|
|
Back to UserFriendly Strip Comments Index
|
Invoke Uficle: Reviving hard drive, part 2 | by jdelphiki | 2011-08-29 17:56:34 |
|
If the controller isn't smart enough to understand | by InTrinsiC | 2011-08-29 18:02:33 |
| Yes, the firmware in that enclosure is a problem. |
by twixt |
2011-08-29 18:56:53 |
If the firmware in the enclosure is flashable, and BAFO have the firmware flash utility and the firmware update for the enclosure available - along with update instructions - you can fix the enclosure. If not, the enclosure is of no use to you.
For drive recovery, it is normally best-practice to hook the drive directly to a standard motherboard's hard disk controller. Not a 3rd party controller, but the basic controller on the motherboard-chipset-itself works best.
If you can't do that yourself, find a friend who can help. Doing disk recovery on external plugged-in devices is risky, especially if the disk-interface decides to go south halfway through the recovery process - or especially just after the disk recovery software has rebuilt the Partition Table and the disk-interface decides to die while the Partition Table is being rewritten to Track0 on the disk. (Which, Murphy being Murphy, will be the default failure-mode and the el-cheapo power supply on the external hard disk *will* pick that moment to die.)
From the sounds of what you are describing, you've got a standard hard disk failure mode consisting of a bad spindle bearing - which is one of the common "wearing out" failure modes for old hard disks.
If you can get the disk up and running without the noise (and keep it that way long enough) getting the drive back *might* be well within the drive-recovery-software's capabilities. It's certainly worth the effort. But the moment you've got that thing running again - you *immediately* copy the files off - no standing around. Because just running, that bearing is going to heat up again. And when the slop gets bad enough, the drive is going to quit working and you're going to be back where you started. If possible, having a small beer-fridge where you can tuck the drive while it's running will help with keeping the drive running long enough to copy the files. When that's done, turf the drive.
Heat being the enemy, putting the drive in an enclosure (as per your earlier post) - where it's only going to get hot more quickly - is not recommended regardless. You want the drive to stay as cool as possible for as long as possible. Having it sit in open air on a dry washcloth - possibly upside down so the heat from the drive electronics doesn't flow directly into the drive itself - with the whole thing stuck in the beer fridge with the cables sneaking out from as small a gap as possible, is the way to go.
|
|
[ Reply ] |
|
|
[Todays Cartoon Discussion]
[News Index]
|
|
