Apologies if this isn't the right place to ask this, but I need help with my
broken 500GB drive. It is partitioned into 2 and the first partition
clicks. When I did manage to access the drive using a Ubuntu memory stick
the second partition seemed to read perfectly without clicking, etc. I
thought I had copied the important bits to a new HDD, but have just realised
I forgot to move my email as well.
I have since tried to access the drive both by plugging it it directly or
via a SATA to USB bridge. The BIOS detects the drive without problems but I
can't access anything. It has appeared in the device list, but never gives
me any drive letters and doesn't seem to come up in the 'manage' options
either.
Am I totally sunk? Is there anything that will enable me to access the 2nd
(working?) partition?
> Apologies if this isn't the right place to ask this,
It is the right place to ask.
> but I need help with my broken 500GB drive. It is partitioned into 2 and the first partition clicks.
The clicks are the drive recalibrating when it cant read some of the tracks.
> When I did manage to access the drive using a Ubuntu memory stick the second partition seemed to read perfectly
> without clicking, etc. I thought I had copied the important bits to a new HDD, but have just realised I forgot to move
> my email as well.
> I have since tried to access the drive both by plugging it it
> directly or via a SATA to USB bridge. The BIOS detects the drive without problems but I can't access anything. It has
> appeared in the device list, but never gives me any drive letters and doesn't seem to come up in the 'manage' options
> either.
Likely its now died completely if it isnt visible in the config where
you used a Ubuntu stick to copy the data off the second partition.
I'd certainly go back to that config again, Ubuntu is less
fussy about what it sees, particularly with NTFS partitions.
> Am I totally sunk?
Not unless its not visible with Ubuntu in the config where it once was.
Even then professional recovery may be possible.
> Is there anything that will enable me to access the 2nd (working?) partition?
You could try putting it in a plastic bag in the freezer and see if you
can see it with the Ubuntu stick when straight out of the freezer.
You can get dry joints or a cracked trace that produces symptoms like that and
the freezer approach can make it visible for long enough to get the emails off it.
> Apologies if this isn't the right place to ask this, but I need help with my
> broken 500GB drive. It is partitioned into 2 and the first partition
> clicks.
What do you mean? A partition cannot "click", only a drive can.
> When I did manage to access the drive using a Ubuntu memory stick
> the second partition seemed to read perfectly without clicking, etc. I
> thought I had copied the important bits to a new HDD, but have just realised
> I forgot to move my email as well.
Aha, an area within the first partition has recalibrations.
> I have since tried to access the drive both by plugging it it directly or
> via a SATA to USB bridge. The BIOS detects the drive without problems but I
> can't access anything. It has appeared in the device list, but never gives
> me any drive letters and doesn't seem to come up in the 'manage' options
> either.
> Am I totally sunk? Is there anything that will enable me to access the 2nd
> (working?) partition?
Not likely. Looks like the drive was dying. You ran it and used
up the remaining time it had.
> I would be grateful for any help you can offer.
Looks like a case for professional data recovery (expensive) and
doing a proper backup next time. Sorry.
You can post the full smart attributes here (smartctl -d ata -a <dev>),
maybe shis will give further insight, but I doubt it will help much.
On Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:59:27 +0100, "Jem 2" <123@456.com> put finger
to keyboard and composed:
>Apologies if this isn't the right place to ask this, but I need help with my
>broken 500GB drive. It is partitioned into 2 and the first partition
>clicks.
Is it a Seagate 7200.11 or 7200.12 drive?
>When I did manage to access the drive using a Ubuntu memory stick
>the second partition seemed to read perfectly without clicking, etc. I
>thought I had copied the important bits to a new HDD, but have just realised
>I forgot to move my email as well.
>
>I have since tried to access the drive both by plugging it it directly or
>via a SATA to USB bridge. The BIOS detects the drive without problems but I
>can't access anything. It has appeared in the device list, but never gives
>me any drive letters and doesn't seem to come up in the 'manage' options
>either.
>
>Am I totally sunk? Is there anything that will enable me to access the 2nd
>(working?) partition?
>
>I would be grateful for any help you can offer.
>
>many thanks
>
>Jem
Clone as much of the bad drive as you can to a new drive and then use
a data recovery utility such as GetDataBack or Linux ddrescue.
- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.
"Franc Zabkar" <fzabkar@iinternode.on.net> wrote in message
newsg3td5tln1fk7acuebakd6a572237fnfvg@4ax.com...
> On Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:59:27 +0100, "Jem 2" <123@456.com> put finger
> to keyboard and composed:
>
>>Apologies if this isn't the right place to ask this, but I need help with
>>my
>>broken 500GB drive. It is partitioned into 2 and the first partition
>>clicks.
>
> Is it a Seagate 7200.11 or 7200.12 drive?
>
>>When I did manage to access the drive using a Ubuntu memory stick
>>the second partition seemed to read perfectly without clicking, etc. I
>>thought I had copied the important bits to a new HDD, but have just
>>realised
>>I forgot to move my email as well.
>>
>>I have since tried to access the drive both by plugging it it directly or
>>via a SATA to USB bridge. The BIOS detects the drive without problems but
>>I
>>can't access anything. It has appeared in the device list, but never
>>gives
>>me any drive letters and doesn't seem to come up in the 'manage' options
>>either.
>>
>>Am I totally sunk? Is there anything that will enable me to access the
>>2nd
>>(working?) partition?
>>
>>I would be grateful for any help you can offer.
>>
>>many thanks
>>
>>Jem
>
> Clone as much of the bad drive as you can to a new drive and then use
> a data recovery utility such as GetDataBack or Linux ddrescue.
>
> - Franc Zabkar
> --
> Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.
Thanks guys for all the responses. Doesn't sound good. I know it is my
fault. I don't think it is worth employing professional recovery services,
but I'm a bit miffed about my email. I thought I had grabbed the important
stuff.
It is a Samsung 7200 drive. I believe they offer a 3 year warranty. It is
safe to return a drive to them which may contain private data (account
numbers etc)? I admit that I am very tempted to try the freezer trick, but
will that mean that Samsung don't honour the warranty?
> It is a Samsung 7200 drive. I believe they offer a 3 year warranty. It
> is
> safe to return a drive to them which may contain private data (account
> numbers etc)? I admit that I am very tempted to try the freezer trick,
> but
> will that mean that Samsung don't honour the warranty?
I keep sensitive data with a long Blowfish encrypted
pass phrase like "I'm going 2 etc etc" which has UC, LC,
numeric and punctuation chars.
How can Samsung determine that it has been frozen?
If it is not powered up nothing can be written that
records its minimum temperature. I think drive mfrs
expect a percentage of returns, and just chuck
dead drives into a skip.
Most drive mfrs test utilities run from a floppy, so
if BIOS sees the drive you can run the test. Having
the test result written to a text file helps get an
RMA. But you should be able to get an RMA
for an in warranty dead drive. Beware of the trap
that some shiddy mfrs say that as it's an
OEM drive you have to return it via the system
vendor. (who doesn't want to know)
> "Franc Zabkar" <fzabkar@iinternode.on.net> wrote in message
> newsg3td5tln1fk7acuebakd6a572237fnfvg@4ax.com...
>> On Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:59:27 +0100, "Jem 2" <123@456.com> put finger
>> to keyboard and composed:
>>
>>>Apologies if this isn't the right place to ask this, but I need help with
>>>my
>>>broken 500GB drive. It is partitioned into 2 and the first partition
>>>clicks.
>>
>> Is it a Seagate 7200.11 or 7200.12 drive?
>>
>>>When I did manage to access the drive using a Ubuntu memory stick
>>>the second partition seemed to read perfectly without clicking, etc. I
>>>thought I had copied the important bits to a new HDD, but have just
>>>realised
>>>I forgot to move my email as well.
>>>
>>>I have since tried to access the drive both by plugging it it directly or
>>>via a SATA to USB bridge. The BIOS detects the drive without problems but
>>>I
>>>can't access anything. It has appeared in the device list, but never
>>>gives
>>>me any drive letters and doesn't seem to come up in the 'manage' options
>>>either.
>>>
>>>Am I totally sunk? Is there anything that will enable me to access the
>>>2nd
>>>(working?) partition?
>>>
>>>I would be grateful for any help you can offer.
>>>
>>>many thanks
>>>
>>>Jem
>>
>> Clone as much of the bad drive as you can to a new drive and then use
>> a data recovery utility such as GetDataBack or Linux ddrescue.
>>
>> - Franc Zabkar
>> --
>> Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.
> Thanks guys for all the responses. Doesn't sound good. I know it is my
> fault. I don't think it is worth employing professional recovery services,
> but I'm a bit miffed about my email. I thought I had grabbed the important
> stuff.
Well, it happens to everybody now and again.
> It is a Samsung 7200 drive. I believe they offer a 3 year warranty. It is
> safe to return a drive to them which may contain private data (account
> numbers etc)? I admit that I am very tempted to try the freezer trick, but
> will that mean that Samsung don't honour the warranty?
They cannot tell. If your data is not worth recovering professionally,
then you can mess with the drive. At the current low cost of these,
it is probably not even worthwhile to pay one-way shipping to get
a replacement.
As to the freezer trick, what it does is shift all operating
parameters slighly in the other direction than warming it
up (or just runnign it and let it self-heat) does. Sometimes
this gives you a few extra minutes of operation or even more,
especially it the problem is with start-up. But be quick,
the drive warms fast and may then fail again.
As to the confidential data, I would not send it back unerased.
The price of the drive is too low and the potential damage is
to great for it to be worthwhile IMO. That is one main reason to
encrypt such information.
"Arno" <me@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:7k8j8sF38n3ikU1@mid.individual.net...
> Jem 2 <123@456.com> wrote:
>
>> "Franc Zabkar" <fzabkar@iinternode.on.net> wrote in message
>> newsg3td5tln1fk7acuebakd6a572237fnfvg@4ax.com...
>>> On Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:59:27 +0100, "Jem 2" <123@456.com> put finger
>>> to keyboard and composed:
>>>
>>>>Apologies if this isn't the right place to ask this, but I need help
>>>>with
>>>>my
>>>>broken 500GB drive. It is partitioned into 2 and the first partition
>>>>clicks.
>>>
>>> Is it a Seagate 7200.11 or 7200.12 drive?
>>>
>>>>When I did manage to access the drive using a Ubuntu memory stick
>>>>the second partition seemed to read perfectly without clicking, etc. I
>>>>thought I had copied the important bits to a new HDD, but have just
>>>>realised
>>>>I forgot to move my email as well.
>>>>
>>>>I have since tried to access the drive both by plugging it it directly
>>>>or
>>>>via a SATA to USB bridge. The BIOS detects the drive without problems
>>>>but
>>>>I
>>>>can't access anything. It has appeared in the device list, but never
>>>>gives
>>>>me any drive letters and doesn't seem to come up in the 'manage' options
>>>>either.
>>>>
>>>>Am I totally sunk? Is there anything that will enable me to access the
>>>>2nd
>>>>(working?) partition?
>>>>
>>>>I would be grateful for any help you can offer.
>>>>
>>>>many thanks
>>>>
>>>>Jem
>>>
>>> Clone as much of the bad drive as you can to a new drive and then use
>>> a data recovery utility such as GetDataBack or Linux ddrescue.
>>>
>>> - Franc Zabkar
>>> --
>>> Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.
>
>> Thanks guys for all the responses. Doesn't sound good. I know it is my
>> fault. I don't think it is worth employing professional recovery
>> services,
>> but I'm a bit miffed about my email. I thought I had grabbed the
>> important
>> stuff.
>
> Well, it happens to everybody now and again.
>
>> It is a Samsung 7200 drive. I believe they offer a 3 year warranty. It
>> is
>> safe to return a drive to them which may contain private data (account
>> numbers etc)? I admit that I am very tempted to try the freezer trick,
>> but
>> will that mean that Samsung don't honour the warranty?
>
> They cannot tell. If your data is not worth recovering professionally,
> then you can mess with the drive. At the current low cost of these,
> it is probably not even worthwhile to pay one-way shipping to get
> a replacement.
>
> As to the freezer trick, what it does is shift all operating
> parameters slighly in the other direction than warming it
> up (or just runnign it and let it self-heat) does. Sometimes
> this gives you a few extra minutes of operation or even more,
> especially it the problem is with start-up. But be quick,
> the drive warms fast and may then fail again.
>
> As to the confidential data, I would not send it back unerased.
> The price of the drive is too low and the potential damage is
> to great for it to be worthwhile IMO. That is one main reason to
> encrypt such information.
>
> Arno
You've all been extremely helpful. Thank you. I'm sure you are right about
it not being worth sending back. I have already replaced it with a 1TB
version anyway, but the thought of getting a new drive out of my misery
seems too good to pass up. LOL. Greed, eh? I shall give the freezer thing
a whirl and go from there.
Jem 2 wrote:
> "Franc Zabkar" <fzabkar@iinternode.on.net> wrote in message
> newsg3td5tln1fk7acuebakd6a572237fnfvg@4ax.com...
>> On Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:59:27 +0100, "Jem 2" <123@456.com> put finger
>> to keyboard and composed:
>>
>>> Apologies if this isn't the right place to ask this, but I need
>>> help with my
>>> broken 500GB drive. It is partitioned into 2 and the first
>>> partition clicks.
>>
>> Is it a Seagate 7200.11 or 7200.12 drive?
>>
>>> When I did manage to access the drive using a Ubuntu memory stick
>>> the second partition seemed to read perfectly without clicking,
>>> etc. I thought I had copied the important bits to a new HDD, but
>>> have just realised
>>> I forgot to move my email as well.
>>>
>>> I have since tried to access the drive both by plugging it it
>>> directly or via a SATA to USB bridge. The BIOS detects the drive
>>> without problems but I
>>> can't access anything. It has appeared in the device list, but
>>> never gives
>>> me any drive letters and doesn't seem to come up in the 'manage'
>>> options either.
>>>
>>> Am I totally sunk? Is there anything that will enable me to access
>>> the 2nd
>>> (working?) partition?
>>>
>>> I would be grateful for any help you can offer.
>>>
>>> many thanks
>>>
>>> Jem
>>
>> Clone as much of the bad drive as you can to a new drive and then use
>> a data recovery utility such as GetDataBack or Linux ddrescue.
>>
>> - Franc Zabkar
>> --
>> Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.
>
> Thanks guys for all the responses. Doesn't sound good. I know it is
> my fault. I don't think it is worth employing professional recovery
> services, but I'm a bit miffed about my email. I thought I had
> grabbed the important stuff.
> It is a Samsung 7200 drive. I believe they offer a 3 year warranty. It is safe to return a drive to them which may
> contain private data
> (account numbers etc)?
Pretty safe. There is a small possibility that they might just be
stupid enough to repair it if the fault is something trivial like the
logic card has died and not erase it properly and ship it to someone
else for a warranty replacement, but the risk is microscopic.
> I admit that I am very tempted to try the freezer trick, but will that mean that Samsung don't honour the warranty?
They shouldnt be able to work out that you have done that
if you do it carefully with the drive in an antistatic bag etc.
Ato_Zee wrote:
> On 21-Oct-2009, "Jem 2" <123@456.com> wrote:
>
>> It is a Samsung 7200 drive. I believe they offer a 3 year warranty.
>> It is
>> safe to return a drive to them which may contain private data
>> (account numbers etc)? I admit that I am very tempted to try the
>> freezer trick, but
>> will that mean that Samsung don't honour the warranty?
>
> I keep sensitive data with a long Blowfish encrypted
> pass phrase like "I'm going 2 etc etc" which has UC, LC,
> numeric and punctuation chars.
> How can Samsung determine that it has been frozen?
> If it is not powered up nothing can be written that
> records its minimum temperature.
But the whole point of freezing it is to use it very
cold to try to get the data off it, so it can in theory
record that very low temp when you are trying that.
But samsungs dont record max and min temps anyway.
> I think drive mfrs expect a percentage of
> returns, and just chuck dead drives into a skip.
If they do, there is a small possibility of someone
getting it out of there and recovering the drive etc.
> Most drive mfrs test utilities run from a floppy, so
> if BIOS sees the drive you can run the test. Having
> the test result written to a text file helps get an
> RMA. But you should be able to get an RMA
> for an in warranty dead drive. Beware of the trap
> that some shiddy mfrs say that as it's an
> OEM drive you have to return it via the system
> vendor. (who doesn't want to know)
They cant get away with that last in countrys with decent consumer law.
SATA II broken drive 
g3td5tln1fk7acuebakd6a572237fnfvg@4ax.com...
Linear Mode
