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Thread ID: 77078 2007-02-26 03:36:00 dead harddrive motherboard caps have corrosion - what to do Morgenmuffel (187) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
528236 2007-02-26 23:02:00 I get the feeling you're trying to say the drive isn't spinning.

If it ain't turning, then it's poked.
Unless you pay big bucks to a recovery expert, then it's just an ornament or a doorstop for you now.
Paul.Cov (425)
528237 2007-02-26 23:30:00 +1 to above.

When you power up, if you hold on to the hard disk, can you feel it spin up?

I have recovered data off a disk that Windows or BIOS hasn't detected, if the data is really important, you could try getting a copy of getdataback from http://www.runtime.org/ . It has worked for me a couple of times in the past, certainly a lot cheaper than data recovery firms.
trig42 (11325)
528238 2007-02-27 10:03:00 Getdataback is great like Trig42 said, have you thought about freezing the drive overnight, attaching to another computer the next day and trying to retreive data? Or wrapping the drive in Ice somehow, of course not near the power cable :)
Obviously this is a last resort as the condensation can't be to good but can sometimes work.
The other thing is don't do this if you are going to send to a specialist (expensive) as they will not be impressed.
turtle63 (9378)
528239 2007-02-27 12:46:00 If caps are done for (corroded or swollen) then easiest to purchase a new motherboard and move everything over to it. Need to ensure compatibility though.
Here at work we have dozens of HP PC's that all had their caps fail after about 12 months and they all had their motherboards replaced.
I had one at home fail as well. No obvious signs but just started random reboots and then finally failed to boot at all.
Replaced the motherboard and put everything from the old one on the new one and update a couple of drivers and away it went.
Big John (551)
528240 2007-02-27 20:15:00 If you can find the exact same model of hard drive (including pcb revision) you can try swapping the pcb from the dead one with one from a working drive.

I did this not too long ago on an old Maxtor that I wanted stuff from. Took me an age to find a working drive for a reasonable price, but it worked well enough to get the data off it.
autechre (266)
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