Please help help help!!!!!! (hard drives)

I recently bought a Western Digital 2500, a 250 gig hard drive, I then went forth to use it as a slave, it worked fine for ever and then, I was reaaranging alot of wires and replacing drives unplugging here and there and I go restart the computer the drive shows up but will not boot up with windows, I have another 20 gig that was my main drive, but then out of no where I hear this click click click, and then sharp humming liek an alarm, this hard drive has my lif eon it and i Do not know what is wrong, i think it crashed and will not boot now at all, cmos will not even reconize it now..... I am very freaked :bnghd::bnghd::bnghd:


so please can someone help and then let me know if it is crashed, can i retrieve my data from it some how soem way, ill pay anything i swear.


-ragster

You should disconnect the 250GB and leave just the 20GB to make sure the 20 is ok first. Look at the 80pin cable and you should see a line at the edge that is red, this edge should be to PIN1 so make sure RED IS TO POWER meaning its nearest to power connector. Go into the CMOS and set the drive to auto detect if its not already done. Reboot with the drive and hopefully you only had the cable backwards and it didn't crash.
Did you touch any of the jumpers on the drive?

Pie

yea i only switched it to cable select.... its just well it worked fine before and now... well ya know..... it just clicks and clicks, i know power is going to it, its just not making sense, before i rememeber cmos said, it detects emminet failure but i thought it was my 20 gig, but now i see it has to be the 250 gig, its just brandnew it doesnt make sense at all

Believe me. I do this for a living. Hard drives will die whenever they just feel like it. 1 day old, 5 years old...just like a toaster or TV they can die anytime.

WD has a Advance replacement program, so you can call them up, give them a Credit card number and they will send you a replacement and then you send them the old drive, or you can do an online RMA and send them the drive and they will send you a new one after they recieve it. Takes around 2-3 weeks.
here is the link
Western Digital RMA


Pie

thanks this helps alot, o and i think i need to get it all retrieved will wd do it for me.....

No they will not. they will send you back a bare drive empty. The Warranty does not cover your data.
If you have not backed up your data and there is data on there you need, you will need to contact a Data Recovery service if the drive is really gone. Its not coming up at all?? Did you try using a new IDE cable? Try setting the drive to Master/Slave setting rather then Cable select? See if the drive spins up by itself if its not slaved. You are hearing clicking,chuncking noises? (Click of Death not good)

If you really need the data, check out Ontrack data Recovery..its not gonna be cheap I can tell you that, and there is NO GUARANTEE they can get data back.

woah woah, hold up

you havent established anything yet to send drives away.

Which drive is clicking, the 20gb or the 250gb?
IF its the 20gb drive this is clicking, and now is NO LONGER able to be seen in the bios, make sure of your jumpers, and your cable.

Best way to do this, is put it on to cable select,
unplug the CDROM, and plug the HDD onto the CDROM.
if it detects, mayb your IDE/SATA cable is dodgy.

if it doesnt detect regardless of jumper settings or cable position.
Try putting the HDD into the freezer for a while.

then try.

Ultimately tho, if its clicking,
thats called ' seeking '

its a technical term basically saying ' its screwed '

chances are your not going to get it back.
if its your brandnew 250GB HDD, then same applies.
get it back on warrant.

The next best thing to do, if you cant get anything to work in your pc,
is take the HDD to a mates place, ask them to plug it in, where there ccd rom is plugged in.
The pc will boot on there system, and instead of seeing a CD ROM they will see your HDD.

better yet, run down to your local IT Tech shop. and kindly ask if someone can plug it in as a secondary to establish if its bugard.

But again, is it your 250 or 20gb thats bugard

if its the 20gb thats clicking, 99% chance your 250gb is fine and your data is fine.

Originally posted by ragster
I was reaaranging alot of wires and replacing drives unplugging here and there

I am asking this because I personally know people that would, and have, answered "no" .......... when you were swapping cables/wires, was the PC turned off?

NN

I've been through this before.

Your data and files are still in there.
People recover information from hard drives that have been through fires and floods, but it can get expensive. If the data is vital to you and you need it very badly, don't play around with it if your not sure what your doing, you could do more harm.

Take it to a pro for best results.

Originally posted by anxietydisorder
Your data and files are still in there.
People recover information from hard drives that have been through fires and floods, but it can get expensive.

The best I have used is BadCopy Pro. I had a literal "clunker" drives, as is here, and recovered 87% of its 80gb HDD. I've had CDR's with scratches from center to outer edge that you could see thru, and recover 100% of the data - both scenarios uncorrupted. Granted, there are some that can not attain such high results, but eh - it's broke right? lol

BadCopy Pro
$40

If the data is vital to you and you need it very badly, don't play around with it if your not sure what your doing, you could do more harm.

On the other side of that, if he knows he can not afford a pro, this is the perfect time to learn, if the HDD is going back to mfg, may as well shoot for gold !

Take it to a pro for best results.

[1] Learn about where you are taking it to. What is there reputation; how long in business; etc etc.
[2] Get estimates in paper, as well as instructions for a courtesy call to you before a job/cost increase.

NN

hey i got that bad copy pro.... and i just dont know how to get to work for hard drives, and its a trial alos, but not for long....

Originally posted by ragster
hey i got that bad copy pro.... and i just dont know how to get to work for hard drives, and its a trial alos, but not for long....

For BadCopy 3.6, HDD's are listed as "Other Media"

I have yet to have a HDD that Windows would not recognize, that BadCopy would as well 'not see'. That is not to say it will surely see yours. If it does not, you're looking at a hefty price to have data lifted at a recovery shop..

NN

Wouldnt it be quicker just to get a new drive and redownload the lost stuff ?

[edit on 17-6-2006 by Fett Pinkus]