HD woes

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I'm not sure if I already brought the topic up... but what the hell.

Back in the day, I had my faithful old PII 333. Unfortunately, it ate a power surge, without a power bar. (Yes, this is bad, I know.)

Pretty much everything on that comp is dead - except the processor which still works, and the HD... well, I still have a glimmer of hope it could still work, as I have some data with a HUGE sentimental value to me, that I'd be more than glad to have back. (Yes, I know not backing up data is stupid - but let's face it, back in the day I was stupid and never bothered to think the damn thing could break)

The HD in question is an old IDE Quantum Fireball EL 5.1 - EL51A012 Rev 01-B. I've tried connecting it to a PC, and this is where things get complicated.

There's a small green LED under the drive which blinks five times, stops for three seconds, then blinks five times again (and again, and again, and again, and on, and on... you get the idea). The IDE drive detection never completes.

The drive still spins, but isn't detected by any comp I plug it in. I've considered the possibility of a fried PCB, and I've also thought about finding another HD of the same model and try replacing the PCB. I thought I'd ask first to see if something could be done, or if I should just smash the drive under my faithful barbed wire sledgehammer.

I can live without the data on that drive, but if there was a cheap alternative that would resurrect the drive long enough for me to back everything up to a DL DVD, all the better.

 

Did it got recognized in the bios? Is your main hdd still in your pc so it can boot windows?

 

I can't even enter the BIOS. The stupid LED keeps on flashing and flashing and the world stops at the IDE drive detection. I've let it run for some 20 minutes, and it still was stuck at the same damn place - detection.

I even tried burning PowerMax on a CD to try to diagnostic the drive, but it's pointless since the defect HD never gets detected, the box doesen't continue booting.

I also don't use Winblows. The main HD in my box is BSD wire-to-wire.

I've considered getting the IDE to USB adaptor, but until the issues of the detection never going anywhere and that dumb LED just flashing around stupidly, it's a bit pointless.

 

Quick update...

I somehow found a HDD of roughly the same model than my defective one - though it was a Fireball SE, while mine was a EL - but the PCB had the same chips, so I thought it was worth a try.

Anyway, I connected the new PCB, and plugged the drive to my own box at work using an USB enclosure, and the drive still spins like champ... the only reason it's not detected is because the head that reads the data is wonky (found it out when I opened the HDD). The senior tech says this cannot be changed, because it requires precise calibrating. Desperation started to kick in, and I've considered dismantling the HDD, recovering the platters and transplanting them in another drive. This is pretty much a crazy idea I doubt will work, but this is my last resort. We get an lot of old, crappy PCs at work, so finding another Fireball EL 5.1 does not sound impossible... and there's still the huge computer recycling warehouse in my crappy hometown.

 

Dude you're nuts.

There's no way you're going to get it to work. First, you're going to need a clean room to keep microscopic particles off the platters. Then you're going to need super precise equipment to set the heads back in place...that is *if* you didn't accidentally scratch the platters as you took them out of the old drive. If you didn't know already, the heads float on a cushion of air that’s small enough to need angstroms to measure the height...and one particle is all it takes to cause a catastrophic failure.

In short...HDDs aren't something you want to mess with.

 

I came across this a while back and managed to relocate it.....and yeah, it sounds pretty hard (though they could have been more technical in the descriptions), it looks like a few of the comment writers had shots at it too. All the best Disciple of The Watch! there's no doubt you'll need it.

 

incredible