Do's and Don'ts
If you feel you have to give it your best shot before sending in your drive please observe the following do's and don'ts:
- DON'T use any file recovery programs in the presence of mechanical damage, such as when strange noises are coming from the drive. At the top of the list is Scandisk, which can cause even more damage by over-stressing weak sectors on the disk and attempting to write to a damaged drive. If it seems that Scandisk is taking an inordinately long time to complete, then just shut down the computer.
- DO listen for any unusual noises that the drive may be making. Can you hear it spinning up at all? Does it make a slight ticking noise when you turn it on? Do you hear repetitive, rhythmic seeking noises at times? Is it clicking constantly?
The answer to each question indicates a specific type of physical damage.
- DON'T open the drive up to expose the media surfaces. Many handy people like to grab a screwdriver and peek inside to see if something obvious is wrong. We guarantee that you can only make things worse if you do this. Drives are meant to be opened in clean-room environments. Touching the actuator arm, read-write head, etc will make a bad situation worse.
- DO shut down the drive and leave it that way if the CMOS does not recognize the drive as being present in the system. Mechanical and/or electronic damage is indicated and the drive is not accessible through normal means.
- DON'T bother with putting the drive in the refrigerator. This method has been bandied about for years as a sometime cure-all for a non-working drive. It's been our experience that this only produces a very cold drive.
- DO decide whether it's worthwhile from a cost perspective to pursue professional data recovery services. How important is that homework assignment or a handful of baby pictures? Data recovery costs are measured in hundreds, not tens, of dollars.
Most likely you're reading these suggestions after the damage has already been done but it may come in handy for future reference.