PC hardware forum: Hard drive wont spin, data recovery how?

HD won't spin, its a goner from any end user part of recovery. Yeah, you could try this or that but more than likely its a goner. As Robert mentions, try some data recovery service provided the data is worth it and/or depends on how much worth for the cost. However, you can search these forums for HD help ideas, but it has been my experience any HD that can't power-ON or spin usually has gone beyond typical fixes. However, if its the electronic PCB, swap with another exact working one and hope for the best.

tada -----Willy

I know about the "freezing" method but it rarely works. In fact it may cause further damage if this is in anyway r/w head related. What the freezing may now temporary correct are broken solder lands and similar issues which the freezing causes contraction and thus a complete circuit. Guess what really fixes that? a PCB replacement. The freezing method is a carry-over from the days of 20mb and similar HDs of days past, which the infamous, "striction" problem was present.

You can try the freezing method, but I don't recommend it for newer type HDs as the tolerances are greater for these new HDs. In other words, the more you try to fix the HD, the more damage that can result which in turn if the HD is sent in for data recovery, the success rate falls. Of course its all up to the user to decide.

tada -----Willy

If the drive won't spin, then it is beyond any amateur efforts. There are professional data recovery services that can retrieve any data that is not totally lost, sometimes they can even recover "written over" data!

Unfortunately, data recover services are costly, and there is no guarantee that all files will be recovered. Your friend is going to have to decide if those files are worth the cost of professional retrieval.

As others have noted, this as a good hard lesson in the need to back up files. A tape backup or a 2nd hard drive with automatic backup software is a heck of a lot cheaper than professional data recovery.