that you have not deleted them.
Sure you may get them back, but the question is: Why did they vanish
in the first place? Twenty years ago, bad tracks and bad sectors were
a fact of computing life. They are not so comon now, but that does
not mean that they do not happen at all.
Go on, give it a try, but make sure that you have everything you need
to capture the retrieved data (if it does do the trick) all ready to
hand. Personally, if I were doing this now, I would have an external
drive enclosure all ready opened up and just hook the *treated* drive
up without putting it back into the enclosure. This might look messy,
but if you get your data back, who cares.
Geoff
J. J. Lodder
> Finally, it's happened. My Western Digital MyBook drive has developed
> the COD (click of death).
First thing to try is another power supply.
(or a powered IDE/SATA/USB bridge)
> This doesn't surprise me as this was always the buggy one.
>
> Thankfully I don't think there was anything unique on it. But it's put
> the wind up me as regards backing up photos in more than one place.
>
> Has anyone ever put one in the freezer?
That was for dead rechargeable NiCad battteries.
Unlikely to do more than stick it for a HD,
Jan
Jim
>
> First thing to try is another power supply.
> (or a powered IDE/SATA/USB bridge)
>
>> This doesn't surprise me as this was always the buggy one.
>>
>> Thankfully I don't think there was anything unique on it. But it's put
>> the wind up me as regards backing up photos in more than one place.
>>
>> Has anyone ever put one in the freezer?
>
> That was for dead rechargeable NiCad battteries.
No, it was also for harddrives.
Jaimie Vandenbergh
wrote:
>Finally, it's happened. My Western Digital MyBook drive has developed
>the COD (click of death).
>
>This doesn't surprise me as this was always the buggy one.
>
>Thankfully I don't think there was anything unique on it. But it's put
>the wind up me as regards backing up photos in more than one place.
>
>Has anyone ever put one in the freezer?
The freezer trick is for drives that can't spin up. Is yours spinning
and clicking (which would mean the read/write heads can't catch a
groove), or not spinning and just sat their clicking to itself?
Cheers - Jaimie
--
I hope I live long enough
to vindicate my pessimism -- http://www.boasas.com/?c=1108
Bella Jones
> On Tue, 15 Dec 2009 08:48:17 +0000, m...@privacy.net (Bella Jones)
> wrote:
>
> >Finally, it's happened. My Western Digital MyBook drive has developed
> >the COD (click of death).
> >
> >This doesn't surprise me as this was always the buggy one.
> >
> >Thankfully I don't think there was anything unique on it. But it's put
> >the wind up me as regards backing up photos in more than one place.
> >
> >Has anyone ever put one in the freezer?
>
> The freezer trick is for drives that can't spin up. Is yours spinning
> and clicking (which would mean the read/write heads can't catch a
> groove), or not spinning and just sat their clicking to itself?
>
> Cheers - Jaimie
Thanks all. It's spinning and clicking. Trying to do something and
failing, rather than just clicking regularly.
Jaimie Vandenbergh
wrote:
>Jaimie Vandenbergh <jai...@sometimes.sessile.org> wrote:
>> On Tue, 15 Dec 2009 08:48:17 +0000, m...@privacy.net (Bella Jones)
>> wrote:
>>
>> >Finally, it's happened. My Western Digital MyBook drive has developed
>> >the COD (click of death).
>> >
>> >This doesn't surprise me as this was always the buggy one.
>> >
>> >Thankfully I don't think there was anything unique on it. But it's put
>> >the wind up me as regards backing up photos in more than one place.
>> >
>> >Has anyone ever put one in the freezer?
>>
>> The freezer trick is for drives that can't spin up. Is yours spinning
>> and clicking (which would mean the read/write heads can't catch a
>> groove), or not spinning and just sat their clicking to itself?
>
>failing, rather than just clicking regularly.
The only way you'll get anything off that drive is via a data recovery
specialist, I'd suspect. If the heads can't find their tracks, there's
nothing you can do to persuade them - it's either an electronic,
mechanical or a corrupted firmware failure.
Hope you're right about the non-uniqueness. Remember to sit down and
ensure you've got an effective backup method in time for the next
failure!
Cheers - Jaimie
--
Okay, it works now. Or at least it malfunctions in all the expected ways.
-- Mark Edwards, asr
Bella Jones
> On Tue, 15 Dec 2009 08:48:17 +0000, m...@privacy.net (Bella Jones)
> wrote:
>
> >Has anyone ever put one in the freezer?
>
> Freezer - no. Fridge - yes.
> Note that I have never done it with a modern high-capacity drive.
> If you try it, remember that it should go into a plastic bag without
> holes, which is then sealed. Give it a good cold-soak (several hours)
> and then transfer into a warm dry room, open up, connect up, and see
> if it has worked, If the drive comes back to life, take all the data
> off, because this may only work once - and maybe not for long.
> There are several theories why this works:
> 1 - A bad solder joint which has separated over time, and which
> re-connects when the drive is chilled.
> 2 - Worn bearings which have allowed mis-alignments, and which return
> to spec. when chilled.
> And a few fanciful ones.
[...]
Thanks Geoff and others. I am not sure if I even want to do anything
with it - oddly I can't remember what was on it! One of the two
partitions was the stupid Time Machine backup space, and the other was,
gosh, what was it??
It's literaly years since I last burned a DVD, as my burner was so
erratic. Time to buy another external HD I guess, and delete some
unwanted photos too. Another christmas job I won't get around to.
Bella Jones
> On Tue, 15 Dec 2009 10:47:38 +0000, m...@privacy.net (Bella Jones)
> wrote:
> >Jaimie Vandenbergh <jai...@sometimes.sessile.org> wrote:
> >> On Tue, 15 Dec 2009 08:48:17 +0000, m...@privacy.net (Bella Jones)
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >> >Finally, it's happened. My Western Digital MyBook drive has developed
> >> >the COD (click of death).
> >> >
> >> >This doesn't surprise me as this was always the buggy one.
> >> >
> >> >Thankfully I don't think there was anything unique on it. But it's put
> >> >the wind up me as regards backing up photos in more than one place.
> >> >
> >> >Has anyone ever put one in the freezer?
> >>
> >> The freezer trick is for drives that can't spin up. Is yours spinning
> >> and clicking (which would mean the read/write heads can't catch a
> >> groove), or not spinning and just sat their clicking to itself?
> >
> >Thanks all. It's spinning and clicking. Trying to do something and
> >failing, rather than just clicking regularly.
>
> The only way you'll get anything off that drive is via a data recovery
> specialist, I'd suspect. If the heads can't find their tracks, there's
> nothing you can do to persuade them - it's either an electronic,
> mechanical or a corrupted firmware failure.
>
> Hope you're right about the non-uniqueness. Remember to sit down and
> ensure you've got an effective backup method in time for the next
> failure!
Yep - anything important needs to be backed up in at least two places.
Jim
>
> Yep - anything important needs to be backed up in at least two places.
I heard a good strategy on 'Mac Break Weekly' this morning - the 3-2-1
method: 3 backups, 2 different types of media, 1 of which is offsite.
Jon B
> On 2009-12-16, Bella Jones <m...@privacy.net> wrote:
> >
> > Yep - anything important needs to be backed up in at least two places.
>
> I heard a good strategy on 'Mac Break Weekly' this morning - the 3-2-1
> method: 3 backups, 2 different types of media, 1 of which is offsite.
>
If not two types of media at least 2 brands. If you bought 2x HDmaker
drivers from same batch, if it's a bad batch they are both likely to
fail within close proximity of each other.
For fire/theft etc reasons then you should always have an offsite backup
of anything critical, which is why this threads finally made me order a
second hard drive for that.
--
Jon B
Above email address IS valid.
<http://www.bramley-computers.co.uk/> Apple Laptop Repairs.