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To be honest, I don't know if it spins up or not. I'll tell you what it sounds like though. It sounds like a helicopter when the pilot turns on the engine and i

To be honest, I don't know if it spins up or not. I'll tell you what it sounds like though. It sounds like a helicopter when the pilot turns on the engine and it starts revving up - for maybe half a second - then a loud Click! like a camera shutter - and then it starts to wind up again for another half second followed another Click! Don't know if that's a good description really but it's the best I can do. I'm really not a hardware guy. My guess is that this description indicates it does not spin up but hopefully you can tell me? You're probably right about it being an expensive business. Another reason I don't want to hand over my drive is: Who are these people? And how do I really know what they are going to do with my private data? Did you say "recent backups"? Ha. That's funny.

blogimus 17y ago
The whir and clank is not encouraging. I'd leave it alone and take to an expert if the data is (are) that important. At work, the IT guys have had to send drives out to be recovered (mostly from remote workers who don't have the best backup environment or discipline). I'm not sure which service they used and can't make a recommendation, but there are are few big names. At least one data recovery specialist sponsors public radio, I think its TechFusion.
- villageidiot 17y ago
  Yeah, I didn't think that was a good sign. Thanks. I'll make a note of Techfusion. Looks like it may come to that.
SwellJoe 17y ago
To be honest, I don't know if it spins up or not. I'll tell you what it sounds like though. It sounds like a helicopter when the pilot turns on the engine and it starts revving up - for maybe half a second - then a loud Click! Yeah, I've heard that sound. It's usually followed immediately by a "CLUNK" as I toss the disk in the trash. If the disk shows up in the BIOS disk scan, or when Linux detects the disks, you might still be able to get some data off of it with dd. That'd be my first plan, if I were in your shoes. If that doesn't work, you might have some luck with the logic assembly replacement idea. If it's the controller circuitry that's out of whack, it might be fixed by a new board. If the motor or head are actually sticking and unable to do their job, it's a more dramatic situation. And, I'm not sure what the mechanics of such things look like these days. This might be one of those situations where putting the platters in another identical drive is the only option. Did you say "recent backups"? Ha. That's funny. Yes. You'll learn. Someday. The cost of not learning is infrequent, but can be very, very, high.
- villageidiot 17y ago
  Thanks for the tips. Yes, it does show up in the BIOS scan. Maybe there's hope for the software option. I'll save your hardware-related tips for later since I'm more or less incompetent when it comes to the non-virtual.
silentbicycle 17y ago
> Did you say "recent backups"? Ha. That's funny. The easy way: Buy a duplicate hard drive, and use cron[1] and rsync[2] to schedule an automatic nightly backup. If you have stuff that cannot be backed up directly by file copying (such as live SQL databases), use their dump procedures, which are specifically for safe copying. When your hard drive dies, just switch to the other, and buy a replacement backup drive. It doesn't need to be local, either - rsync is quite bandwidth-efficient. Also: Test the backup now and then! [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cron [2]: http://www.samba.org/rsync/ If your data is worth asking strangers on the internet for recovery advice, it's worth spending an hour to set up a backup system. This has saved me from drive crashes twice, so far.
- villageidiot 17y ago
  Thanks. Yes I agree I need to start doing this.

To be honest, I don't know if it spins up or not. I'll tell you what it sounds like though. It sounds like a helicopter when the pilot turns on the engine and it starts revving up - for maybe half a second - then a loud Click! like a camera shutter - and then it starts to wind up again for another half second followed another Click! Don't know if that's a good description really but it's the best I can do. I'm really not a hardware guy. My guess is that this description indicates it does not spin up but hopefully you can tell me? You're probably right about it being an expensive business. Another reason I don't want to hand over my drive is: Who are these people? And how do I really know what they are going to do with my private data? Did you say "recent backups"? Ha. That's funny.

blogimus 17y ago

The whir and clank is not encouraging. I'd leave it alone and take to an expert if the data is (are) that important. At work, the IT guys have had to send drives out to be recovered (mostly from remote workers who don't have the best backup environment or discipline). I'm not sure which service they used and can't make a recommendation, but there are are few big names. At least one data recovery specialist sponsors public radio, I think its TechFusion.

villageidiot 17y ago
Yeah, I didn't think that was a good sign. Thanks. I'll make a note of Techfusion. Looks like it may come to that.

SwellJoe 17y ago

To be honest, I don't know if it spins up or not. I'll tell you what it sounds like though. It sounds like a helicopter when the pilot turns on the engine and it starts revving up - for maybe half a second - then a loud Click! Yeah, I've heard that sound. It's usually followed immediately by a "CLUNK" as I toss the disk in the trash. If the disk shows up in the BIOS disk scan, or when Linux detects the disks, you might still be able to get some data off of it with dd. That'd be my first plan, if I were in your shoes. If that doesn't work, you might have some luck with the logic assembly replacement idea. If it's the controller circuitry that's out of whack, it might be fixed by a new board. If the motor or head are actually sticking and unable to do their job, it's a more dramatic situation. And, I'm not sure what the mechanics of such things look like these days. This might be one of those situations where putting the platters in another identical drive is the only option. Did you say "recent backups"? Ha. That's funny. Yes. You'll learn. Someday. The cost of not learning is infrequent, but can be very, very, high.

villageidiot 17y ago
Thanks for the tips. Yes, it does show up in the BIOS scan. Maybe there's hope for the software option. I'll save your hardware-related tips for later since I'm more or less incompetent when it comes to the non-virtual.

silentbicycle 17y ago

> Did you say "recent backups"? Ha. That's funny. The easy way: Buy a duplicate hard drive, and use cron[1] and rsync[2] to schedule an automatic nightly backup. If you have stuff that cannot be backed up directly by file copying (such as live SQL databases), use their dump procedures, which are specifically for safe copying. When your hard drive dies, just switch to the other, and buy a replacement backup drive. It doesn't need to be local, either - rsync is quite bandwidth-efficient. Also: Test the backup now and then! [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cron [2]: http://www.samba.org/rsync/ If your data is worth asking strangers on the internet for recovery advice, it's worth spending an hour to set up a backup system. This has saved me from drive crashes twice, so far.

villageidiot 17y ago
Thanks. Yes I agree I need to start doing this.