Hello everyone,

Sorry for the newsgroup spam, but I am in a bit of a pickle.

I lost my primary HDD last night before my weekly backup. It just locked
up... hard. When I attemtped to reboot, all I got was the sickening
'clunk...clunk... clunk' which told me I was in deep doodoo.

Is there a way I can recover my data that was lost? I thought I could just
add/reinstall my OS on my new HDD, reinstall my old clunky HDD, mount it and
then copy the data to a recovery directory before sending the old drive off
to silicon heaven.

That trick doesnt seem to work. Any suggestions? You can email me directly.

Thank you,

Joe Cipale

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

perhaps you could try a program like "spinrite"

altough my expierience with "clunking" disks is that they're unuseable most
of the time.

Good luck!

Edddie.


"joecipale" <joec@aracnet.com> schreef in bericht
news:evs4cf013mv@enews1.newsguy.com...
> Hello everyone,
>
> Sorry for the newsgroup spam, but I am in a bit of a pickle.
>
> I lost my primary HDD last night before my weekly backup. It just locked
> up... hard. When I attemtped to reboot, all I got was the sickening
> 'clunk...clunk... clunk' which told me I was in deep doodoo.
>
> Is there a way I can recover my data that was lost? I thought I could just
> add/reinstall my OS on my new HDD, reinstall my old clunky HDD, mount it
> and
> then copy the data to a recovery directory before sending the old drive
> off
> to silicon heaven.
>
> That trick doesnt seem to work. Any suggestions? You can email me
> directly.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Joe Cipale
>
>

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

"joecipale" <joec@aracnet.com> writes:

>Hello everyone,

>Sorry for the newsgroup spam, but I am in a bit of a pickle.

>I lost my primary HDD last night before my weekly backup. It just locked
>up... hard. When I attemtped to reboot, all I got was the sickening
>'clunk...clunk... clunk' which told me I was in deep doodoo.

>Is there a way I can recover my data that was lost? I thought I could just
>add/reinstall my OS on my new HDD, reinstall my old clunky HDD, mount it an
d
>then copy the data to a recovery directory before sending the old drive off
>to silicon heaven.

>That trick doesnt seem to work. Any suggestions? You can email me directly.

If you really heard cluck...clunk then your hard drive has physical
problems. There is no way of you being able to recover anything.
You may be able to send it out to a data recovery shop who will disassemble
the drive and try putting the platters into a new drive. If that does not
work they might be able to use even more sophisticated techniques for
recovering data ( costing you from $1000 per drive to $100 per byte)
Exactly how much is the data worth to you?
At least you have learned that you put in a second hard drive and at least
copy everything from the first to the second every night ( or every hour).

>Thank you,

>Joe Cipale

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

Unruh wrote:
> "joecipale" <joec@aracnet.com> writes:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>
> If you really heard cluck...clunk then your hard drive has physical
> problems. There is no way of you being able to recover anything.
> You may be able to send it out to a data recovery shop who will disassembl
e
> the drive and try putting the platters into a new drive. If that does not
> work they might be able to use even more sophisticated techniques for
> recovering data ( costing you from $1000 per drive to $100 per byte)
> Exactly how much is the data worth to you?
> At least you have learned that you put in a second hard drive and at least
> copy everything from the first to the second every night ( or every hour).
> 
> 
>
>


If you are truly desperate you could do the absolutely last resort as
described some time ago in (I think) Maximum Linux Magazine -- or maybe
Maximum PC).

You set up your own mini-cleanroom using plastic drop cloth and duct
tape and a small HEPA vacuum cleaner to pressurize the area.  You buy an
identical HD and then place the new HD next to the old drive on the
table.  You dress in one of those clean suits you can get from Home
Depot for $10 and use a head covering and dust mask.  You then
disassemble both drives, moving the bad platters into the new machine.

The article admits that it "most likely won't work" but at least you
will have tried the ultimate.  And, I suppose gained some great learning
experience.

As for me, I have The Mighty Wurlitzer backed up on two separate SATA
drives every 12 hours.  Overkill of course, but it makes me feel good.

Cheers,
Dave

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

On Sat, 14 Apr 2007, in the Usenet newsgroup linux.redhat, in article
<evs4cf013mv@enews1.newsguy.com>, joecipale wrote:

>Sorry for the newsgroup spam, but I am in a bit of a pickle.

None the less, it would be well to set a "Followup-To:" header as I have
done here.

>I lost my primary HDD last night before my weekly backup. It just locked
>up... hard. When I attemtped to reboot, all I got was the sickening
>'clunk...clunk... clunk' which told me I was in deep doodoo.

Wonderful. Had the drive _been_ running and died?  Or is this a case
where you booted, and the drive failed for some reason?  Can you tell
if the drive is spinning?  (Could this be a "stiction" problem?) What
kind of drive (make/model)?

>Is there a way I can recover my data that was lost? I thought I could
>just add/reinstall my OS on my new HDD, reinstall my old clunky HDD,
>mount it and then copy the data to a recovery directory before sending
>the old drive off to silicon heaven.
>
>That trick doesnt seem to work.

Ontrack disk recovery   www.ontrack.com/  www.ontrack.de/
www.ontrack.co.uk/   do a google search, and get thousands of hits.

Warning:  NOT CHEAP

>Any suggestions? You can email me directly.

Post here - read here.  Sorry, mail has been off for years.

Old guy

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

joecipale wrote:[vbcol=seagreen]
> Hello everyone,
>
> Sorry for the newsgroup spam, but I am in a bit of a pickle.
>
> I lost my primary HDD last night before my weekly backup. It just locked
> up... hard. When I attemtped to reboot, all I got was the sickening
> 'clunk...clunk... clunk' which told me I was in deep doodoo.
>
> Is there a way I can recover my data that was lost? I thought I could just
> add/reinstall my OS on my new HDD, reinstall my old clunky HDD, mount it a
nd
> then copy the data to a recovery directory before sending the old drive of
f
> to silicon heaven.
>
> That trick doesnt seem to work. Any suggestions? You can email me directly.[/vbcol
]

The clicking is the heads hitting the stops rather than moving to tracks. Re
al
bad news. But first remove and re-seat the data cable at both ends. Then try
 the
drive in a different machine. If no luck then make your backups more frequen
t in
the future.

However clicking is usually grounds for buying a case of scotch and notifyin
g
relatives and friends of the wake.

My son once worked for a man whom he saw replace the electronic parts of an 
HD
with those of an identical drive and fix such problems. I don't quite believ
e it
but I report what he told me.

--
American troops in Iraq have to know they are risking their lives for people
who hate them.
-- The Iron Webmaster, 3727
nizkor http://www.giwersworld.org/nizkook/nizkook.phtml
Lawful to bomb Israelis http://www.giwersworld.org/israel/bombings.phtml a11

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

Matt Giwer wrote:
> joecipale wrote:
> 
>
>
>     The clicking is the heads hitting the stops rather than moving to
> tracks. Real bad news. But first remove and re-seat the data cable at
> both ends. Then try the drive in a different machine. If no luck then
> make your backups more frequent in the future.
>
>     However clicking is usually grounds for buying a case of scotch and
> notifying relatives and friends of the wake.
>
>     My son once worked for a man whom he saw replace the electronic
> parts of an HD with those of an identical drive and fix such problems. I
> don't quite believe it but I report what he told me.
>

Well.. my thanks to all who replied. I did manage to contact a data
recovery specialist here in Oregon. He said 'Well.. I might be able to
recover the data... no charge to you if I dont, but it will be close to
$250.00 USD if I am successful.

Sorry Sir... I just dropped $90 USD on a new HDD and reinstalled (what I
could) from memory and older backups. I think Ican do with the recovery
fee.

Once again, thanks to all who replied. I learned more about disc
recovery stories to write a book. (hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...)

Regards,

Joe

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

joseph m cipale wrote:
> Matt Giwer wrote: 
[vbcol=seagreen]
> Well.. my thanks to all who replied. I did manage to contact a data
> recovery specialist here in Oregon. He said 'Well.. I might be able to
> recover the data... no charge to you if I dont, but it will be close to
> $250.00 USD if I am successful.

> Sorry Sir... I just dropped $90 USD on a new HDD and reinstalled (what I
> could) from memory and older backups. I think Ican do with the recovery
> fee.

> Once again, thanks to all who replied. I learned more about disc
> recovery stories to write a book. (hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...)

Have you installed the new drive and does it work? And do not forget that a 
new
drive is the same as re-seating the cable. I don't mean to rain on your para
de
but lots of problems are simpler than the initial panic conclusion. I once k
ept
a 12MHz machine alive by removing cards and running an eraser over the conta
cts
and reseating them. The cards were fine. It was the connectors. In my experi
ence
the problem is more likely mechanical than electronic. As I started in the
vacuum tube days that took a long time come to think about first rather than
 last.

I do not want to argue with you but a new drive does not eliminate a simple
connector issue as the basic problem.

--
There is only one man in all the world who can bring peace to Iraq and Bush
has said he will not.
-- The Iron Webmaster, 3731
nizkor http://www.giwersworld.org/nizkook/nizkook.phtml
Larry Shiff http://www.giwersworld.org/computers/newsagent.phtml a8

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

Matt Giwer wrote:
> joecipale wrote:
> 
>
>
>     The clicking is the heads hitting the stops rather than moving to
> tracks. Real bad news. But first remove and re-seat the data cable at
> both ends. Then try the drive in a different machine. If no luck then
> make your backups more frequent in the future.
>
>     However clicking is usually grounds for buying a case of scotch and
> notifying relatives and friends of the wake.
>
>     My son once worked for a man whom he saw replace the electronic
> parts of an HD with those of an identical drive and fix such problems. I
> don't quite believe it but I report what he told me.

To replace the entire electronics card on full sized
drives was standard practice when attempting a rescue.

It never worked for me.

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

joseph m cipale <joec@aracnet.com> writes:

>Matt Giwer wrote: 
[vbcol=seagreen]
>Well.. my thanks to all who replied. I did manage to contact a data
>recovery specialist here in Oregon. He said 'Well.. I might be able to
>recover the data... no charge to you if I dont, but it will be close to
>$250.00 USD if I am successful.

>Sorry Sir... I just dropped $90 USD on a new HDD and reinstalled (what I
>could) from memory and older backups. I think Ican do with the recovery
>fee.

>Once again, thanks to all who replied. I learned more about disc
>recovery stories to write a book. (hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...)

That is fine. YOu were warned it would be expensive. If the data is not
worth $250 then don't spend that money recovering it.


>Regards,

>Joe

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]