Wondering if anyone will recognise this problem:

I have a Hitachi hardrive in a basic network enclosure that has just started making a strange musical/high pitched siren like noise when I turn it on! Its not being detected by windows either via USB or connecting it internally in the PC. Unfortunately the last time it was on at the weekend the enclosure fell over...

Its a 320Gb drive with only about 15Gb worth of files but its all our pictures, documents and music. The music is not an issue as most of it can be reimported from our CD's but I'm a bit worried that we've lost all the piccies! :(

Before I get slated for not having a back-up... I know... serves me right... sniff.

PS - Also, is it actually; 'Hardrive', 'Harddrive' or 'Hard Drive'?

Edited 21 October, 200817 yr by foureyes

Is it a Hard Disk noise or a fan noise from the enclosure.?

If the noise is a crating noise there is a possibility of a head crash, which is obviously fatal for the drive. The drive should still appear in a PC bios though, so it might be worth connecting the drive up directly into a PC and then trying to get your data off that way.

What model of NAS enclosure was it as some use custom file systems which you won't be able to read in a standard PC or will require drivers to read.

PS it's Hard Disk

Edited 21 October, 200817 yr by cheezemonkhai

I dont think the prognosis is very good, sounds like the drive has gone west and broke.

I am suprised though at the number of people that fail to backup their data onto another source, be it another hard drive or CD/DVD media. Hard drives fail, and all to frequently depending on brand. I have all my important stuff (music/photos/documents and so on) all backed up twice onto external hard drives. I keep one at work, and the other at home and when I refresh the backup I swap them over. I have more than 500GB of data I dont want to lose, including CD's (more than 110GB worth) that have taken many years to rip and the thought of doing all that again I couldnt bare.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I managed to recover several years worth of photos for someone at work after they accidentally selected the system reset option and wiped their windows install. They also had no other copy of their pictures and nearly lost the lot.

If you connect it via IDE, does the BIOS pick it up? If so, does it report the correct size? You may just have a logically damaged partition and not a physically damaged disc. But I fear the latter.

When disks get old, you start to hear an ever increasing pitch noise as they spin up. But that doesn't sound like your "siren" sound :(

To be fair modern discs can take a huge amount of non operating G's, far more that you or I could and the operating force it can take are pretty good too.

Of course these figures are no good if you've just timed it wrong and it's all gone to pot.

Something that concerns me is that the drive is not being recognised at all. As long as the PCB on the board is working the thing should at least register as a drive of a certain capacity in the BIOS even if the physical drive itself is dying.

If you definitely cannot recover data from the hard disk, when you have a new one ready to copy straight over to try this trick. It has worked for me in the past. Put the hard disk in a sealed bag (to stop condensation forming) then stick it in the freezer a while. Can't remember how long I did it for, I guess an hour would be long enough.

But don't be messing about when it comes to recovering the data. Out the freezer, connect the hard disk, boot up, and copy the most important things as quickly as possible and consider the rest a bonus.

Only other option is likely to be a professional recovery company - but that depends on how important the data is to you whether it's worth the cost.

Ahh - Hard disk, right... noted!

It's been sat in a Basic Landisk enclosure bought from Maplins. It was bought in January so not quite a year old.

I've tried it in the PC inplace of the DVD drive as only have the one power source on the IDE cable. Tried it with jumpers set to master and slave and the BIOS said it wasn't recgonised. On powering up the drive makes the same 'siren' noise until the computer gives up trying to find it.

I've read something about the freezer trick - not sure I'm brave enough to try it! Any idea how much professional data recovery services cost?

Cheers, Luke.

If you definitely cannot recover data from the hard disk, when you have a new one ready to copy straight over to try this trick. It has worked for me in the past. Put the hard disk in a sealed bag (to stop condensation forming) then stick it in the freezer a while. Can't remember how long I did it for, I guess an hour would be long enough.

But don't be messing about when it comes to recovering the data. Out the freezer, connect the hard disk, boot up, and copy the most important things as quickly as possible and consider the rest a bonus.

Only other option is likely to be a professional recovery company - but that depends on how important the data is to you whether it's worth the cost.

The freezer trick works because of either stuck bearings being released or having an effect on an IC that is misbehaving. If you have a crashed head this could potentially cause more damage as the water droplets formed are larger than the gap between the head and the platter and so will end up smashed all over the disk potentially causing data loss.

This is whey when you go it you must chill it, leave it for a bit to allow the water to turn back to vapour and then run the drive up.

As for pro data services, I'd suggest if you want as much data back you get it to them sooner rather than later as every time you spin it up there is more platter damage occurring if a head has crashed. Platter damage = potential data loss.

Cost, IIRC you're looking at the thick end of 500 notes upwards, but I'd have a good seach around and get quotes as prices vary depending on damage, the drive and the amount of data etc.

I've never used this lot, however they appear to offer a service where you only get charged if they get your data back:

Data Recovery Services for Hard Drive, RAID Arrays, Laptop and Other Storage Media

Edited 22 October, 200817 yr by cheezemonkhai

The siren noise is caused by the heads aeeking for data and the drive adjusting it's speed slightly, trying to sync. In other words, the heads can't find the data!

I've worked in storage and backup for too many years to remember, and I'm still amazed at people's cavalier attitude to backing up data.

Phil

The siren noise is caused by the heads aeeking for data and the drive adjusting it's speed slightly, trying to sync. In other words, the heads can't find the data!

I've worked in storage and backup for too many years to remember, and I'm still amazed at people's cavalier attitude to backing up data.

Phil

Not strictly true as it's only one of many possibilities for that noise inside of a modern drive.

Drives have more than one motor and if you really want your data back you should take it straight to a known recovery company.