External HD ticking and computers won't recongize it

[CheapVehicleWrap]

College professors are the biggest dorks out there (after IEEE engineers)... and it does not surprise me that one would be preaching bogus information as if it were gospel and that his minion sheep would not challenge his false claim. They often are very knowledgeable in a very narrow area, but in their minds that expertise is wider than it really is.

Couldn't have said it better myself!

 

[CheapVehicleWrap]

A long time ago I was doing pc support for a Major Semiconductor Manufacturer™.... a troublesome secretary (with alot of tenure and an important boss) opened a ticket which found it's way into my inbox.

She wanted me to move the computer from her desk (she also had her monitor on top if the PC in the normal desktop PC style) to the floor next to her desk. But... she wanted the chassis to stand on it's side like a tower case.

I was feeling snarky, so I asked her what she needed me for... just move it yourself. She commented that she would have but they thought that putting the computer on it's side was going to ruin the hard drive, because when it was formatted it has horizontal and now it would be vertical.

She thought I needed to image her hdd, then format it vertically, and then restore her data.

<gasp>

OMG!! I had always heard of these people but never met one in person!

Well..

I told her that re-formatting the drive was not required...

BUT, She would have to change the page orientation of all her word documents (a monumental task given her job) from portrait to landscape so they wouldn't print sideways.

She says: OMG! Never mind then... that is too much work!

I offered to write a macro that automatically modified the file when she opened a word doc, but it would take a few weeks.

I came back a few weeks later and moved the PC. (Of course, there is no such macro!)

She loved me forever after that. She would only let me work on her trouble tickets.

LOL!
Honest to God True Story!

Love it! But, you're leaving out the juicy parts... I just know you are!

 

[GAC05]

You guys need to quiet down, new mom is taking a nap.

http://www.raptorresource.org/falcon_cams/decorah_eagle_xcel.html

 

[buttons]

Actually it WAS a laptop drive in an an external usb enclosure that the professor scolded me in class about handling when in use. as for not having a clue my professor has a masters from MIT, where as I have no clue, to coin a phrase as to the validity of your stance of superior knowledge,..I'm not trying to convince anyone here of anything just trying to share what I have been taught,if I thought for one second the information I was giving was wrong what good would it do to share it? I feel quite certain there are gyroscopic physics involved here as to whether or not I worded my response to suit your obviously vastly superior intellect I apologize for any ignorance shown on my behalf

Yet you didn't explain why it's ok to move a laptop around while the drive is spinning..... actually you CAN'T explain it.

I couldn't care less where your professor studied. You're both wrong.

 

[jiarby]

You're both wrong

Do you mean me??

What am I wrong about? Do you know about some secret gyros inside hard drives?

I appreciate Jack's desire and willingness to contribute to the aggregate community intelligence, but what he decided to post, with much gusto and authority, was patently wrong.

I do not know why you (Rex) would say :

appreciate your educated input there "Round man". At least it has a sound base rather than being simple conjecture.

The input was neither educated, nor was it based in sound principles.. It was in fact exactly what you said that you did not prefer: simple conjecture.

On the other hand... it is a known fact that there are no gyroscopes inside hard drives that calibrate the movement of the heads to avoid striking the spinning platters.

The debate has nothing to do with moving hard drives...

I only objected when RoundMan made an erroneous post and then tried to defend it.

Am I Nit picking?? Picking on a Nit maybe.

 

[phototec]

Try putting it into the freezer overnight. When you take it out of the freezer, connect it immediately and transfer the files. If it works, but doesn't stay cool enough to transfer all the files, you can often remove the actual hard drive from the case and keep it packed in a cold pack or bag of frozen veggies. It doesn't always work, but it is worth a try.

Yep, wrap it in plastic wrap, stick it in the freezer, pull it out and pack it in cold packs, hook it up and pray.

According to Scott Moulton of Forensic Strategy Services, freezing a bad hard drive is not a good method to recover the data, ounce you freeze the hard drive and remove it from your freezer and the drive warms up, moisture will condensate inside and ruin the hard drive beyond repair. Moisture will build up on the platter and water will get on the board and cause problems.

Scott says, instead of freezing, you should cool the drive down to below 70°, and that will give the best results. Scott says the freezing the hard drive is a Internet myth.

Another common myth is that hard drives are hermetically sealed, not true, almost all hard drive have a small hole somewhere on the outer case to let air in and out of the platter compartment, this is to equalize pressure, or the hard drive would not be able to work at different altitudes.

You can watch Scott's video as he explains why you should NOT freeze your hard drive, the actual mention starts at 3:20 in the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_sNdPoQdcM&feature=related

 

[iSign]

being wrong by accident is one thing...

being an asshole on purpose to someone who is wrong by accident is altogether another thing

being an asshole on purpose to someone who is being an asshole on purpose... well that's a third thing

 

[round man]

I'm not going to waste my time here to call anyone names and or defend my efforts they were with good intentions and thank you to those who stood up for me and my apologies to those I offended,...nuth said.

As for the question about a gyroscope in the hard drive,..I asked the professor about it this morning at school and was informed i was not entirely wrong but by no means entirely right. seems there are gyroscopic physics involved here without the actual gyroscope. the plates spinning in the drive create a natural gyroscope by definition and the engineers when designing the drives have to take these forces into account when determining write head calibrations and spring tensions on the write head calibrators. If you move the drive while it is in use this causes the possibility of write arms coming into contact with the plates the same as sudden movements may counteract the calibration of the write head arms and cause possible contact with the plates inside the drive. the same as if sudden jolt or impact will just about guarantee it. the drive itself is by nature of design is a natural gyroscope and this is the reason some use old ones to make gryo stabilizers from them for cameras and hobby projects.

As for moving while using a laptop most folks do alot of stuff with laptops they shouldn't. in the owners manual pdf for my laptop there is a section that suggests proper use and environments for use . The first thing it suggests is to find a sound solid stable base to operate the laptop from so it will remain stable and still while in use. secondly it suggests that there be plenty of ventilation underneath the unit for air flow and ventilation,..not to use it on a bed cover and or upholstery cushion(or on a rug) so that the vents for the cooling system might be obstructed,..if anything it warned that the unit should not be used in a manner that it could be dropped and or knocked over in use and to avoid moving the unit around if at all possible to avoid the chance of dropping the unit or it being suddenly jolted.

All of this will be a moot point in the next couple of years as solid state drives drop in price and rise in capacity. none of it will matter as the drives will consist of banks of solid state chips similar to ram. This will mean no moving parts and no physics involved with write head calibration.There will be no plates and or write heads to bump together and or moving parts.

 

[SignosaurusRex]

Thanks for the followup/clarification.......learn sumtin new every day.

 

[SignBurst PCs]

I have never seen a gyroscope in a hard drive (other than the platters themselves), but I am never a fool enough to say that I couldn't be wrong.

Freezing the drive many have unforeseen consequences, but I can say for certain that it has worked MANY times for me. I agree, it may not last forever after you freeze it (it may not even last a week), but it has often lasted long enough to transfer the data that I needed and that is what I was shooting for.

 

[john1]

Wow, can't we all get along here? I wish i could delete this post because it's been blown way out of the water.

 

[HaroldDesign]

Thanks!!!

:signs101:

When this post started I tightly wrapped my external in a freezer bag and tucked it in the back of my freezer. I had nothing to lose. After my place burned down a few years ago it was pretty easy to let go of wanting what was on it. I kept it around and have plugged it in occasionally "just to see", and to no avail. An hour ago I recovered 36GB of irreplaceable files.


I wanted you to know I'm thankful.

 

[phototec]

Freezing the drive many have unforeseen consequences, but I can say for certain that it has worked MANY times for me. I agree, it may not last forever after you freeze it (it may not even last a week), but it has often lasted long enough to transfer the data that I needed and that is what I was shooting for.

Casey, I'm glad it has worked for you, I have never tried it. However after reading this thread, and doing a Google search about recovering data from non-working hard drives, I found the YouTube videos from Scott Moulton of Forensic Strategy Services. His company specializes in data recovery. After watching all his videos I learned a whole lot about hard drives, how they work, what causes them to fail, and most of all, how to recover the data from a non-working hard drive. Watch his videos, very informative.

Anyway, Scott explains that when the frozen drive starts to thaw out, moisture condenses on all the cold parts and this moisture can cause the electrical components to short out and water between the reading head and data platters can be an issue also. So, I was just forwarding this info on to others here.

But if it worked, hey that's great, as you said, it only has to work long enough to get the data off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_sNdPoQdcM&feature=related

 

[MikePro]

An hour ago I recovered 36GB of irreplaceable files.

I wanted you to know I'm thankful.

sweeeeeet! grats man!
now get a backup for your backup!

 

[signswi]

Yep freezer is last ditch, your drive is dead after that. I earned my college beer money recovering HDs.

Here's why you can move a running laptop: laptops have sensors in them that detect movement, when they detect it they pause any scheduled read/writes to the HD to prevent a head crash. On older Thinkpads there was a system tray icon that would show when this feature kicked in but now that it's industry standard it's transparent. Furthermore, many newer laptops have gone SSD which have no moving parts. Cheers!