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HDD Failure : WD Green

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18 replies

by sp1d3r

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Not all that long ago, I bought this drive:

1.5TB WD "Green"
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=772

However during a transfer process to a 2TB Wd Black drive, the drive suddenly became unresponsive. Now this drive held the majority of my files, and it is very essential that I recover everything, if not what i can.

I went into debugging mode to trigger chkdsk on XP and most, if not all of the record segments were unreadable, if not corrupt. When the drive is active, and within my array the OS will slow up and freeze at points, even upon booting. The drive retains it's original drive letter, but not it's given title, the title is what is set to be by default.

My question, for those that have had this similar problem(or are aware), is that does this generally sound like the Fried Circuit Board issue, to where the data is fine, and just not the board. or does it lie deeper than that?

I don't particularly feel up to sending it into RMA just yet, considering I don't have the data, and I'm not guaranteed in recovering it when I would send it in.

All assistance is appreciated, thanks. I will edit this as I stage progress.

18 replies

by seanferd

if you don't already have it on a CD that came with the drive.
http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=3273&p_created=1233172981&p_sid=p_fz-idk&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_srch=1&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9Nyw3JnBfcHJvZHM9ODUmcF9jYXRzPTAmcF9wdj0xLjg1JnBfY3Y9JnBfc2VhcmNoX3R5cGU9YW5zd2Vycy5zZWFyY2hfZm5sJnBfcGFnZT0xJnBfc2VhcmNoX3RleHQ9Y2F2aWFyIGdyZWVu&p_li=&p_topview=1

and within my array
Is this drive part of a RAID x array?

After testing, see if you cannot fix the issue (if it isn't a drive failure) or recover your data using a live CD (UBCD or a Linux live distro).

edit: This drive wasn't encrypted on a different system, was it?

by sp1d3r

I haven't used the testing utility nor, did I receive a CD with the drive, it was from tiger direct, or newegg. I'm unsure atm, but no CD was given.

As for "my array" my terming can be interpreted for a RAID, but I was misinterpreting to what was my "drive bay" not array. it is an array of drives in the bay, but NOT a raid array. I wasn't going to try and test my luck with a WD Green drive in a raid.

As for the Live CD, I do not have much experience using it, but it is something I will try. I already have the drive, but are there certain measures I should use to configure the CD for recovery purposes? As I have heard of a variety of intentions for using a Live CD.

As for encryption, no there was none. Aside from some thumbs files. I only encrypt some things for certain measures of testing and security, the drive was particularly large, and in the event of loss of data, I'd be lost without the key.

by sp1d3r

Upon testing the drive further, using different sata cables, and even a USB adapter. When the drive is recognized in device manager and asked for the properties, then device manager freezes. Or when properly connected, and awaiting my computer's reflection of the reconized drive. My computer comes to a halt.

In both cases, it will lead to a state where when the drive is properly connected (in one means or another) my OS (WinXP) will hang up, and will freeze, with barely control of the start menu (can't launch from, but can navigate) and a small app that was open at the time (even that has delays).

by brian

try this...i have had a few drives do this to me....download a knoppix live cd...burn the iso to disk, hook up both drives and boot the computer from the move cd. Transfer the data from old drive to new drive...linux seems to adjust and work where windows won't sometimes...granted you are still at risk of damaging the drive, but if you want to try it, this solution may save you a lot of money...yet, remember if the drive is failing, you may in turn corrupt the drive further, making the cost go up and also the possibility of un recoverable data.

by oh smeg

Here it all depends on how [b]Important[/b] the Data on it is.

If it's [b]Important/Vital[/b] to recover it I wouldn't bother messing around with it just pack it up and send it off. The more that you do now unsuccessfully the more that it's going to cost to recover the data and the greater the chance that it will make some data impossible to recover with methods that are Affordable.

Of course if you know someone who works In Forensic Recovery for Legal Authorities like those who are given drives and told to see what they can get off them for Court Cases like Kiddy Porn or Treason and the like they can read every layer of data that was ever written to the drive but I believe that this is beyond the price range of normal people. I have no idea of what the costs are but I believe that are not cheap as I know what is involved. However if you have someone working in a place like this they often take in Drives from friends to do Practice Runs or confirm the function of the equipment and do it for free as the costs are incorporated into the Court Recoveries and are part of what is required to keep Certified.

But with the drive causing the system to hang this very much sounds like a serious Hardware failure so the chances of making things worse are greater and getting noting back is highly possible for affordable Recoveries.

With all Data Recovery ways of doing things you should save the Recovered data to different media so you read off the [b]Problem Drive[/b] and save to something else. You never write anything to the Affected drive as this runs the risk of Overwriting data.

But just as a thought here have you tried a different Power Supply? If the one you have is on it's way out or underpowered the Hanging/Freezing problems may be nothing more than not enough Power being available.

I personally prefer Antec Power Supplies because their Rated Output is for 100% of the time where as a lot of Cheap No Name PS's are rated to a Peek Value like HiFi Ratings. They can provide that Power Output for short periods of time and then fall back to something considerably less. ;)

As you already have the steps to proceed here which Data Recovery Company you chose is up to you I however prefer On Track but I have dealt with them on numerous occasions so I'm probably Biased. ;)

I just find if you stick with the best you get very good service but you however need to realize that there are limits involved as to what is possible within a Money Limit that the Recovery Companies.

After all you don't want them to rush head long into a 1 Million $ + recovery and then have to find the money to pay them. ;)

Col

by oh smeg

If the data id so [b]Important[/b] you should pack up the drive and send it to a Authorized Data Recovery Company by WD. That way WD will accept a RMA on the drive with a certificate from the recovery house and replace the faulty drive.

A RMA doesn't mean anything at all about Data Recovery WD only provide warranty on the Drive not what it contains so the limit of their responsibility is replacing faulty drives. The data in not important to them and that is your responsibility to keep safe.

I to got a bit confused by the term [i]Array[/i] as I have no idea of what you mean by that but if this failed drive was part of a RAID you should be able to replace the failed Drive and rebuild the RAID Array and retain your Data without any difficulty.

Col

by sp1d3r

I have not heard of Recovery Copmanies authorized by Western Digital. So, would I call to get a RMA on the drive, then ship it to the DR Center? Would the drive be seperate from the data recovery theN, and I would have to later download the contents from an FTP provided by the DR Center? i'm not sure how the process works hand in hand, so if you have goine through or know, how it proceeds I'd appreciate the steps. Thanks.

I find that unlikely, but I'm unsure how it works, or am directly familiar with a particular company that would be recommended for me to use.

As you said, it is my responsibility to make sure the data is returned, so I'm trying to find the best method to take so I don't come out empty handed.

Also, as I explained in the other comment, my term was not particularly used well as it could have been interpreted for a RAID, but to what I was referring was the layers of partitions in my drive bay. One being primary, two being the Faulty "green" drive, and the third being the newer WD Black Drive.

by brian

First: contact Ontrack Data Recovery or Drive Savers (i believe both are WD certified DR companies).

Second: send drive to them...they will provide estimate (normally charge a "bench fee" as well)

Third: Approve or deny recovery

Fourth: receive drive back (you can send an additional drive to place your data on or other media)...you will receive old drive back and new drive/media with data

Fifth: Call WD and get RMA be sure to tell them it was recovered by "x" company...certified by WD and their sticker will be on the drive as well (ontrack will place an ontrack sticker over the screw hole that says warranty void if removed which validates the warranty)

by brian

As I definatly agree with Col and what he says, i would just like to confirm the fact of Ontrack...I have delt with them numerous times, and am partnered with them. Take heed to what Col has said about damaging the drive and data, also the psu could be an issue as well. What i put in my above post about Knoppix move was basically for if you wanted to try it again, but at the same time if the data was not critical data. Yes from the sounds of it, the drive is in need of some major help, but...sometimes linux can do the trick...the drives i recovered this way were for friends and customers who knew they didn't want to pay a few thousand dollars for recovery just a few hundred IF i could get the data.

by oh smeg

On the Colombia's Drive that they recovered the Data from.

The outside looked really bad but when I saw the pictures of the inside with large bits of crud on the platters and the IC's torn off the Circuit Board I was surprised that they managed to recover anything at all let alone take only 2 days. Seems amazing what those Seagate Drives can take when you look at those pictures.

Now anyone want to guess the price of that Recovery? :D

Col

by brian

you do realize that they government is in kahuts with ontrack on this one....shall we say another $18,000 hammer or $50,000 binder :)
Actually, I haven't seen the information on the recovery, but that is amazing if they did it (this is why I love ontrack).

by cmiller5400

Sixth: Send a massive check (at least 5 figures) to data recovery company... :D

by sp1d3r

The data is worth while to me to have..I'm speculative on recovering it(with CR100), but it may well be worth it. As I said, I got the majority of my documents out during the backup, but when it started to hang up, everything else was lost, which was about 80% of the total data on the drive.

5 figures...certainly more external HDDs would now be cheaper.

by brian

step 5.5, grit teeth, slowly write massive check, void and redo atleast 3 times because you managed to mess it up...(true story about a data recovery project i did for a customer...cx had to write the check atlest 3 times infornt of me b/c they were a little pissed they didn't have a backup and kept messing up the check).

by oh smeg

Where the Backup was what was recovered after the owner dropped the drive 30 or so feet onto a concrete floor after he had his NB Stolen.

He was faced with either not having any Records for a Tax Audit which would have gone over well or paying the money and getting a Rush on the Recovery.

Needless to say he never again placed the Backup Drive in his suit jacket to move it around. Things would have been even better if he remembered to lock the car when he stopped it and left it with his NB on the back seat for 3 hours. :D

Col

by oh smeg

No actually it was encrypted but it just made it that much more expensive to recover the data.

As things stood I was an Hour Late to the Audit with a new NB and their Data.

I hate needing to go into the City for anything parking is a nightmare. :D

Col

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