Computer question: harddriveectomy?

[sorry dog]

A few months back I lost a drive on an IDE 2 drive RAID 0 array. I had gotten lazy with my backups and lost about 3 weeks worth of stuff.
I was hoping somebody was as crazy as me and had tried a harddrivectomy and tried to replace parts to save a drive.
The drive still spins but upon startup you can hear the heads going full stroke a few times before stopping.
Any chance I can save the data?

[burbanite]

sorry dog:
A few months back I lost a drive on an IDE 2 drive RAID 0 array. I had gotten lazy with my backups and lost about 3 weeks worth of stuff.
I was hoping somebody was as crazy as me and had tried a harddrivectomy and tried to replace parts to save a drive.
The drive still spins but upon startup you can hear the heads going full stroke a few times before stopping.
Any chance I can save the data? There are companies that can do this for you, probably costy, spendy though.

[Essex502]

The costs of drive salvage are astronomical compared to replacing the drives. Unless there is VERY valuable data on the drive replace it. If the data outweighs the cost - go for it.
See this (http://www.eco-datarecov.com/google_data_recovery.htm)

[sorry dog]

It's not life or death kind of data, just some really good porn.
I've already replaced both drives. I was just wondering if someone had taken an identical drive and tried to transplant parts to fix a sick one. I figure Tom Brown may have tried it since they don't have any thing else to do during winter.

[78Eliminator]

sorry dog:
It's not life or death kind of data, just some really good porn.
I've already replaced both drives. I was just wondering if someone had taken an identical drive and tried to transplant parts to fix a sick one. I figure Tom Brown may have tried it since they don't have any thing else to do during winter. If the drive is still spinning, I might be able to get the data for you. Does bios still recongnize it? Can an operating system see it at all? I have software which can recover anything off a formatted hard drive, but it still has to be semi functional. I would do it for you for free, cause it's fun to me but data recover places will charge you like $500 at least. Let me know or e-mail me and I'll give you my number so I can tell you what to do....
justin8net@yahoo.com
Justin

[hoolign]

sorry dog:
It's not life or death kind of data, just some really good porn.
I've already replaced both drives. I was just wondering if someone had taken an identical drive and tried to transplant parts to fix a sick one. I figure Tom Brown may have tried it since they don't have any thing else to do during winter. maybe he ..but not they, high altitude sleddin! :p

[KrazyKa]

I assume you want to stick a new board on the existing drive, hoping that the physical disk is ok? I've done that and it worked to get the data off. Just make sure you get an identical working drive to grab the parts from.
If you had two drives go bad at the same time in your mirror, however, I don't think your looking at a physical HD issue at all. But I could have misunderstood you concerning the circumstances.

[Tom Brown]

SD,
Is the motor running? It should be easy to tell because a running motor will turn the drive into a gyroscope.
Make sure there is power getting to the motor if it's dead. You can swap the cast part of the drive shell where the motor is with a working drive but it's pretty delicate work.
If it's spinning and the heads are actuating, it could be the electronics. It's easy to swap boards with a working drive, although those ultra frail ribbons that connect the head(s) are tough to reconnect without damaging. Be careful. If the tip of the ribbon gets too loused up from trying to reconnect it, you can cut it back with a pair of scissors but don't cut too much off at a time as it'll get tough to hook it back up and also you'll have to scrape the varnish off the ribbon so it can reconnect.
The problem with swapping controllers is that nearly all modern drives map out bad sectors. They're still there just like they used to be but you can no longer see them from the PC. When you swap controllers, you're also swapping bad sector tables. Some of your data will probably be mapped out and your drive geometry will most certainly have a sleight misalignment. There are probably ways to deal with this but I don't know what they are. The result won't be good since RAID 0 will stripe your data evenly across both drives.
It still may be worth a try though. On modern drives with extreme aerial density, the bad sectors are probably stacked toward the end (outside) of the platter and you may at least get some of your data off.
If you take the mechanicals of the drive apart, be careful of the fixed magnets. They are super, super strong. I've got one on my file cabinet at work and no one has been able to get it off the cabinet without sliding it to an edge. It's tough even then. It will vacuum up your screws, screwdriver, pacemaker... Be careful not to magnetize your screwdriver from too much unplanned contact with the permanent magnets because that magnetized driver could then damage your platers.
It's a delicate and painstaking job but I'll bet you'll be able to get some, if not most, of the data off that drive.
One more thing. I've never taken apart a drive with fluid dynamic bearings. If you do it, I'd like to hear about it and perhaps even see pictures of it.
By the way, what does everyone else do in the winter?
-- Tom

[Jbb]

Tom Brown:
SD,
There are probably ways to deal with this but I don't know what they are. The result won't be good since RD strip you By the way, what does everyone else do in the winter?
-- Tom Yeah Tom ...Fix it like you fixed RD when he pulled up lame....Bang...lol.. :D
http://www.havasubarney.com/iB_html/uploads/post-46-07241-Tom_Brown_cleans_up_Moovalya.jpg

[Tom Brown]

He's still bitter about that incident.

[sorry dog]

Thanks for the advice Tom-
I think the fluid bearings was a fujitsu thing right?
This is a 30gig IBM drive - I think these had 2 15 gig platters. I could send the thing back but I've been dying to take one apart.