My 120gb hardisk is not being detected.is there any way to get my data back.what could be the main problem?

Question

its a 120gb seagate barracuda and suddenly it is undetectable and if i check the sound iside the hdd it seems running but not reading .i have very important family data .is is possible to get that data back and is it possible to fix the problem?plz help

Answer 1

That totally depends on what happened to the drive! If its a mechanical failure, its gonna cost a small fortune to get this info back because someone has to pull the disc out of the harddrive and retrieve the info. This can easily cost about 80 bucks an hr! If the harddrive has failed due to a corrupt bios configuration, the data may still be retrievable but its something the average layperson shouldnt mess with. I have had some success with setting the bad drive to slave and installing a new drive set to master. You will need to install the op sys on the new one and then you can see the old drive in my computer. From there, its a matter of finding the files and using copy and past. This will only work if the bios is recognizing the drive though.

Answer 2

Is it recognized in BIOS? If so, then you can try other tools, like SpinRite, OnTrack, Linux, BartPE... if it's not seen in BIOS, ask yourself how important the data is - because it's going to be costly to get back because you're going to have to send it to a Data Recovery facility which will cost $400+ (could be into the $1000's).

http://www.ontrack.com
http://www.knoppix.net
http://www.ubcd4win.com
http://www.grc.com/spinrite.htm

Answer 3

Check your BIOS settings first, then check that cables are connected properly and securely. From there, as others have suggested, it depends on whether your bios sees it or not. You could also try putting it in another computer as a slave drive, in case it is a bad motherboard or something.

Answer 4

90% of the detection problems is a cable, wiring or power problem, make sure everything is making good contact.