Retrieving Data from a 'dead' Hard Disk?

[M-Wilkin]

Hey All,
I have a WD 40GB hard disk that I have been using to store all my user
documents, my OS is on another drive. I had a system crash due to CPU
failure and have been unable to access the WD drive since. The OS
however boots correctly from my master drive.
What is the best (in so far as retrieving as much data as possible) way
to access this drive?

The drive usually is not detected by the BIOS, It has detected it now
and then but it detects it with the wrong capacity and is not present
within the OS.

I've done abit of reading and im thinking that the firmware has become
corrupt on the disk and needs to be reloaded, also are jumper settings
and positioning of the corrupt drive on the IDE cable critical? (At
present its at the end, but I've read that the slave should always go
in the middle).

Many Thanks,
Max Wilkinson

 

[Rod Speed]

I have a WD 40GB hard disk that I have been using
to store all my user documents, my OS is on another
drive. I had a system crash due to CPU failure

You sure that wasnt killed by say a power supply failure ?

and have been unable to access the WD drive since.
The OS however boots correctly from my master drive.
What is the best (in so far as retrieving as much data
as possible) way to access this drive?

The drive usually is not detected by the
BIOS, It has detected it now and then

That variability of being seen by the bios usually
indicates a logic card failure or just a bad cable.

but it detects it with the wrong capacity

That makes it look like a logic card failure.

and is not present within the OS.

Thats normal if the partition tables cant be read properly.

I've done abit of reading and im thinking that the firmware
has become corrupt on the disk and needs to be reloaded,
Unlikely.

also are jumper settings

Can be with WD drives. There is a different jumper config when the
drive is the only drive on a cable and when its the slave of a pair.

and positioning of the corrupt drive on the IDE cable critical?
Nope.

(At present its at the end, but I've read that
the slave should always go in the middle).

It doesnt matter with master/slave jumpering with two drives.

The master should go on the end with just one drive on the cable.

 

[paulmd]

Hey All,
I have a WD 40GB hard disk that I have been using to store all my user
documents, my OS is on another drive. I had a system crash due to CPU
failure and have been unable to access the WD drive since. The OS
however boots correctly from my master drive.
What is the best (in so far as retrieving as much data as possible) way
to access this drive?

The short answer, if your documents are important to you, is
professional data recovery. Given the symptoms you describe, I wouldn't
rely on any software method. It may be possible to swap the hard drive
circiut board with another of the same model, but I strongly advise
against it.

Just in case, verify that the jumper settings are correct for your
drive before getting all panicky.

 

[CBFalconer]

I have a WD 40GB hard disk that I have been using to store all my user
documents, my OS is on another drive. I had a system crash due to CPU
failure and have been unable to access the WD drive since. The OS
however boots correctly from my master drive.
What is the best (in so far as retrieving as much data as possible) way
to access this drive?

The drive usually is not detected by the BIOS, It has detected it now
and then but it detects it with the wrong capacity and is not present
within the OS.

I've done abit of reading and im thinking that the firmware has become
corrupt on the disk and needs to be reloaded, also are jumper settings
and positioning of the corrupt drive on the IDE cable critical? (At
present its at the end, but I've read that the slave should always go
in the middle).

The odds are high that you have only destroyed the MBR and the
partition table, which should be fixable if you know (or can
deduce) the proper partition sizes etc. If your system worked
before the crash there is no need to fool about with slave/master
locations etc.

--
"The power of the Executive to cast a man into prison without
formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to
deny him the judgement of his peers, is in the highest degree
odious and is the foundation of all totalitarian government
whether Nazi or Communist." -- W. Churchill, Nov 21, 1943

 

[Lez Pawl]

snip.... It may be possible to swap the hard drive circuit board with
another of the same model, but I strongly advise against it.

I did when my Maxtor's board went TU and the drive has worked faultlessly
ever since.

 

[Osiris]

--
"The power of the Executive to cast a man into prison without
formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to
deny him the judgement of his peers, is in the highest degree
odious and is the foundation of all totalitarian government
whether Nazi or Communist."

"and not limited to those".
And in the case of the not-included by Churchill, even more
odious...corruptive ... damaging, we know since Guantanamo...