Hard Disc Repair

[kayo]

Some good suggestions have been included so far but I will give you an viable outline that works in 99% of failures.

1. A GOOD data recovery program such as GetDataBack (NTFS & FAT versions available) are easier than trying to repair the MBR or FAT with MS utils. More than likely all you will need.

2. HD Regenerator and SpinRite work differently and if used one after the other you may even have a miricle cure. HD Regenerator is a Russian program that somehow manages to reverse the magnetism and return it for every bit in the drive. Don't ask me how. SpinRite is fro Gibson Research and it changes all 0s to 1s and 1s to 0s and back again. Neither works 100% in all cases but together they are magical. Allow 12 hours plus on each program for 160Gb up.

3. If the drive has not recovered enough to retreive the data you have to decide if it is going to be sent to a clean room. If it is skip #4

4. Now is the time for physical persuasion. A gentle rock of the drive from side to side and/or a slight tap on 1 or more sides may help reset internals or free a stuborn bearing. Placing the drive in a sealed container in the frezer for several hours has also been known to work sometimes.

5. If all else has failed you are now the proud owner of a Doorstop.

By the way I recover Data on a daily basis from Hard Drives, Optical Discs and Digital Media with a very high sucess rate. I encounter around 10-15 drives each month that have similar physical defects as your drive.

It is not the end, just find a competant Tech if you cannot manage the Recovery yourself.

You sound like a technically very competent person. welcome to the forum!

I must however, in a friendly manner, and most respectfully disagree with your point 5.

Old unusable HDD's make far better coffee cup holders, or coasters, so as to avoid nasty stains on your work desk.

Added benefit is you can wipe them clean with a soft damp cloth....

using two at the moment....,

Kayo!