The Really Bad News.. Product Delays (Data Recovered)

[Gamecab]

All,

Last Saturday my PC's hard drive suffered an electical problem which burnt out the PC board of the drive.

[gprime]

Wow, that really stinks.

I think I need to invest in a backup solution before it's too late.

2 year old hard disks running on a RAID-0 is just asking for troube.

[Gamecab]

The Only PLUS side in the is that I did remove the old PCB from the hard drive and replaced it with the PCB from another hard drive.  The Harddrive spun up but was reported as a failure in my Bios.  This was due to the fact that the drive PCB was from a different Western Digital drive (40GB).
As soon as I Zapped by hard drive I smelled the funky smell of electronic parts that just were not strong enough to take the load they were dealt.  When I removed the board I noticed a dark discoloration in the insulation for the PCB as well as a bubble in one of the IC Chips.  So with that in mind, I'm pretty sure a replacement board from the exact model will save the data.

Don't ask what I was doing when I overloaded the hard drive with current, but lets be thankfull that I didn't take the whole computer out in the process.

[Flinkly]

so...what were you doing when it wonked out?



seriously though, i wouldn't be so interested if you wouldn't have mentioned not to ask

[markrvp]

I weep for you Charlie.  Just the fear of that is why I have a raid 0, +1 dual redundant server with an extra one-touch backup external drive just in case.

I'm not sure how many curse words you said, but I'm saying some more for you now.  Just today I was wondering what happened to the volcano cones.  Don't sweat it.  Monday shipping is FINE.

[cholin]

Don't ask what I was doing when I overloaded the hard drive with current

So, umm.....how can I hint at the question without asking it....   That sucks massively.  I have a hard drive from '96 that I used up until last christmas in another computer.  This machine ran (and still does) day and night....maybe spent about 1 - 2 weeks off within the last 5 years....hard drive is still in good condition too!

[NIVO]

Charlie, no worries pal. We iin the community will and can wait for a worthy product. Glad to see you still working diligently on it. 

[Flinkly]

um, not to sound like i'm in a rush, but does this halt my side project?  also, sorry to hear you got crapped on by technology.  makes you realize how dependent we all our.  sad really, but it's what makes the world go round (that, and gravity).

[RayB]

You're right, you can replace the board, but you'll need the EXACT EXACT same model # and same revision # too.

Otherwise you have an option to send it to a data recovery place such as Action Front in Toronto. I used them a couple years ago. Cost $500 cdn, but was worth it in light of all the work related data I would lose. You can always claim it on your taxes since it's a business related expense.

www.actionfront.com

[Sinner]

You're right, you can replace the board, but you'll need the EXACT EXACT same model # and same revision # too.

Otherwise you have an option to send it to a data recovery place such as Action Front in Toronto. I used them a couple years ago. Cost $500 cdn, but was worth it in light of all the work related data I would lose. You can always claim it on your taxes since it's a business related expense.

www.actionfront.com

I agree...The company I work for is an IBM shop, and this years new workhorse model comes with these crappy SATA drives...
I've sent out about six drives for recovery in the last 2.5 months, and Action Front is the best...
Better prices than anywhere I've found too...
If you're in the GTA, they have a drop off service...otherwise, there's offices in Atlanta, Buffalo, Chicago, Dallas, Santa Clara, Toronto and Tokyo...
There's a form on-line that you fill out and then send it off...their number is 1.800.563.1167 just in case...

[GGKoul]

So you lost all our emails back and forth.. hahaha..

Sorry to hear about your HD, hope your able to retrieve some stuff off the old drive.

[Gamecab]

Ok Good News, and not so bad News.

The Good News!!! -  It turns out that it is Just the PC Board for my hard drive.  I tested the motor with another WD Hard drive and was able to get it to spin up.  This means the data can be saved!!!!

The not so bad news - Yes... It had to be the exact exact exact same Part number (and sub part number).  So I jumped on to ebay, matched the part number, confirmed it with the seller, won the auction and am waiting for the hard drives arrival.  It's nearly impossible to find this western digital part number from July of 2002 but I'm glad I was able to get it.

One more thing,  If you guys are looking for a network backup solution, give the LinkSys NSLU2 a shot.  I picked one up for about $49 and attached a USB 2.0 external to it.  It's a major help!!

One Last thing...
When looking for a dependable 5.5V power source for testing a prototype LED board, NEVER use your good PC.  I paid the price for that one....


Thanks
Charlie

[gprime]

This thread motivated my to finally put a spare hdd as a backup drive. Got a nice freeware script that seems to be working just fine.

Now if my hard drive crashes I'll have you to thank

[Gamecab]

This thread motivated my to finally put a spare hdd as a backup drive. Got a nice freeware script that seems to be working just fine.

Now if my hard drive crashes I'll have you to thank

Get a Spare HD, Take it from me!!!.   
And That was a PSA from GameCab!!