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Thread ID: 60755	2005-08-12 04:37:00	Seagate 80gig HDD needed - ST380023A.	Unit_Seven (8706)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
380434	2005-08-24 01:32:00	uh......Let me check what model my seagate is first, Didn't actually think you would go for the 200gb.....	Metla (12)
380435	2005-08-24 01:50:00	:lol: didn't think you'd expect me to, but hey the 40 gig or so of data on the other drive is worth the price that a 200gig drive is these days. But yeah does have to be the 23A to ensure the PCB works with the old drive.	Unit_Seven (8706)
380436	2005-08-24 08:46:00	I think you may find that the same model number is not enough, you'll also have to ensure the PCB revision number is the same as that can change over time within models. You might also find that different models use the same board.	Murray P (44)
380437	2005-08-24 11:09:00	Unit7 I think you should just go and buy a cheap drive off trade & Exchange or somewhere with a number closest to what you want, and just try it. Be interesting to see how this turns out.	Greg (193)
380438	2005-08-24 11:22:00	How about you all keep your fancy pants ideas to yourselves untill I secure myself a 200gb drive aye? :D :thumbs: Ok,carry on as you were,mine is ST380011A	Metla (12)
380439	2005-08-25 00:13:00	You might be interested in this extract from a recent Langa-List article . Changing the platters is an interesting idea, and might allow you to move to a similar model of the same capacity, but you'd need gloves, hairnet and face mask to make sure you didn't contaminate them . If the data is important, use professionals like Computer Forensics . It costs, but that's irrelevant if the data is irreplaceable . Cheers Billy 8-{) Hello Fred, After all the amazing answers you manage to pull out, I thought you might have a suggestion for this problem: My main hard drive just went to the Big PC in the Sky . I had backups of the most critical information (though my backup restore tool won't work now that I've re-installed it on the new disk, arghh!!), but I would like to get at the rest of the data on the disk if possible . I know there are various software solutions to recover a damaged directory structure &etc, but this is worse than that: the BIOS does not recognize the device . As far as it's concerned, there's no disk there . Apparently the controller is toast . I dug through old Langalist archives and found useful tips such as . com/newsletters/2002/2002-06-20 . htm#2" target="_blank">langa . com , but none of them help my situation . They all require the disk to be accessed from Windows . I looked into disk-recovery services, and they say it's a matter of opening the disk in a clean-room environment and moving the platters to a new drive mechanism . This is an expensive operation, $500-2500 or so --much more than I can justify for this data . But I wonder if such a radical approach is necessary . The drive is still spinning and is not making any nasty noises . Wouldn't it be a whole lot easier to replace the defective control circuitry? And lots cheaper, since no clean-room environment is required? Do you know of anyone who does drive recovery like this? It's a 40GB IBM DeskStar drive . Thanks, Gary Fritz Yes, if you're a little handy, you can try surgery yourself; or farm out the job to a good PC tech for less than the cost of a clean-room disassembly . It's not a sure-shot thing, but it might work: The idea is simple, but it's a little tricky to carry out . In shorthand form, it's this: Buy an new drive identical to the dead one; open 'em both up, and use the circuit board (or any other parts you need) from the new drive in the old one . The actual practice is a bit more complex: In some drives, the circuit board is external and easily accessible . In others, it's inside the case; or there's more than one board, with at least one inside the case . If your drive has an external circuit board, you can skip the parts below about "opening the drive," but we'll include it anyway for those instances when you do have to open the drive housing . You need to be careful (but not fanatical) about dust, dirt, and static: Clear and clean the area around the PC, or better yet, bring the PC (cleaned inside and out, and thoroughly blown out with one of those air-in-a-can products) to a clean, well-lighted space with the windows and doors closed and no fans running so as not to stir up any dust . Wear either microfiber gloves, low-lint cotton gloves, or disposable latex or nitrile surgical-type gloves . (You can by these at most auto parts stores; people use 'em for oil changes . If, for whatever reason, you can't find 'em locally, they're available online from places like this: http://www . conney . com/ . ) Start by opening the dead drive . Work carefully and protect the platters from magnets and any physical contact whatsoever . Work steadily and as fast as is reasonable . If you need to take a break, cover the exposed electronics so nothing can drift into the works . See if it's going to be possible to remove the circuit board; or alternately, see if there's an easy way to lift out the platter assembly . If either looks do-able; have at it, and carefully note the order in which pieces come out, because you'll need to put everything back . Once you get the circuit board (or platters) out without damage or undue trouble, cover your work area, and then go buy an identical drive . Bring it home, open it up, and then swap the boards or platters or whatever, so you end up with one working drive containing your data . Don't trust it for long-term use, as your ersatz "clean room" won't be even close to what's needed for truly reliable long-term drive operation . But if you worked carefully, the drive will probably function at least long enough to get the data off it . Ideal? No . But given how cheap new drives are (you can find 40GB Deskstars for around $40), cannibalizing a new drive to resurrect an old one can make sense as a last-ditch way to try to grab data off a dead and otherwise unrecoverable drive!	Billy T (70)
380440	2005-08-25 02:48:00	Thanks all - yep you are right, Computer Forensics would be the place to go but the data isn't worth $900 min charge, but is worth the price of trying another cheap dribves PCB which could go back to the new drive if it doesn't work on the old one. Interesting article, similar situation to mine, wnat the data back and worth a bit to me but not as much as it would cost to get done professionally - I wasn't so sure about opening the drive itself, hence the idea of just changing the PCB on the outside...but having read that I might have a go at this...if I try this I will let you all know how it goes.	Unit_Seven (8706)
380441	2005-08-25 03:42:00	You need to be careful (but not fanatical) about dust, dirt, and static: Clear and clean the area around the PC, or better yet, bring the PC (cleaned inside and out, and thoroughly blown out with one of those air-in-a-can products) to a clean, well-lighted space with the windows and doors closed and no fans running so as not to stir up any dust. Start by opening the dead drive. Work carefully and protect the platters from magnets and any physical contact whatsoever. Work steadily and as fast as is reasonable. If you need to take a break, cover the exposed electronics so nothing can drift into the works. See if it's going to be possible to remove the circuit board; or alternately, see if there's an easy way to lift out the platter assembly. If either looks do-able; have at it, and carefully note the order in which pieces come out, because you'll need to put everything back. Once you get the circuit board (or platters) out without damage or undue trouble, cover your work area, and then go buy an identical drive. Bring it home, open it up, and then swap the boards or platters or whatever, so you end up with one working drive containing your data. Don't trust it for long-term use, as your ersatz "clean room" won't be even close to what's needed for truly reliable long-term drive operation. If you know anything about how hard drives are designed built and operate you'll know the above is a load of crap	bartsdadhomer (80)
380442	2005-08-25 04:56:00	Thanks all - yep you are right, Computer Forensics would be the place to go but the data isn't worth $900 min charge, but is worth the price of trying another cheap dribves PCB which could go back to the new drive if it doesn't work on the old one. Interesting article, similar situation to mine, wnat the data back and worth a bit to me but not as much as it would cost to get done professionally - I wasn't so sure about opening the drive itself, hence the idea of just changing the PCB on the outside...but having read that I might have a go at this...if I try this I will let you all know how it goes. Look I'll tell you what.. You can have mine out of the XBOX (I'll need to open it up first to ensure that the Software I run isn't lying about thje model number. In return you can get me a new one (or just re-imburse me the value - I was gonna upgrade it anyway.). I'll double check tonight. Send me a PM to confirm details. Regards, Ashley	Ash M (46)
380443	2005-08-25 06:10:00	If you know anything about how hard drives are designed built and operate you'll know the above is a load of crap I do and it's not, at least the electronics swap isn't. I'd be quite comfortable doing that work, and I have the appropriate tools and equipment. Platters can also be changed, but it is not really a job for amateurs. How do you think professionals recover data from drives that won't spin any more? I have a colleague whose business computers were caught in a flood. The HDDs were drowned, but the data was recovered by transplanting the platters into new drives. It is not rocket science, you just have to know what you are doing. Nobody is suggesting that there will be any great life expectancy, or that 100% data recovery will be achieved. Cheers Billy 8-{)	Billy T (70)
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