I have a harddrive which was fried when I turned on my computer one day. Now it won't turn on.?

Question

Seagate 250 GB HD
I did see some smoke and smelt burnt silicon on the harddrive. I know that my power supply works fine because when I unhook the harddrive and turn on the computer it works fine. Can someone explain what I can do to retrieve my data from it?

Please don't tell me the obvious about data recovery and risky disk to disk surgery. I also don't want to void the warranty because it's 5 years and I still have a good 4 and a 1/2 years left to go and data recovery is to expensive. Also, computer amateurs don't reply because I'm not a total computer idiot as seeing that I built my own computer.
Seagate 250GB HD

Are there any myths you've heard about for recovering data from drives?

Answer 1

You are SOL if you don't want to take the drive to a recovery expert. They charge more just to get an estimate than it costs for a new drive.

If you want to risk the cost of a new drive. Buy an identical Seagate 250 GB HD.

Mark the bad HD controller with a little dot(so things don't mixed up). Remove the controller card from the bad drive and set it aside. Then remove the controller from the new drive and install it on the bad drive.

You have a 50-50 chance that the "fixed" drive will either work or burn up. If it works you'll need a third drive handy to dump the "bad" drives contents to.

Put all the drives back together with their original parts. You'll either have 1 or 2 drives to send in for warranty repair. This is a hell of a lot cheaper than the $2000+ a data recovery service will charge.

So how much is you data worth to you?

Answer 2

Probably nothing. If you plug your hard drive in and your computer doesn't work, but it works when it isn't in there, your drives are likely fried and data is irretrievable. If the data is that important, you may be able to send the drive to a data recovery company that will charge you an arm and a leg to recover it.

A couple things you might wanna try first:

1. Check jumper settings and make sure the jumper is set correct on the hard drive. What you describe can be caused by improper jumer settings also.

2. Try putting another hard drive in there and building it out as the master drive with an OS and everything. Add the burnt drive as a slave drive and see if the OS recognizes the drive in Disk Management. If so, you may be able to recover the data.

Good luck!

Answer 3

The data is probably all still there. One option would be to take it to a computer repair shop or find a "data recovery specialist" and see if they can help. They'll charge you, of course, so it depends on what your data is worth.

Another option would be to get another harddrive (preferably the same brand and model, but a used working one is as good as a new one), and dissasemble it. Then disassemble your fried hard drive, and swap the magnetic plates in the fried hard drive into the good hard drive, then reassemble the good hard drive with your magnetic plates.

I really don't know if that will work, and there might be safety warnings and even legal prohibitions against taking a harddrive apart, but if you're feeling adventurous, you can give it a shot.

Answer 4

I hope you have a lot of money or don't care much about that data.

The ONLY way you will get the data off that drive is through a data recovery service. The harddrive controller needs to be replaced at very least, and thats if the data on the drive platters has not been destroyed.

You will need to find a data recovery service in your area and speak with them about the details. For example http://www.datarecovery.net/ (I've never used them before)

Answer 5

I would remove the drive and try to use it on another machine. The symptoms you describe would lead me to think of an electrical problem. The wiring harness from the power supply to the motherboard may have shorted, or the motherboard itself may be shorted.
The reason that I don't think your HD is the problem is that everything inside the HD case is metallic and doesn't burn.

Answer 6

OS reinstall and if that failed then you definately ought to've brought about some ESD harm to your pc doing all those random removals. BTW having 2 different forms of reminiscence sticks isn't good. it is going to in basic terms artwork with the backside/weakest element the 1GB stick. In different words it does not stack. E.g. 1GB + 2GB does not propose 3GB additionally Vista sixty 4 often demands 4GB minimum.

Answer 7

If your computer still works, you should be able to retrieve your data if you backed up your files. Call an IT tech, they can be helpful. I got a degree in that, but it is hard to explain sometimes when I have no idea what you are running. Is there proper ventilation? Some computers run hot. Interesting question though. You have my wheels turning on that one.

Answer 8

Get a new hard drive or claim your warranty (weird how it just burnt up). Data is irretrievable once it's fried.

Answer 9

you need to take apart the hard drive,and see what needs to be done.If it's just getting hardware for it,you can do this by yourself,10 minutes with a sotering iron(don't know if I spelled that right) should do the trick,then all you have to do is reboot the material,and everything will be saved,if you do it right!

Answer 10

sorry hdd is no good possibly mother board isn't ether
new system required