How to Repair a Dead Hard Disk

Drive to Recover Data

If your hard disk drive has failed, this guide will help you with
the hard disk drive's repair and data recovery.
BY TINA
SIEBER
DEC 03,
2019

They say your life flashes before your eyes before you
(think you) die. When I realized my hard drive was
failing, it was a little like that. All I could think of were the
hundreds of photos I didn't have a backup of. I was
determined to bring them back and I succeeded; sort of.
If your hard disk drive has failed, this guide will help you
with the repair and data recovery. (If the device is fine,
these five methods will help you get data off the hard
drive.) Are you looking for help with a failed solid state
drive? It's best to turn to an expert right away.

What Is Data Corruption? How to Fix a Corrupted Hard Drive

Data corruption can destroy the data on your HDD, so it's wise to keep backups. Too late? Find out
how to repair your hard drive.

My Dead Hard Drive Story

Several years ago, I experienced a hard drive failure. My

laptop acted strangely. When the problems persisted
after a reboot, I knew it was more than an overstretched
RAM. I immediately started to back up recent files. About
half an hour later, the hard drive failed audibly and the
laptop wouldn't boot anymore.

I had backups, but not of everything. Just weeks earlier

my backup drive had reached capacity. To back up
important work files, I had decided to delete my personal
photos. Ironically, I had already purchased a new
external drive, but I had not taken the time to create a full
backup. Now my photos were lost and I was devastated.

Over the next couple of weeks, I researched ways to

recover the data and considered doing everything under
the sun---and did most of it---to revive the old hard drive.
This article is the result of that effort.
External Hard Drive? Check The
Enclosure And Cables

When your external hard drive fails, it can do so for all

the same reasons an internal drive can fail. Sometimes,
however, it's not the drive that stops working, but a
connection within the enclosure! And in that case, the
drive is easy to revive.

Before you open up any hardware, be sure to discharge

your body's static electricity, i.e. ground yourself.
Remove the hard drive from its casing and use
an IDE/SATA data cable and power connector to install
the drive internally on your desktop computer.
Alternatively, you can get an IDE/SATA to USB adapter
or a new USB enclosure, so you can hook the drive up
externally via USB.
 Image Credit: ivonnewierink/DepositPhotos
ivonnewierink/DepositPhotos

The image above shows a SATA connector (front) and

an IDE connector (back).

Once you re-connected the external drive to your

computer, given the enclosure was the culprit, Windows
should recognize it and assign a drive letter. The drive
should pop up under File Explorer > This PC. You can
also check under Disk drives in the Device
Manager (press Windows + X to find the option).

If the drive didn't show up anywhere, you can try to

manually find your drive to further narrow down the
issue; the process is described further down.
Internal Hard Drive? Check All
Cable Connections
Sometimes, it's not the drive that failed, but the physical
connection of cables that connect the drive with the
computer's motherboard. You can only wish that this is
your problem! So before you hire someone, make sure
the data and power cables are firmly connected on both
ends.
To prevent hazards to your health, it's essential to turn
off the computer and unplug the power cord. As
mentioned above, you also need to discharge your
body's static electricity, i.e. ground yourself before you
get working on your computer's internals. Then open up
the case and make sure all connections are OK.

Our guide on how to physically install an internal hard

drive shows which connections to watch out for.

Once you have made sure the connections are OK, boot
the computer again. If you have a desktop computer, you

can leave the case open, but stay clear of its interior.

Does Your Hard Drive Make

Sounds?

As you are trying to get the hard drive to run, listen to the
sound it is making. Is it completely dead? Or is it still
spinning? What exactly does it sound like? Compare
your sound to the list of hard drive sounds provided by
Data Cent. This will help you diagnose the type of
damage.

Image Credit: andreyuu/DepositPhotos

andreyuu/DepositPhotos
The damage can be either internal or external. A clicking
sound, for example, suggests the head may be
malfunctioning, i.e. internal damage. A completely dead
drive, on the other hand, could be due to a faulty printed
circuit board (PCB), which would be external damage.

Does Windows Recognize Your

Hard Drive?

Sometimes, you can hear your drive spinning, but it

never pops up. Or maybe it's completely dead. To
pinpoint the type of damage, try to manually check
whether or not your computer recognizes the drive.

You can do this via the BIOS in case it's the primary hard
drive and your computer no longer boots. After you turn
on the computer, enter the BIOS by pressing a trigger
key, which could be Del, Esc, F2, or F10, depending on
the manufacturer.

Within the BIOS, navigate through the available menus

to find where it lists which types of drives are connected
to the computer. You should find this information under
the Advanced menu, but you might also find it indirectly
under Boot settings.

If you have hooked up the drive to another computer, you

don't need to access the BIOS at all. In Windows, click
the key combination Windows + R, which will launch
the Run input window.
Type cmd into the field and hit Enter. This will open the
Command Prompt. Here type diskpart and hit Enter, to
open the respective tool. In the diskpart window, type list
volume and hit Enter to show all drives connected to
your computer.

If Windows recognized your drive, meaning it appears

under diskpart, but doesn't show up as an accessible
drive, chances are Windows only recognizes the PCB,
but the drive itself is damaged (internal damage). In
other words, if the drive is recognized in any shape or
form, the PCB is most likely working and replacing it
will not fix the hard drive!

Is The Printed Circuit Board

Broken?
Technically, the external PCB is relatively easy to
replace. However, we strongly advise against
swapping out the PCB yourself. It's not as simple as
finding a matching model.

Unless your hard drive is ancient, the PCB and disk will
use a unique microcode to communicate. If you replace
a PCB of a drive that requires this microcode to boot,
you could permanently damage your data.
 Image Credit: firstblood/DepositPhotos
firstblood/DepositPhotos

According to Datarecovery.com, specialists can "copy,

rewrite, or repair the micrcode using advanced
equipment."

Witchcraft And Wizardry

When my hard drive failed, the PCB was fine; the drive
was still recognized and spinning, but it didn't show up in
Windows, meaning I could not access it, and no software
recovery tool could help me, either.

So I put my last hope into some of those obscure tricks

that you'll find floating around the internet, like shaking
the drive, hitting it onto a hard surface, exposing it to dry
heat in the oven, or sticking it in the freezer overnight. If
you have any idea how a hard drive works, then all of
these methods should give you the shivers!

Image Credit: foxiedelmar/DepositPhotos

foxiedelmar/DepositPhotos
Well, I didn't dare to melt my drive, but my suspicion was
that the head was stuck. So I did shake it; to no avail.
Since I could follow the reasoning, I also wrapped my
drive in an airtight Ziploc back and stuck it in the freezer
overnight. The idea is that low temperatures cause
metals to shrink and contract.

So if the head was stuck, the cold might get it unstuck.

Unfortunately, that didn't work either. And I probably
caused condensation to settle on the hard drive platter,
which could have caused a lot more damage. I
eventually gave up and stored the drive for a future in
which I was hoping to be able to afford professional data
recovery.

Backup Strategy Advice

Should you succeed with one of the questionable

methods above, note that the fix will be temporary! So be
prepared. Know exactly what you want to back up and
how. Have the right backup software to quickly copy your
data and have enough storage space available.
If you want to copy files manually, only copy one set of
files at a time! If you make the head jump back and forth
between too many files by kicking off multiple copy-and-
paste processes, you will slow down the overall backup
process and increase the likelihood of a fatal head crash.

Consult A Specialist For

Professional Data Recovery

If you can afford professional help or simply cannot

afford to wait for a miracle, do consult a specialist. My
recommendation is to go with a reputable company.
They should work with professional technicians and
tools, be able to open your hard drive in clean rooms or
under dust-free conditions, follow industry standards,
and have solid credentials, as well as excellent
recommendations. After all, you will trust them with your
private data.

Kroll Ontrack, one of the most reputable companies in

the market, offers a free consultation and cost
evaluation.
Before you pick a company, be sure you understand the
conditions! Most charge just for looking at the drive and
making a recommendation. They will charge extra for
actually attempting to recover the data. Some will charge
a full recovery fee, even if they failed to recover the data.

Revive Your Drive

Diagnosing and fixing a broken hard drive is serious

business. Do take it seriously, but also try to exclude
some of the more simple-to-fix culprits before you fork
out hundreds of dollars to a specialist. The more you
know, the better. How far you go to diagnose and fix your
hard drive will depend on how important the data is for
you.

WD 4TB WD Elements Portable External Hard Drive, USB 3.0 -

WDBU6Y0040BBK-WESN
 BUY NOW ON AMAZON

You probably wonder what happened with my hard drive.

Well, one fine day, when I was dissolving my apartment,
I decided to give it one last chance and then let go of it.
More than two years after I had tried everything I dared
to get it to work, again and again for weeks, I just
plugged it in and it simply worked.

I recovered all my data. The drive actually continued to

work for many more years. Call me lucky!
Even if you managed to repair your drive and recovered
all your data, I would not trust this hard drive again.

Here's what you can do with your old hard drive and
here's what you should know while buying a new hard
drive.

And on the subject of data recovery, it's a good idea to

learn how to rescue your data from a malware-infected
system.

Image credit: Dead HDD via Flickr

We hope you like the items we recommend! MakeUseOf

has affiliate partnerships, so we receive a share of the
revenue from your purchase. This won’t affect the price
you pay and helps us offer the best product
recommendations.