Data Recovery Forums - Help & Discussions

zoofly · Joined: 14 Feb 2009 Posts: 2

Hello Techs, I hope someone can help me.

I have a 500gig External USB Maxtor HD. All it is doing is spinning and not getting recognized by the pc

What happen was I copied a file over to the drive, and with 1 seconds left the drive made a stuttered sound. It sounds like the actuator arm stuttered for a second.
I went and looked for the file and the HD doesn't show up into the list anymore.
I have tried to plug it into a couple other computers nothing comes up.

When I put power to drive and I put my ear to the HD I hear is the drive spinning up, a very quick tick and it keeps spinning. When I plug the USB cable into the computer the light on the drive comes on and stays on and the drive still spinning no changes.

I then took the HD out of the USB enclosure and connected it directly to PC. When I turned the computer on the same thing is happening a little click which sounds like the actuator arm doing a quick engage, and nothing show up in the drive list. I also went into the bios my regular drives show up. Everything set to auto.

Anyone have any suggestions
Thanks

DataHero · Joined: 11 Feb 2009 Posts: 30

Can you see it under devices in computer management?

If you can see the drive half the battle is done, you need to image it ASAP and stop listening to it spin. The longer it spins and starts up over and over the less chance you have of getting your data back.

Try FTK imager, it's free and helps with bad sectors...if you get an image try Get Data Back for NTFS...provided you are running an NTFS file sytem.

Let me know how you go. These are most obvious first steps in a data recovery. If you have no drive reading it changes things... a lot!!!

Good luck!

www.datahero.com.au

zoofly · Joined: 14 Feb 2009 Posts: 2

[quote="DataHero"]Can you see it under devices in computer management?

If you can see the drive half the battle is done, you need to image it ASAP and stop listening to it spin. The longer it spins and starts up over and over the less chance you have of getting your data back.

Try FTK imager, it's free and helps with bad sectors...if you get an image try Get Data Back for NTFS...provided you are running an NTFS file sytem.

Let me know how you go. These are most obvious first steps in a data recovery. If you have no drive reading it changes things... a lot!!!

Good luck!

www.datahero.com.au[/quote]

I tried it again the drive just spinning doesn't show up in the list.
It's a usb maxtor 4 one touch 500 gig. I voided the warrenty beacause some suggested to take out of the housing at turn it into a internal drive, I did that and it does the same thing. My next step is to find an extact drive and try to replace the acturator arm /head. I been watching the youtube vids hopefully I can get lucky right now it a paper weight and worth a shot.

DataHero · Joined: 11 Feb 2009 Posts: 30

Aaaah, you've been watching Scott Moulton's vid's (Supafly). I trained with Scott and he is the nicest guy in the data recovery business...he has a lot of time for everyone Smile

Sounds like you have decided to go it alone and not employ a data recovery company, the risks with this is that it may not be the actuator arm. It could be many problems and you probably don't have the right equipment or training to do the appropriate testing. It could be the PCB or a bad SA...is it running hot?

plug it in and see if you can feel heat comnig from a specific part of the PCB, it may be electrical...you will know because the heat is in a small concentrated area.

Is it making any noise?

You may not have void your warranty because they may sell the drive as just a drive without a casing. But they won't recover your data, they will just replace the drive.