Gaaahhh! HDD just died!

[p38arover]

I just tried booting up the desktop PC. The HDD won't spin up. I think it has died. It's not the power supply as i've swapped power leads internally between the HDD and th CD-ROM drive to no avail.

Oh dear, I wonder how much data I've lost?

Ron

[RichardK]

I thought it would have warned you via noise or instability first............... Have you checked the power on the drive connection?
If all else fails a nicely judged tap might help if something has jammed????

[p38arover]

I thought it would have warned you via noise or instability first............... Have you checked the power on the drive connection?
If all else fails a nicely judged tap might help if something has jammed????

Yep, tried a different power lead - the one that operates the CD-ROM which is working OK (I can boot from CD-ROM)

No indication of impending doom. I went to work this arvo and it was fine, came home and booted up and it was dead.

Ron

[RichardK]

Bugga....... looks like a trip to the disk doctor..................... do they get $7K a week too?

[HangOver]

If all else fails a nicely judged tap might help if something has jammed????
hmmm maybe not the best thing to do with a HDD.

if the data on your hdd is important it may be possible, (sometimes) to obtain an identical HDD and swap the electronics board. Most likely it's this that has fried rather than mechanical failure. I've done it a few times, twice it worked.

if it's a work computer send your drive to a specialist data recover company and claim the cost off yout tax:)

failing that and if you are going to trash it try a nicely judged tap;)
if you do try tapping it make sure you hold it sideways up ie narrow and long side up. That'll prevent the read heads smashing on the platters.

steve

ps before you try this stuff have a good look at the power socket on the HDD check the soldering look for cracks it may just need re-melting.
again this is last resort just before tapping it.

[HangOver]

Bugga....... looks like a trip to the disk doctor..................... do they get $7K a week too?

about four years ago I had to get a price, it was one hundered pounds per 1MB that was recovered.
I think it's down to about $2000 per drive now, a good tax right-off though;)

[incisor]

is it a western digital drive?

some get a motor fault that you can over come by gently tapping on one corner while holding vertical... moves the rotor enough that the motor will then spin so you can recover data..

[Captain_Rightfoot]

is it a western digital drive?

some get a motor fault that you can over come by gently tapping on one corner while holding vertical... moves the rotor enough that the motor will then spin so you can recover data..
In the dark old days I had a seagate that if you helped it buy giving it a spin it would start :)

[p38arover]

Fortunately, there's none of MY data on it - only my wife's. :twisted: Hopefully not too much and nothing too important. :angel:

It's a Seagate 80Gb. I only bought the PC second-hand two weeks ago.

I'll try your suggestions but hold out no hope.

I can't even steal the HDDs out of my previous desktop, Ii gave it to my son on the weekend so he could use to play with Linux - and he's 200km away.

Ron

[Captain_Rightfoot]

Fortunately, there's none of MY data on it - only my wife's. :twisted: Hopefully not too much and nothing too important. :angel:

It's a Seagate 80Gb. I only bought the PC second-hand two weeks ago.

I'll try your suggestions but hold out no hope.

I can't even steal the HDDs out of my previous desktop, Ii gave it to my son on the weekend so he could use to play with Linux - and he's 200km away.

Ron
Hdd's are pretty cheap these days. I reckon we should probably just replace them every 2/3 years as a precaution. :)

[incisor]

250g seagates are great value at the moment, 5 year warranty and about $145 from your corner computer store, cheaper thru the **** shops....

[p38arover]

I wonder what one would cost posted to 2750 from, say, Caboolture?

I shall have to send an email and ask......

Wife will not be pleased

Ron

[101RRS]

I just tried booting up the desktop PC. The HDD won't spin up. I think it has died. It's not the power supply as i've swapped power leads internally between the HDD and th CD-ROM drive to no avail.

Oh dear, I wonder how much data I've lost?

Ron

Oh course you had the data backed up there will will not be an issue - the cost of a new drive and all will be ok :)


Yeah Rite :(

Gazzz

[p38arover]

Oh course you had the data backed up there will will not be an issue - the cost of a new drive and all will be ok :)


Yeah Rite :(

Gazzz

I had just fitted a new DVD burner to back up the data (and to burn some DVDs for RichardK) - my previous burner produces totallyt unreliable DVDs and CDs.

My old tape drive is far more reliable. CDs I burned a few years back on supposedly good quality CDs (Kodak etc.) and a differntenCD burner are now unreadable. I've got tapes that are 15 years old and floppy disks the same age which I can still read.

Ron

[HangOver]

Just a thought have you tried reading them in another cd/dvd burner?
The disc may not have been ‘closed’

Try this software, it may help : http://www.kvipu.com/CDCheck/

Please note the following are just my ramblings, for what they are worth.
Burning cd’s / DVD’s it is said that the lifespan is related to several factors.

I personally believe the largest major factors are setting too high a burn speed and incorrect storage of burned cd’s / dvd’s.
DVD’s should be stored and handled, like you would an LP record.
If you are unsure as to what an LP records is ask your dad.
Store them in a case, vertically somewhere that doesn’t have extremes of temperature.
Handle on the edge of the disc or the central hub.
Burn CD’s no faster than 16x and dvd’s no faster than 2-4x

They are not indestructible like they were originally portrayed.

Other factors include:
Quality of the media from which the data is being copied.
Quality of disc, (you get what you pay for).
Quality of the original burner
And then there is just bad luck:)

To sum up, burn slow, use good discs, handle with care.


===================================

ps
Magnetic tapes can be good for in excess of 35 years.
Floppy discs are notoriously unreliable, (please do not trust them).
They never call when they should, they never show up on time ………:D

[chunk]

there is an old saying in the computer industry back up, back up, backup.

[p38arover]

there is an old saying in the computer industry back up, back up, backup.

I used to be the Principal Technical Officer in charge of a couple of computer mainframe installations. :oops2:

Ron

[HangOver]

I used to be the Principal Technical Officer in charge of a couple of computer mainframe installations. :oops2:

Ron

Now there's a term I haven't heard in a while, 'mainframe';)

I remember learning on a 'mini' computer. I would like to point out that it wasn't that "mini". Actually it was about the same size as a mini, cooper that is. Remember Cobol anyone?:D

[Pedro_The_Swift]

gee, this happened to me(again) Inc would be up me like the proverbial rat,,,


external HD,
copy once aweek,,
then disconnect.



jus dont ask why i need the security----:angel:

[drover81]

Ron,
A trick I've heard floating around is putting the HDD in the freezer for a couple of hours and connecting it up to another PC in the morning...

Apparently the freezing allows the drive to get enough amps into it to allow it to spin... may work, may not...!

It may give you enough time get some data off it...

Cheers

[abaddonxi]

Ron,
A trick I've heard floating around is putting the HDD in the freezer for a couple of hours and connecting it up to another PC in the morning...

Apparently the freezing allows the drive to get enough amps into it to allow it to spin... may work, may not...!

It may give you enough time get some data off it...

Cheers

If you do that I think you end up with terminal condensation problems.

Cheers
Simon.

[olbod]

I got tired of losing stuff due to failed HDD's.
Now I use two HDD's in the PC.
Drive C takes care of the normal working activity such as, internet,
anti virus etc.
Drive D, I use for storage and since adapting this method I have not lost
anything saved even tho Drive C HDD has **** itself twice already.

I also periodicaly download large chunks from drive D to DVD to play safe !
Cheers.

[p38arover]

Thanks to Inc who shipped a drive from Caboolture yesterday, I have a brand new 250 Gb HDD in the PC and I'm currently installing Windows.

Thanks Dave, great service from you and Australia Post to get a HDD over 1000km overnight.

Hmm, I'm wondering whether to fit an old drive I have in as Drive C and installing Windows on it.

Ron

[incisor]

If you do that I think you end up with terminal condensation problems.

Cheers
Simon.

it does work... have used it from time to time.... also works on cd and dvd discs that are troublesome.... believe it or not....

[incisor]

Thanks to Inc who shipped a drive from Caboolture yesterday, I have a brand new 250 Gb HDD in the PC and I'm currently installing Windows.

Thanks Dave, great service from you and Australia Post to get a HDD over 1000km overnight.

Hmm, I'm wondering whether to fit an old drive I have in as Drive C and installing Windows on it.

Ron
good to see another happy customer ...

the old drive would slow the box down heaps as the bus steps down to the speed of the slowest drive on most motherboards...

[p38arover]

Thanks Dave. I won't install XP on an old drive.

MS is now telling me that XP has been installed too many times - I'll have to talk to one of their support people.

One problem has been that the XP I have doesn't support drives bigger than 137Gb so I'll download the Service Packs to see if that helps. Thje BIOS recognises it's a 250 Gb drive.

Ron

[Vandermorph]

My Computer is a W98 its running a 1.1G Drive at the moment it sits on 100mb of free space. A kid gave me a 10G hard drive for free before he moved away and ive lost it while we were moving i wish i hadnt because now downloads are impossible with a little over 100mb and if it drops to 50mb it crashes, freezes or just doesnt go

[George130]

Ron
Put the HDD in a sealed bag and place it in the freezer over night. When you pull it out put it strait in the computer and see what it does. If your lucky you will have time to retreive some or all of the data. Depends on what has failed.

[p38arover]

I've called my wife and asked to put the drive in an anti-static bag and thence into the freezer. We'll see what happens. The drive is not spinning up.

Ron

[p38arover]

My Computer is a W98 its running a 1.1G Drive at the moment it sits on 100mb of free space. A kid gave me a 10G hard drive for free before he moved away and ive lost it while we were moving i wish i hadnt because now downloads are impossible with a little over 100mb and if it drops to 50mb it crashes, freezes or just doesnt go

I've got a 540 Mb drive you can have if you like. I gave my spare bigger drives to my son (they weren't very big - only about 10Gb)

Ron

[George130]

OK. Good luck. I have seen the freezer trick work once or twice so guess its if there is only a small circuit break things shrink and work for a short while.

[Vandermorph]

I've got a 540 Mb drive you can have if you like. I gave my spare bigger drives to my son (they weren't very big - only about 10Gb)

Ron

It would be impossible to install im running 2 drives a c and a d drive one has the 1.1Gb and the other has 114mb i just cant run programs on it without manually hunting them down

[p38arover]

Ah well, the freezer trick didn't work.

With the new HDD, I've updated Win XP to SP2 but I can't "grow" the partition to 250Gb so I'm apparently stuck with 131 Gb (or 127Gb in 1024kb multiples) - I don't know why it's not the 137Gb limitation on early releases of XP. The BIOS says I've got a 250 Gb drive.

I wonder if I can add another partition to access the unused space using an aftermarket partition manager. I'v e tried Seagate's DiscWizard to increase the partition size but that didn't work.

Oh. it's all too hard.

Bloody PCs - I hate 'em!

Maybe I should install the Win XP Professional I bought recently.

Ron

[p38arover]

I remember my first HDD was 5Mb - that was huge!

I also had 4 external DSDD hard drives connected to my System 80 - they cost me a fortune. My dot amtrix printer (a Citoh 8510 - it's out in the garage) cost me $800.

When I later got a 286 PC, a second hand 386 motherboard upgrade cost me $1200.

Ron

[George130]

I remember those days. We had one of the first 386's. Entire system with laser printer cost my old man $25,000!
Friends used to come round just to marvel at its ability. Also used to annoy telstra as the phone wne through it and dad could list the date, time, length and number of every incoming and outgoing call.

[George130]

PS sorry that didn't work ron.

[p38arover]

PS sorry that didn't work ron.

Ahh, no worries. Thinking about it, there wasn't much data on it as we had only bought the PC about two weeks or so ago.

Fortunately, we have hard copies of the documents so I can recreate them fairly quickly.

Oddly enough, I had been considering setting the PC up with a RAID config as the motherbnoard supports that. I was too late. :D

Ron

[p38arover]

I remember those days. We had one of the first 386's. Entire system with laser printer cost my old man $25,000!

Flamin' heck!

My first intro to personal computers (as apart from minis and mainferame computers at work) was when my employer, OTC, set up a message handling centre to take international telegrams using modified Dick Smith System 80 Business Computers (this was 2-3 years before before the IBM PC came out). The tech staff who worked under me were responsible fo the maintenance of the PCs and the message handling mainframe and KDUs (Keyboard Display Units). I bought a System 80 for myself because of that.

Ron

[dmdigital]

Ahh, no worries. Thinking about it, there wasn't much data on it as we had only bought the PC about two weeks or so ago.

Fortunately, we have hard copies of the documents so I can recreate them fairly quickly.

Oddly enough, I had been considering setting the PC up with a RAID config as the motherbnoard supports that. I was too late. :D

Ron

Best thing you can do I run SATA RAID mirror for C: and a strip set SATA pair for D: This gives me a fast large scratch disc for temporary files when doing video editing or for Photohop and I also have the luxury of redundant C: drives. All discs are the same so if I loose a mirror disc I can break the strip set and use one of those in the mirror. For "offline" storage I run a 1TB RAID5 Network storage.

The other thing most people over look is power protection: either a UPS or a line conditioner, not one of the "surge protection" boards, worthless things, you need to protect against low power as much if not more than for spikes and surges.

[p38arover]

Getting a bit complex for me.

All I want at the moment is to be able to access all 250GB of the new HDD.

Ron

[abaddonxi]

Right click on My Computer, either on desktop or from start menu. Choose Manage - Storage - Disk Management.

I think you can add partitions to unpartitioned space, but can't change existing partitions.

Could be wrong, though.

Cheers
Simon.

[dmdigital]

Right click on My Computer, either on desktop or from start menu. Choose Manage - Storage - Disk Management.

I think you can add partitions to unpartitioned space, but can't change existing partitions.

Could be wrong, though.

Cheers
Simon.

Correct changing an existing partion size will mean the partion is first deleted and then must be recreated and so you loose everything.

[HangOver]

Correct changing an existing partion size will mean the partion is first deleted and then must be recreated and so you loose everything.

Hi
You can get software, (retail = partition magic : there is a freeware version but can't remember it's name) that will allow you to adjust the size, add or delete partitions on a drive without deleteing all the data.

google for something like freeware partition resize, I'm sure you'll find it.

[p38arover]

I was going to try Partition Magic - I do have a copy I bought! :eek:

I tried the Seagate DiscWizard which I used to install the drive but while it has the increase partition size option, it would'nt work in this case.

Ron

[incisor]

The other thing most people over look is power protection: either a UPS or a line conditioner, not one of the "surge protection" boards, worthless things, you need to protect against low power as much if not more than for spikes and surges.

a ups is a totally different thing to a line conditioner unless the ups is a fully online interactive unit. most ups are on/off units that only kick in when the power drops below about 200 volts... if the ups costs below $1k then it is highly unlikely that it is truly conditioning power.

[incisor]

partition magic is what you need to grow the partition ron... should be a straight forward task....

[Pedro_The_Swift]

I cant believe my c drive partition is 10gb and I've still run out of space,, and before you speak,, program files is only 1.3gb, windows is only (!)2.84gb
whats using the rest??

[Pedro_The_Swift]

Ron, have a quick squizz thru here--
http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads8.html

[HangOver]

I cant believe my c drive partition is 10gb and I've still run out of space,, and before you speak,, program files is only 1.3gb, windows is only (!)2.84gb
whats using the rest??

chances are it's full of undeleted temp files/recycle bin/ internet cache etc etc etc ....................................

Download, install and run a program called CrapCleaner from www.ccleaner.com (http://www.ccleaner.com)
it's free and will get rid of a lot of un-needed files files.

please note though, it has two options one as a button called "cleaner" the other a button called " ïssues" only use the cleaner option.
The issue button fixes issues with your registry and while I have used it loads of times I would not suggest anyone run these regsitry cleaners without being able to restore registry's if it goes worng. But if you can, go for it.
But I have suggested you don't ;)

Anyhow install it and run the cleaner, it gives you a report of how much space it is going to free up, you will be amazed if you have never used this sort of program before. If you have never done this before it may take some time to complete.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

you forgot to add,
untick the yahoo box,,,;)

[HangOver]

you forgot to add,
untick the yahoo box,,,;)
damn, yes your right.
I hate that rubbish programs install without asking.