I just ruined my hard drive
Damn. I took some advice from a guy and it just cost me a hard drive.
The drive in my PC seemed a little slow, so this guy on the intarweb said he knew this cool new way to speed it up. He told me to take the drive out and clean the surface with Windex.
I did it, and now I can't get the thing to even boot. That'll teach me to take advice so openly. I figured since this guy was on the intarweb he must've known what he was talking about...
!
Maybe I should try some Pledge on it to get that nice sheen back.
[ 07-12-2002: Message edited by: murbot ]</p>
The drive in my PC seemed a little slow, so this guy on the intarweb said he knew this cool new way to speed it up. He told me to take the drive out and clean the surface with Windex.
I did it, and now I can't get the thing to even boot. That'll teach me to take advice so openly. I figured since this guy was on the intarweb he must've known what he was talking about...
!Maybe I should try some Pledge on it to get that nice sheen back.
[ 07-12-2002: Message edited by: murbot ]</p>
Comments
Anyway, I just tried to reshape the circular grooves in the drive with a Dremel, but I guess the attachment I used was too rough. Now I've got these wicked gouges on it. At least I know the drive bearings are in good condition still - the drive spun forever after I took the Dremel off.
Now I just have to figure out a way to smooth this thing out. I think I have a buffer for the car in the garage...
Please post any recommendations right away. And no funny stuff either, I need some serious help here - all of the financial information for my business is on this drive.
Thanks. I'll await and try any reasonable advice.
get the thinnest dremel disc you can find.
very, very carefully start making a circular patter from the outside of the platter to the inside. vary your depth a tiny bit here and there.
when you're done take the plate off.
carefully (NO FINGERPRINTS) carry it over to your old turntable.
place the needle on the outside of the groove you just cut.
here's the hard part.
you'll have to spin the platter at 5,400 RPM's and extract the data in analog format. just plug the output from your turntable into the mic input on your Mac.
record the sound.
play it very slowly and your financial data should be read back to you.
-alcimedes
Compressed air didn't work. It actually flipped the drive over, so I think it's scratched more than it already was.
Thanks for trying though.
Won't work. All of my financial data is digitally signed, so outputting it analog might make it come out in a different currency, which will make my accountant FREAK.
I'm trying to see if I can take the tray out of the DVD drive in this other PC here... maybe if I can get it in there somehow.
<img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />
[ 07-12-2002: Message edited by: murbot ]</p>
If alcimedes suggestion doesn't work try scanning the plates in one bit depth (black/white), print then (in EXACLY 100% of the original size) and put them in the CD drive. The laser can read the optical information on the copies.
I don't have a scanner here, but I'm going to photocopy it and try that. I have a fairly new CD-RW drive here, so hopefully it's laser can pick up the data.
If not, I'll try and get my hands on some OCR software and convert the image of the disk to an editable text document. My accountant had Excel, so it's possible she can import it into a spreadsheet.
Phew, this is tough work.
PLEASE, I need some more suggestions. I'll try anything.
Thanks.
For your original problem: Use you Dremel tool and cut fine rings of your HD platters, flatten them out and put them in continuation of eachother. Then use a compas to determine if its a 0 or 1. Write it all down into ProjectBuilder, compile it and make a disc image. Then your all set.
The freakin' hard drive had MAGNETS in it!
I thought magnets ruined drives!
Check this out:
The had magnets holding the drive reading thingamajiggy down inside. Totally unacceptable. I'm going to email Western Digital about this right away.
I also have to take off now, so I can't try any other suggestions until later tonight. Damn.
Thanks guys, I'm sure I'll see some great tips when I get back.
Have a great day!
[ 07-12-2002: Message edited by: murbot ]</p>
In the meantime lets try the advice on that firefly you have in the bagground of that picture. I've heard that a thin layer of pork fat spread onto the platters will make it not only faster but also much quieter due to less friction.
From what I understand the people who do hard drive data recovery wear a lot of white clothes and gloves and a mask.....yes, you'll definitely need a mask.
They have some way to get all the dust out of the immediate area, remember, dust is very bad for a hard drive's platters and can cause irreperable damage. So try to make your work area totally dust free.
The data on hard drives is divided into sectors, so you might want to try and find out which sectors of the drive have that important data stored on them.
Finally, the information on a hard drive is stored magnetically. Those magnets you found might have been interfering with whatever the hard drive uses to store information. If you could use a magnet to detect the individual bit-writes then you might be able to synchronize that with a CD burner, or some type of laser device to burn the data off onto CD, or perhaps a wall where you could view it and videotape it.
I would suggest that you play some Pink Floyd music while you try this.
D
Then set up a Digital camcorder pointing at the LCD readout and start it. Since the drive is about the same size as a Orville Redenbackers packet, just hit popcorn and start(if it was a mac drive, otherwise enter in the precise number of bits you want to recover for time and the number of platters for power level.) Don't worry about the arcing and sparking, that is positive confirmation that those stuck bits have been knocked off the platters and are available for readout on the LCD.
Then you should be able to download you precious data into your accountants computer via firewire!
OBTW. Before you start make sure you know where the circuit-breaker panel is and have a fire extinguisher ready. Never can be too safe you know.
Took some work, but it's done.
I piggybacked my old PII 300 processor into the main circuitry of the microwave. I patched a small bypass system, through the processor, to an external FireWire port I added to the microwave. Total time - 3 minutes.
My theory was, if I could get the internal components of the hard drive to reach the exact temperature of FireWire, 1394 degrees Farenheit, then theoretically the data on the drive would be expedited by microvial osmosis to the external FireWire port I had fashioned. On the other end of this port sits my 5 GB FireFly drive, ready to accept the data payload.
(Don't worry, I did have a fire extinguisher at hand, just in case)
Unfortunately, the microwave was unable to reach the temperature required for osmotic FireWire data transfer. It may have had something to do with my having to cut the test short, due to my intrusive and VERY unsympathetic wife, and her insistence on making microwave popcorn. Apparently the smell of searing hard drive platters is fairly close to that of popcorn. Interesting.
As a last resort, I took my drive down to the garage. Surely there is something here capable of getting the platters up to 1394 degrees. What's that in the corner Timmy? Ah... gasoline. Helping unsavory folks get high since 1898! Nectar of the gods.
So I carefully place just the right amount of gasoline on the platters, and ignite the beast. Unfortunately, I was unable to catch the actual moment of data transfer due to the searing heat I endured while holding the FireFly drive just in the right position to facilitate osmotic data transfer, but let me tell you - it was a thing of beauty.
What a day. Thanks to everyone for the suggestions, it's great to know I have access to some of the finest minds on the planet.
BTW, I have a toasty little 6 GB hard drive here if anyone wants it. I'm asking $1.25 for it, AS IS.
[ 07-13-2002: Message edited by: murbot ]</p>