Fried HDD.Can it be repaired?

macman

Mr_Warren wrote: »

Thanks. I will probably follow this route as Seagate want £350 to recover the data or I can get a free replacement new drive as unit still under warranty.

Dream on! The standard warranty won't cover user inflicted damage.
There is no guarantee that any data can be recovered, so get yourself a caddy.

Mr_Warren_2

Latest info. I visited 2 IT shops and both listened to the noise from within. The HD motor is ticking like a clock tic, tic, tic, tic etc.. and both telling me the only way to recover anything from the HD is to send it to the Clean Room (hence the high recovery costs).

I have not mentioned to the manufacturer that I had fried the HD by error. Just said it was working one day and not the other and yes, I will be getting a new item replacement. Thanks all for comments.

almillar

How much did these shops charge you? Was it more than the £5 it would have cost you to buy a caddy and try the drive out?

macman

Mr_Warren wrote: »

Latest info. I visited 2 IT shops and both listened to the noise from within. The HD motor is ticking like a clock tic, tic, tic, tic etc.. and both telling me the only way to recover anything from the HD is to send it to the Clean Room (hence the high recovery costs).

I have not mentioned to the manufacturer that I had fried the HD by error. Just said it was working one day and not the other and yes, I will be getting a new item replacement. Thanks all for comments.

You have no idea what is required until you test with a USB caddy first-you may get lucky. Are you not prepared to spend less than £10 in order to maybe save £350+?
Once the manufacturer has tested your failed drive, they will realise that the damage is user-inflicted, and you will not get a free replacement.

securityguy

macman wrote: »

Once the manufacturer has tested your failed drive, they will realise that the damage is user-inflicted, and you will not get a free replacement.

Actually, my experience is that unless it arrives smelling of coffee and with obvious signs of drilling, they'll replace it. It doesn't cost them much, and it's worth it for the goodwill; most people don't bother RMAing disks anyway. Testing for user damage is quite expensive and likely to result in an argument, so just sending out a disk (which only costs them "cost", not "price") is easier.

The OP's problem is that s/he's got live data on the disk, which a replacement won't replace. Backups are handy, aren't they?