IBM Deathstar Problem.

rizla01

I have the IBM Deathstar problem.

Valuable data (personal) kaput.

I have bought a USB to ATA/SATA/IDE connector to try and recover data but so far no good.

I am going to try a couple of days in the freezer next but was wondering, if I remove the cover exposing the disc & pickup arm, whats the chance of me powering up and then manoevering the pickup manually till it finds data?

Anyone else have any good suggestions.

Not going to pay loads to get info recovered and doubt if re-planting the disk in another chassis is likely to happen.

The_JinJ

The freezer worked for me once - only got access for a few minutes though!
Is the drive completelly dead? Spin up?

Out of curiosity, did you hear the dreaded ticking before it died?

albertross_2

try giving it a light horizontal shake before you freeze it/take the cover off.

if it's clicking, you'll be lucky to get anything back.

rizla01

Yup. It's clicking!!

Spins up OK. (Got a great gyroscope effect!)

But tick, tick, tick.

What is this actually doing to cause the ticking? Is it something that can be gently positioned when the cover is off?

The_JinJ

The heads touching things they shouldn't from what I remember - not sure on that...have a quick Google for IBM Deathstar and I'll bet there are lots of hits!

I don't think many had any sucess recovering data I'm afraid

Zagu

rizla01 wrote:

whats the chance of me powering up and then manoevering the pickup manually till it finds data?

Hhmmmmm, pretty low Id say, but good luck and let us know if it works. Id only do that as your absolute last resort, just before you bin it!

I once considered buying a used identical drive, and moving the controller from it to my old drive. I didnt do it in the end. Obviously, I dont know how valuable the information you have is, so dont know if thats worth considering, or even if its possible.

Good luck.

The_JinJ

If you can pick up an IDENTICAL drive then Zagus idea is a good one!
Invalidate the warranty on the new drive obviously lol....and you'd have 2 Deathstars!!

albertross_2

It's caused by the head going too far, and hitting the centre spindle.

john_kent

Learn from your expieriance

I keep three backups

1) An exact mirror image on a same make brand hard drive in my case(Daily)
2) A CD backup (monthly)
3) A Weekly backup on an external drive (weekly)

I also send all my very very importnat files which are zipped and password protected to my digital vault account

Zagu

albertross wrote:

It's caused by the head going too far, and hitting the centre spindle.

Im not doubting you, but Ive read a different explination.

In the case of the 75GXP, this does not always happen. Variables such as uneven warming of the platters can confuse the drive. Every so often, data will be recorded in one place but not where the drive was expecting. Consequently, when the drive goes back to look for the data, it is not there. A loud clicking noise, not unlike the infamous Iomega Click of Death, will come from the drive. This is due to the read head resetting itself and making another attempt to find the data.”


Either way, it would appear that the controller isnt the problem in this case, so scrub that one!

There are also some suggested fixes on that link, but I havent read them yet.

albertross_2

You are right, the actuator arm going back and forward rapidly makes a clicking noise, I have seen them hit the spindle or plastic stopper and pull back as part of the process, but can't remember if that's after I've pulled them to pieces beforehand? I've lost count of how many dead travelstar drives I've seen, I avoid IBM/Hitachi drives like the plague. Maxtor's 3.5"'s aren't much better, but maybe the merger with Seagate will improve the reliability.

If the drive is being recognised by the bios, these utils may help, may not.

http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm