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HDD not detected in BIOS

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5 replies

by shane_foster

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I have a hard drive that was failing from bad sectors (but was detected in BIOS). It locked up and got the blue screen of death after the Windows screen. I installed a new drive and was going to slave the failing drive to pull the data over. Now the failing drive cannot be detected in the BIOS. I checked the connections, jumpers and everything was correct. I installed it to its original configuration and even tried a different computer and it still didnt work. Is there anything I can do to get this to work before I have to send it off to a pricy data retrieval company?

5 replies

by ozi eagle

Hi,

Your hard disk has gone to final rest. Data recovery is expensive.

You could try putting it in the freezer,in a sealed plastic bag to keep moisture out, for some hours and then quickly insert it into the computer and try to copy the data.

Herb

by shady108

ive had some success with this, if its not detected by bios that points at the faulty circuit board not the actual platters.

you can buy an IDENTICAL (MUST BE SAME MAKE MODEL REVISION ETC) and swap over the circuit board on the bottom of the drive.

ive done this several times works a treat :)

by Former member

I agree with "ozi Eagle" on this one, i have done this countless times with defungt drives but i have left them in the freezer for at least two days (to make sure everything is cold) then copied everything over to another drive, there is a time limit, mine is two hours so you will have to work fast. At the end of this you will have lost the drive for sure. I hang some on my wall with the casing off. Please post back if you have anymore problems or questions.

by seanferd

I've even seen a HDD frozen in a block of ice, somewhere on the 'net.

One way to keep it cold longer is to have a couple of those artificial ice bags or blocks to surround the drive with. Another way was to keep spraying the drive with a non-flammable compressed gas (preferably one that remains liquid at least briefly) until you get all the data off.

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