13 Oct
2010
13 Oct
'10
6:35 a.m.
Pete Turnbull wrote:
Doc wrote:
Indeed. I've used big pans of ice sat upon the drive before as a way of
keeping the temperature down long enough to get the data off - seems to work
well (just use something as a non-conductive barrier on the PCB side).
If that Seagate drive is the one I'm thinking of, they had a reputation for
running hot and slowly cooking themselves :-( I think I have one with a
narrow interface still, but it's overseas so unfortunately I'm not getting to
it any time soon.
If the problem is heads stuck to platters, then worst-case you could open the
drive up and try freeing them by turning the spindle manually - I've had good
results with that in the past. Do it in as clean an environment that you can
manage (and ditch the drive afterwards, obviously).
cheers
Jules
Mark Wickens wrote:
Useful, I agree, and often successful, though one should remember to
check that the electronics aren't covered in condensation when you power
it up :-)
My (limited) diagnostic skills would point towards a drive motor
controller failure, or less likely sticking heads. Given that the
drive has been powered down and up on a number of occasions without
issue I'm thinking it is probably a controller failure rather than a
head problem, but I'm open to alternative opinions.
I've gotten my data off of more than one SCSI drive by freezing it
and whacking it. Let it stabilize in the freezer for a few hours,
drop it flat from a foot or so, and plug it in *quickly* to a system
that can take a backup.
It's a one-shot deal - that's invariably been the last time the
drive spun up.