Can't see IDE HDD anymore

kid312 · Joined: Aug 17, 2004 Posts: 90

One of my IDE hard drives was slowly dying on me and today it finally "died" .

I can no longer "see" the drive in BIOS. I've tried setting it to Master, Slave, Cable select, etc but still no luck. I've tried it on multiple PCs too.

I know I should have backed up the data earlier (and definately as soon as I saw the symptoms) but I didn't Embarassed

So is there anyway I can get the data off of there now? Will Firmware updates even work if my PC can't even see it in BIOS?

I'm even willing to take it apart...

Thanks

goretsky · Posted: Fri May 29, 2009 4:36 am Post subject:

Hello,

Here is a list of data recover programs, sorted by author:

Acronis

RecoveryExpert

Advanced NTFS Recovery

NTFS Recovery

(may handle FAT32 as well)

PC Inspector File Recovery

(intended for flash RAM cards, which are typically formatted with FAT, may work with other devices as well)

EASEUS

Data Recovery & Security Suite

File-Recovery.Net

Active@ File Recovery

Fsys Software

DFSee

Gibson Research Corp.

Spinrite

Higher Ground Software

Hard Drive Mechanic Gold

(may be able to handle some drive errors)

(optical media only?)

Nucleus Tecnologies

Kernel Recovery for FAT+NTFS

Ontrack Data Recovery

Easy Recovery Professional

Paragon Software Group

Quetek Consulting Corp.

File Scavenger

R-Tools Technology

R-Studio Data Recovery

Recover Data

Windows Data Recovery

Stellar Information Systems

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery

SysTech Software

RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk FAT32 /16 /12 v3.0 Release 3

(floppy diskettes and hard disks under 2GB)

TOKIWA

DataRecovery

(erased files only?)

Zero Assumption Recovery

ZAR32 for Windows

Perhaps one of these programs will meet your needs.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

jlbruno · Joined: Jan 20, 2005 Posts: 12

Since this is still being sent out, have you tried sticking it in the freezer for a few hours yet? I have had some good results doing this. Of course, then you should give it to a fisherman friend for a small boat anchor. He should not have anything larger than a 10ft john boat. Unless, of course, if you have more than one drive.

drwho07 · Joined: Nov 29, 2007 Posts: 1546 Location: Central FL, USA

This is a very old thread, now.

If the author hasn't got his data by now, it's doubtful he's going to.

When the motherboard cannot see the drive, it's usually because the electronics on the drive have burned out. Replacing the logic board on the drive is the only sure fire way of accessing the drive.

Data recovery companies have ways of doing this.
I did this myself, years ago when I had two identical drives and one of them blew out its logic board. I just transplanted the logic board from the running drive to the non-operational drive and was able to access it and recover all the data files.

Cheers Mates!

The Doctor Cool

Zoe · Joined: Jul 16, 2009 Posts: 2

Yes, it's great that there are programs that are able to recover files. Personally, I prefer Advanced File Recovery on advanced-file-recovery.com. This tool can work directly with different media types: hard drives, memory sticks, digital camera memory cards etc. The program has a preview feature that supports quite a number of popular formats, including Microsoft Office documents, OpenOffice documents, images, audio files, archived files etc. Thus you can make sure that the files in question are recoverable without registering the program.

drwho07 · Joined: Nov 29, 2007 Posts: 1546 Location: Central FL, USA

BUT, listen!
When the logic board on the drive is burned out, there is no software in the world that can access those platters.
The logic board must be replaced. Period!

Only professional Data Recovery companies have the parts and technology to do that.

The exception would be if you bought two identical drives and one failed, you could take the logic board off of the good drive and put it on the failed drive and be able to access it and recover the files.

That's IT!

The Doctor Cool