Seagate 2TB portable beeping / not readying Help!

[ld197912]

Hello all,

I'm new to the forum and need help with trying to recover data on my portable HD that was dropped into carpet from about less than 2ft height.

The HD was making low clicking noise and not reading. So I assumed that it was the heads not reading.

I have very sensitive data on the HD, hence I can't bring it to a professional. I am a noob, and have never done this before. But based on watching YouTube videos, I tried to attempt the clear the jammed head myself. I've done everything right, open the case, carefully moved the head back into place by rotating the platter. Everything was done right and in my opinion, to perfection. Not in clean room of course. But the platter looks to be in perfect shape, no scratches or marks whatsoever.

After putting the head back to where it's supposed to be positioned and closing the case. The HD now makes a beeping sound, and still doesn't read.

So my questions to all you experts:

1) what is the beeping sound likely to be?

2) could it be magnetized together head readers?

3) if I was to use a donor drive, could I move the platter to the donor drive and make it work? (not in a clean room of course)

Really appreciate it if anyone can shed some light on what would be the best method for me to recover the data without seeking a professional.

Thank you!
Landon

 

[pclab]

I'm sorry to say, but you have done everything that shouldn't be done.
I should ask you: if you have a disease, you don't go to the doctor?
Why don't you trust on a Professional that will keep things classified?

Regarding your case:
1: Heads
2: No
3: Nope, never.
You also say the platter seems to be in perfect shape. On the photo I see debris all over the top platter.
If you can't or don't want to contact a PRO, forget that and send it to the bin.

 

[Jared]

That's a Seagate Rosewood family drive. Even professionals hate when those come in for data recovery. Without proper tools, equipment, knowledge, etc. your chances are virtually zero.

As PCLab said, you've done everything you shouldn't have done. Trust me, unless there is something illegal on the drive, no DR company cares about your "sensitive data". We deal in the sensitive data of hundreds of people. Browsing the data of random people, that you don't even know, really isn't all that interesting to us despite what you might assume.

 

[ld197912]

Oh darn.. Lol..

It's just that from watching all the YouTube videos of how the platter is transferred onto a donor drive. It doesn't look like it's impossible to do. As long as I have the tools.

I've seen drives be completely exposed and still be fixed for reading from transferring.

@jared... Fair enough. More than likely no one wants to see my data. But it just takes one to peek in it and a lot of issues are compromised. Question: seems like professionals all use pc3000 to copy the recovered data into a new drive. The process on screen I believe does not show file names, but just green readable sectors. So if someone wanted to view my data, they would have to physically connect the new drive and read it? How about the image file generated from pc3000? Is that not saved on system as well?

Just trying to understand what exactly is the file retrieving process of the professionals, when it comes to recoverable data.

Also, based on the pic, what do you think is the recovery chance if I did send it to a professional?

Thanks!
Landon

 

[pclab]

When imaging a drive with PC3000, and "advertising" our work, we only show the green sectors (that only means that the sector was read with success), but on another tab, we usually see the files and folders (of course we don't show this or we blur it when "advertising" to protect clients data).

It might still be recoverable, but the price probably will be higher now.
If you still have issues with privacy, you can store the HDD, buy PRO tools (spend several thousand $$), learn for some years how data recovery is done and then go back to your drive.

 

[Jared]

[post]14982[/post] It's just that from watching all the YouTube videos of how the platter is transferred onto a donor drive.

99% of everything on YouTube relating to data recovery is non-professional. If you look closely, you'll probably catch that the serial number shown in the software doesn't match the label of the HDD because they never did get the drive working afterword, so they just fake it.

Real pro's usually just get a good laugh at that youtube stuff.

[post]14982[/post] So if someone wanted to view my data, they would have to physically connect the new drive and read it? How about the image file generated from pc3000?

As PCLab said, we certainly can see the files if we want. But, most often it's little more than a quick spot check to be sure a few files are opening and there isn't some major issue before we do the final file copy to the drive we're sending back. It's quite rare for any case to require a great deal of looking through customer files. There's certainly no reason to need to in a failed HDD case.

[post]14982[/post] Also, based on the pic, what do you think is the recovery chance if I did send it to a professional?

It's hard to really know from the picture what the odds of recoverability are. To know that would really require checking out the read/write heads under powerful magnification. Rosewoods are prone to platter damage when they fail, so there are plenty of cases where the damage is just too severe and replacement heads keep dying.

I do see what appears to be some droplets on the platters, perhaps some saliva or snot. So expect to pay an up-front cleaning fee for any lab to work on it now.