Is my hard rive mechanically broken?

[Micky Mouse]

Hi all,

My 18Gb 2.5" TravelStar IBM Dara 218000 drive has just died leaving me
horrified at the amount of data I have lost (yes I know I'm stupid for not
making backups).

The drive is not detected at all by my Dell Inspiron 7500.

I removed it (still in the caddy) an reseated it hoping that it might be
due to a connector problem.

When I got it out I noticed that if I rotate it gently it makes a loose
clicking/wobbly/sloppy spindly noise?

Any ideas what does this noise mean? Is the drive well and truly busted,
mechanically - aka broken spindle? Or has it just failed to park the heads?
Have I already now (unwittingly)bounced the heads all over then disk
surfaces making recovery possibilities unlikely?

Will freezing the drive have any possibility of a temporary fix - as I have
read here - or make things worse?

Thanks.

 

[Rod Speed]

in message
How do we know you are the real Micky ?

My 18Gb 2.5" TravelStar IBM Dara 218000 drive has
just died leaving me horrified at the amount of data I
have lost (yes I know I'm stupid for not making backups).

The drive is not detected at all by my Dell Inspiron 7500.

I removed it (still in the caddy) an reseated it
hoping that it might be due to a connector problem.

When I got it out I noticed that if I rotate it gently

You mean rotate the entire drive ?

it makes a loose clicking/wobbly/sloppy spindly noise?
Urk.

Any ideas what does this noise mean?

Its likely dead, Jim. You into necrophilia ?

Is the drive well and truly busted, mechanically
Likely.

- aka broken spindle?

Very unlikely, but possible I spose.

Or has it just failed to park the heads?

You shouldnt get that effect with that.

Have I already now (unwittingly) bounced
the heads all over then disk surfaces

Unlikely. The heads may have come off the actuator tho.

making recovery possibilities unlikely?

Yep, unlikely if it makes noises like that.

Will freezing the drive have any possibility of a temporary fix
Nope.

- as I have read here

Not when the drive is making noises like that you havent.

- or make things worse?

Its unlikely to make it worse now if something
is loose inside the sealed chamber.

 

[Arno Wagner]

Hi all,

My 18Gb 2.5" TravelStar IBM Dara 218000 drive has just died leaving me
horrified at the amount of data I have lost (yes I know I'm stupid for not
making backups).

The drive is not detected at all by my Dell Inspiron 7500.

I removed it (still in the caddy) an reseated it hoping that it might be
due to a connector problem.

When I got it out I noticed that if I rotate it gently it makes a loose
clicking/wobbly/sloppy spindly noise?

Not necessarily. Some drives do that.

Any ideas what does this noise mean? Is the drive well and truly busted,
mechanically - aka broken spindle? Or has it just failed to park the heads?
Have I already now (unwittingly)bounced the heads all over then disk
surfaces making recovery possibilities unlikely?

Will freezing the drive have any possibility of a temporary fix - as I have
read here - or make things worse?

If the data is worth money to you, don't mess with the drive!
Look for professional data recovery instead.


From your description I would deduce that the data on the drive
could be completely intact.

Arno

 

[Micky Mouse]

No I'm not the real Micky - Name's Chris, just don't like spam.

The noise I mentioned is something moving inside the drive making a clicking
sound. The sound is made if I hold the drive, lets say, with the label
facing up (platters inside would be alligned with the horizontal). If I
slowly rotate it till the label is facing down, just at the point when it is
almost the other way up I here a click as something inside falls down under
gravity. This noise is repeated if I then (slowly) turn it back the otherway
up. So something sounds lose inside. If I hold the drive with the platters
aligned vertically and move it about a bit then the noise doesn't happen.
If I apply power to the drive then I hear a sort of dull and lower pitched
cluncking sound like its trying to seek but that its not very health - the
pitch of this sound makes me thing the platters are not spinning up.

I was hoping for a quick fix - Hope your right Arno (that the data is
recoverable) - you don't advise board changing or fish tanks then!

Thanks for the info,

Chris.

 

[Rod Speed]

No I'm not the real Micky - Name's Chris, just don't like spam.

Nothing to stop you using your real name, but
continuing to use that bogus email address.

Even better to not have the btinternet.com part in
the email address, have say nospam.com there too.

The noise I mentioned is something moving inside the drive making
a clicking sound. The sound is made if I hold the drive, lets say, with
the label facing up (platters inside would be alligned with the horizontal).
If I slowly rotate it till the label is facing down, just at the point when
it is almost the other way up I here a click as something inside falls
down under gravity. This noise is repeated if I then (slowly)
turn it back the otherway up. So something sounds lose inside.

That may just be the heads moving around, not parked.

Dunno if thats normal for that particular drive.

If I hold the drive with the platters aligned vertically
and move it about a bit then the noise doesn't happen.

Likely because gravity keeps the head arm against the stop.

If I apply power to the drive then I hear a sort of dull and lower pitched
cluncking sound like its trying to seek but that its not very health - the
pitch of this sound makes me thing the platters are not spinning up.

I'd normally put a drive flat on the table surface, outside
the case or caddy, with the cables connected. You can
usually feel if its spinning up in that situation. Harder with
a notebook drive tho, you need an extension cable to do
that or an adapter to a desktop case set of cables.

I was hoping for a quick fix

Thats uncommon in that situation.

- Hope your right Arno (that the data is recoverable)
- you don't advise board changing or fish tanks then!

Not if the data is important.