About to die Hard Drive (Portable). Need help.

[L.T.W.]

So I think my portable hard drive is about to die, the LED flickers red (non-stop) and I head the drive as if it was reading but it is not detected when connected to the computer.

I read online that what probably happened is that the HD overheated and it wont read or something like that. And a solution a lot of people suggested was to put the HD in your freezer for a day and the plug it in the computer again.

Before I do that, I'd like to know how safe is that procedure, should I proceed and freeze it? or look for another way to repair it?

I have lotsa info that I didnt back up in there.

Help?

[Nekofrog]

You listen to My Curse a lot.

[L.T.W.]

haha, I only listed to it twice, the other times were a glitch with the scrobbling from Last.FM I think. Happens to me all the time when I scrobble from my iPod.

[Meeting_Gman]

Just did a bit of searching and found some answers. Now I do not know these people, so I can't verify they are what they claim to be, but it's a start.

I am a computer repair technician for a major movie studio and have been fixing computers for over 10 years and I can say that this is the first time I have ever heard of this type of “repair”. However I could see it working, at least in the short term but I seriously doubt it would actually repair the drive for any lenght of time beyond data backup. If this works for you immediately backup your data. DON’T EXPECT THIS TO FIX YOUR DRIVE PERMANTLY OR AT ALL AND REGULARLY BACK UP YOUR DATA, IF YOU DO YOU WONT HAVE TO WORRY! Also I would double or triple bag the drive if you try this because you really don’t want moisture in around or on the drive at all.

I have used this technique for many years to recover data from dead drives. If you have a failing electronic component, it may work fine when cold, but dies once heated. If it’s a mechanical problem, cooling down the drive will allow the lubrication in the mechanisms to thicken giving a few minutes of usage to recover data before failure. I had one drive that was so bad once that I had to hose it down with the liquid refrigent from cans of compressed air every 30-40 seconds. I have since relocated my small fridge in my lab next to my test bench with a external USB enclosure in the freezer portion. This is a disaster recovery technique and will not fix a problem with the drive. So once you get the drive operational, get all the data off that you can before it fails again.

[L.T.W.]

Just did a bit of searching and found some answers. Now I do not know these people, so I can't verify they are what they claim to be, but it's a start.

That helps, I guess I'll have to find a replacement first though.

[SoulinEther]

I am wary about the idea of moisture accumulation. I mean, if you cool things down like pots / plasticware, once you take em out of the fridge/freezer, they start gathering condensation on them, which could lead to a short in the case of electronic components.

But I HAVE heard about some people putting their iPod nanos into the fridge to purposefully chill them in order to debug some CPU optimizations for Rockbox - it has no moving parts but it does have circuitry and wires inside.

What other solutions have you come across?

[L.T.W.]

I am wary about the idea of moisture accumulation. I mean, if you cool things down like pots / plasticware, once you take em out of the fridge/freezer, they start gathering condensation on them, which could lead to a short in the case of electronic components.

But I HAVE heard about some people putting their iPod nanos into the fridge to purposefully chill them in order to debug some CPU optimizations for Rockbox - it has no moving parts but it does have circuitry and wires inside.

What other solutions have you come across?

Actually I don't know of anything else. Maybe there could be something loose inside the HD, but I don't know much about Hardware to mess around with it. (I actually tried, but couldn't because I needed a special type of screw driver.)

[Halt]

Freezer? O_O. That sounds like a terrible Idea, If it freezes over, it will melt on the inside, getting the HDD components wet, thus completely ruining the HDD. That just sounds like a whole lot of bullshit to me.

But its your call. IMO, I'd buy a new External HDD.

[Meeting_Gman]

Actually I don't know of anything else. Maybe there could be something loose inside the HD, but I don't know much about Hardware to mess around with it. (I actually tried, but couldn't because I needed a special type of screw driver.)

Who is the maker of your HDD? Have you tried going to their site and looking for diagnostic tools?

[phill]

Gman has a good idea there, hit up the manufactures website to see what they have in terms of tools.

Also, the freezer solution does work...for specific problems. It is not a cure all solution like some people think it is and really only works for a short time(ie. stops helping once the drive warms up again). If you do give it a try (last resort type of thing) put it in a zip lock bag and get as much of the air out of the bag before putting it in the freezer. If it does help, work fast and get any and all the data you can off of the drive and buy a new one.

[Native Jovian]

Freezer? O_O. That sounds like a terrible Idea, If it freezes over, it will melt on the inside, getting the HDD components wet, thus completely ruining the HDD.

Well, his HDD is dead right now anyway. Even if it ruins the drive after it heats back up, he'll have a chance to pull some of his data off of it first.

[Gollgagh]

do NOT EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER take apart your HDD by yourself expecting to fix it

these things are made to VERY exacting standards and a single speck of dust would screw up your platters even if you somehow managed to put it back together correctly. don't even think about taking it apart, unless you somehow have access to a cleanroom dust will get into it

[Doulifée]

at worst if it's an usb , you can try to connect it while the HDD is still on the fridge.

[Catharsis]

I am in the IT industry. Freeze it.

There should not be condensation on the inside since inside is a vacuum, and there is no such thing as condensation if there is nothing to condense . (And, of course, since it is in a vacuum, you should never open it.) Freezing it is probably your best bet. Also, my father once took a portable 2.5" USB drive, slammed it flat on the table several times REALLY HARD and WHILE IT WAS RUNNING AND PLUGGED IN . It squealed and stuff, but then I was able to get the data off of it. Of course, THEN it finally fully died.

[phill]

I demand you leave my industry now, NOW I SAY Damn it.

Those funny looking circuit boards that sit on the outside of the drive, ya water doesn't play well with those either. Short the disk controller out, and guess what, your drive be fucked tool....now even with a sealed external drive, only the platters with be sealed in such a way that this is less of a worry. The disk/USB controller may be sealed behind a pretty plastic case, but I doubt its going to be water/air tight.

[L.T.W.]

I guess once I have money to buy a new one (im very broke now:oops:) ill try to freeze it out of its case (ill just freeze the HD itself)

If it fully dies after dat I dont think Ill care.

BTW I checked on new egg this HD they were selling for 96 bucks. It was a 1TB. I guess I should buy it, shouldn't I? Its got good reviews.

[Catharsis]

I demand you leave my industry now, NOW I SAY Damn it.

Those funny looking circuit boards that sit on the outside of the drive, ya water doesn't play well with those either. Short the disk controller out, and guess what, your drive be fucked tool....now even with a sealed external drive, only the platters with be sealed in such a way that this is less of a worry. The disk/USB controller may be sealed behind a pretty plastic case, but I doubt its going to be water/air tight.

When I said the inside of the drive, I meant the platters -- they ARE inside the drive, not the external casing, of course.

And before you're quick to lash out words, have you even tried this method? Freezing a hard drive that sounds like it's already dead, with a minimal change of future damage by freezing, sounds like a better solution than potentially spending thousands of $ with OnTrack, don't you think?

Oh, and sorry, I was not aware that it was your industry.

[Native Jovian]

BTW I checked on new egg this HD they were selling for 96 bucks. It was a 1TB. I guess I should buy it, shouldn't I? Its got good reviews.

Less than $100 for a terrabyte harddrive?

Damn.

[Catharsis]

$85 after $10 rebate for 1TB drive:

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10009440&prodlist=celebros

[phill]

more

Lets start with something simple, the platters are not the only component affected by condensation. To yell out "freeze it" without any further information on protecting those other bits makes you a tool. Yes, the drive is almost dead as it is, but that key word 'almost' means you should at least try not to screw it up further...until you get the data. Screw it up the first time you stick it in the freezer, guess what, you just lost any chance of getting data off of it.

Now, as I mentioned before, freezing the drive is NOT a fix all solution to hard drive problems. At best, it is a temporary solution for a small number of specific problems which end up being common enough to allow this fix all myth to propagate. Since this method can still cause internal and external damage due to the cooling and heating cycles, it really should be the last thing you try...or if you don't care.

and OnTrack...I don't think anyone actually suggested professional data recovery...though I may have skipped that post....the only time to use a data recovery service is if the data/time lost is worth more then the service fees. I don't think there are too many people on the OC forums that can honestly claim that and don't already use a back up of some sort.

Oh and yes, its my industry, because I have to deal with users who talk to idiot IT folk and try to pass that off as computer knowledge. NO, rebooting won't help with the smoke coming from the PSU.

[Catharsis]

No one mentioned freezing to be a fix-all solution. We are trying to help this person by supplying possible solutions for him to try. What are you trying to do?

Lets start with something simple

makes you a tool

its my industry

idiot IT folk

Anyway, Lord.Roderick.i, I hope you get your data back, whatever method you use.

[phill]

No one mentioned freezing to be a fix-all solution. We are trying to help this person by supplying possible solutions for him to try. What are you trying to do?

If you read his post and through the thread, you will notice several people comment on his question about the freezer trick, that would be his main question by the way, amounting too a last ditch effort(and putting it into a bag). You will also notice the suggestion of using the diagnostic tools from the manufacture, which is probably the single most useful suggestion in this thread and for dealing with any hard drive problems in general.

Based on his description of the problem (flashing read light and constant activity) many of the other suggestions, like booting into another OS to see what happens, won't help because it is more likely to be a problem with the drive and not the connection to the computer.

Then you come in and suggest to freeze it without giving further information. That really isn't helpful, it doesn't make you look all that good to other IT Pros, and if it breaks because of your suggestion with its lack of information, well it makes you look stupid. Though I am impressed that the freezer helped after your father banged your drive around, I would have expected damage to the head and platters.

An option I avoid giving to inexperienced users....and almost never without more information on the drive itself, is to hope and pray its 1)just a re-packaged sata/ide drive that can be taken out of the external case and 2)it is the USB controller that has bit the dust and not something related to the drive. Bad idea if you don't know what you are doing, with the breaking it further. so I tend to not suggest this.

[Catharsis]

it is more likely to be a problem with the drive and not the connection to the computer.

Which is why I suggested freezing it. There's actually a hard drive in the freezer at work here this week. Oh, and the other one I mentioned probably did have damaged platters and/or head. I already said it failed afterwards in my previous post. Anyway, enough having to defend myself...

Well, apart from USB being the problem, what would you suggest, phill?

[phill]

oh for the love....

.... You will also notice the suggestion of using the diagnostic tools from the manufacture, which is probably the single most useful suggestion in this thread and for dealing with any hard drive problems in general.....

literacy, learn it.....oh, when I said I was impressed about getting data off your drive, I wasn't joking. Even on 5400rpm drives, the head making contact with the platter for a brief moment can cause a huge amount of damage. Regardless of it failing, the fact it worked long enough to get substantial amounts of information off of it is impressive. A short fall off of a desk is enough to render a HD useless, the CEO of the company I worked for found that out the hard way.

[starla]

I worked at a Data Recovery company for over 4 years. Freezing a hard drive is a common trick that can work, but only under very specific circumstances with very specific types of drive failure. However you have quite a few more "normal" things to try first.

First thing you need to do is isolate the problem. There's a possibility that you may just have a dying external enclosure. Take the drive out of it, and test it either internally or in another enclosure. It's possible the hard drive itself is fine. The fact that the light is flickering can mean the external enclosure is failing, since usually when drives start to fail and are not detected, either the light will not turn on, or be solid.

Once you get it up, you want to put the least amount of stress on it possible just in case. If it's detected by Windows or whatever OS have you, copy files off as soon as possible. And always make backups.

It is important to stress that external drives are made for backup and storage. It is NOT suggested to have one connected and on 24/7. If you need more internal space, install another internal hard drive because external cases do NOT offer proper ventilation to constantly running drives.

And please don't open the actual hard drive. I will cry if you do.