Extremely ANGRY!! Western Digital HDD... dead?

[NAiLs]

Sorry for the long story... but I'm pretty POed right now!

I was trying to transfer 5GB of data from my desktop PC to my laptop, when I was having terrible problems finding the desktop PC in the network. Well, it found it, I began transferring data, and then it stopped for no reason. Now I just can't even find the computer period. Explorer just pauses. So I go over to my desktop system and notice it was rebooting for no reason. Ok, whatever, just reboot.

I hit reset 'cause it was stuck on a screen. All I am hearing now is *click* *click*, then HDD spinning and reading, then *click* *click*, then HDD spinning and reading more. It then recognized my 120GB WD HDD. Well, then it just went over to my IDE controller card for a drive to boot from (180GB WD HDD), and that puppy is slow 'cause the BIOS on it has a problem. I get in to Windows on my other drive and I don't see my 120GB HDD anymore... Well WTF?

A click here and there is nothing new as I heard my laptop drive doing the same thing a while back, but it stopped and works like new. I do realize clicking tells you the drive is gonna fail pretty damn soon, but I dunno... I've heard it in two situations where it did kill the drive and one where nothing happened.


I tried it by itself, tried it in a different system as a slave, nothing.


It doesn't click anymore, it spins, but I'm not hearing anything being read. I'm assuming this drive is a total loss, or is there some remote chance I can get her to boot again?


I have about 50GB of important information on this drive that needs to get off! A few KB being my updated resume!! :X :X I literally JUST put 20GB of data on it temporarly to free up space on my external HDD and was going to burn it to a DVD when I got a chance.

I've got SCSI HDD's that are 4x older than this thing and work perfectly fine, why in the hell is this 2+ year old drive taking a dump on me so fast? This is my second Western Digital that has died prematurely. I only have 1 more left in use...and this one is a little older. My 30GB Maxtor is ancient and still kicking!


I kind of had to vent, but I'm hoping there is some remote chance I can get my data off the drive!


Long Story Short
120GB Western Digital HDD decides it doesn't want to read anymore. It was working fine the entire night, then the computer restarts on its own. It spins, but doesn't seem to read anymore...

/me hopes for a possible fix b/c there is 50GB+ of important data on the drive...

**I'm so mirroring my next build... this is extremely painful!**

[bubba]

this wouldnt happen to be a SATA drive would it?

I have had 4 work machines from dell that the drives up and died, called dell to get the replacement drives, I kid you not, the tech guy "oh we have been having issues with those" ya think you could tell some one that this is an issue... well the new drives came in the hole back half of the drive was differant.

the ones that kicked they was in the range 2.5 to 3 years old because we was close on the warenty that work got on the boxes.

[Dragon_Cooler]

try the freezer method? stick it in a freezer either while running or have in there for a good 8 hours or so. It usually will help lift the read/write head up enough and last just long enough to get what you need. I personally havnt tried it yet but i have heard many many many success stories

[kenc51]

It sounds like the motor is dead.....I doubt freezing the drive will help

If you freeze it, doubble or tripple wrap it in a plastic bag first.....

[Dragon_Cooler]

wrapping in a bag? I never heard of people doing that, they just slap the drive the freezer. LOL But i guess that would help with moisture or something. Im not one to speak though, i personally have yet to try this. and in most cases that is a good thing. LOL

if the data is crucial i guess you could spend a few thousand and have it revived from those data recovery places. ><

[NAiLs]

Well the drive spins, you can hear her power up and down. With the freezer method, can you just toss it in the freezer for a few hours, take it out, and plug it in, or will that not work? There aren't any outlets by the fridge downstairs here and my case is extremely heavy (TT Xaser III).

The data isn't worth a few thousand dollars, but it is worth me trying to get it off somehow.

This drive says May 13, 2003 on it, so I wonder if it is one of those drives Dell hated too! It was bought and put in by me, but it could be one that Dell used too. It's still under warranty, but no way in hell am I sending it back to Western Digital w/o putting 1's and 0's on it. I don't think I can even do that because the drive doesn't even get recognized.

I'm planning on buying another drive because initially my 180GB drive was for back-up purposes, but I now want to run a RAID setup. I'm thinking I may run (have to check on the #) the RAID that mirrors the entire hard drive, but only updates the files on the back-up as they're updated on the main. Unless there is something better..?



Ugh... it just strikes me as odd how the drive dies while in use and gives no signs of imminent failure...

[pointreyes]

I'm thinking I may run (have to check on the #) the RAID that mirrors the entire hard drive, but only updates the files on the back-up as they're updated on the main. Unless there is something better..?

RAID 1 is the mirror setup but you can't mirror just the updated files. That's like looking in a mirror and expect it to only show your eye when your whole is face is in the mirror. It really is a mirror of the other drive (or depending on the RAID controller it could be a mirror of a partition).

For backing up only updated files you need something like this:
http://www.maxoutput.com/FileBack/

Or even just Windows Backup.

[NAiLs]

Hmm... I could swear there was such a RAID configuration. I must be thinking of other crap, like Novell or something that does that on a server. I guess RAID 1 would be the way to go 'cause RAID 0 would be worthless, as would the other setups. I don't think a 1+0 would benefit me either.

How is the performance hit on a RAID 1 setup?


I checked on the warranty of my failed drive and it is covered until May 19, 2006. They want a receipt or invoice, but I have no clue where I bought this drive anymore...

[-mogwai]

same thing happened to me a while back.... switch around the jumpers on the hd and keep trying. eventually, it'll work. but, then, make sure you've got a spare to back up all the important stuff you've got so you've got time to rma it, if possible, or get a new one.

[NAiLs]

I've tried so many ideas and nothing has worked yet. I've tried putting it as a slave in a system that has a hard drive w/ windows on it, nothing. I can hear it spinning, it sounds exactly like my other western digital drive when it boots. I do notice that it kinda goes "thud" (quietly) while it is moving, so I don't have a clue what that is. The CMOS sees something there, but can't identify it. I go to a User Type HDD and it pauses for a bit while it tries to read the drive.


Again, I don't know about the whole RMA thing. They want a receipt and I don't even remember who I bought it from.

[pointreyes]

How is the performance hit on a RAID 1 setup?

There should be no performance hit. The drives are writing independent of each other so unless you have a slower drive than the other on the RAID, the hit should be the same as a single drive.

I'm running RAID 5 at over 100Meg/sec r/w speeds and they are hot swappable and yes I have replaced bad drives in the configuration and have not lost data nor did I have to even turn off the system for taking out the bad drive and replace it with a new drive. Note that I'm using a $350 RAID controller - not exactly what you can get with onboard mobo RAID controllers. Too bad I couldn't have keep my Opteron system for this controller though, the same drives and controller on that board was almost as fast as a 2-disk Raptor RAID 0, but yet I was running RAID 5. This dual Xeon system does not do nearly as well.
http://members.dsl-only.net/~pointreyes/ga/RC4852.jpg

I haven't seen a request for receipt for a RMA for a long time because the drive's serial number denotes the warranty not the receipt. Are you going through WD for this RMA?

[NAiLs]

Yeah, I'd be going through WD for the RMA. The drive is under warranty for a few months yet so I'd love to take advantage of the warranty. I want to find a way to erase the data on the drive, since I cannot access it, before I RMA it. WD doesn't need to know what is on those platters! ;)

I just ask about the performance hit because sure they're individual drives, but what about RAM and CPU wise? You're throwing more instructions out there is kinda what is going through my mind. Also with a RAID 1 setup, is there a way to tell if a drive failed?

[pointreyes]

Fortunately RAID 1 does not require intense processes for doing 1 for 1 copying so I suspect most RAID controllers to not really be demanding much from the processor. Reviews in the past (before RAID was a popular as it is now) have normally shown RAID 1 to not cause performance issues.

It depends on the controller of how it handles a drive going bad. I had one go bad and was informed about it. What was really neat was the way the OS still booted up and yet not one lick of a problem running it and no special voodoo process had to be ran to use the backup drive.

[NAiLs]

Ah cool. I think I'll try a RAID 1 setup once I get a new drive. I have to figure out if my mobo has the controllers on it or not. A7N8X-E? I think it does, but I haven't looked at it in over 2 years.

[DeusEx]

i was just wonderin how much the LR members know about this stuff. like if for example he took it apart and then pictured it and posted the pics would that help you determine the cause of the problem ?

[bubba]

I cant remember the dates on the drives but they where bought late in 03.

one of the drives we tried to do several things. even as far as trying to swap the controler board. one drive when it shot craps for kicks I tried to put it in another pc, just in the 5 min I had it pluged in it got so hot you couldnt hold it. near as I can tell it had something to do with the internals of the drive.

just from my dealings in the last couple months with WD I'll never buy one again. I have a 40gig Maxtor that is 4 years old and still going, even have a 15 gig fujitsu thats pushing 7 and still kicking.

[NAiLs]

Well digging around on my other drive seeing what was all on it, I have my invoice from 12/12/03 when I bought the 120GB drive from Officemax. So I guess I don't know how long the warranty should really be 'til... the sticker date or my invoice date? I'm thinking my invoice date becuase there is 6 months in there that I did not even own the drive.

[kenc51]

go by the invoice date

[chakhay2000]

U know what? Hard drives dying frequently these days is a direct conseqeunce of the cost cutting measures that HDD manufacturers have adopted. I wish they would raise the prices by $50 for specially tested-and-guaranteed-for-abuse drives.

[doghucat]

I just RMA'ed a WD 250 ys and they did not ask me for no invoice just the serial number and overnight aired me my new drive with a 5 year warranty.