How to recover a crashed laptop hard disk (windows NTFS)

Erica Eshoo wrote:

> Electrical recovery for not spinning drives
> - Connect to a high wattage power supply

I don't understand this one. Doesn't the device draw the amps it needs
regardless of the supply's maximum output rating? I can see it making
sense if the original power supply was overloaded/overrated and not
really delivering, but the video implies that the power supply "pushes"
the current rather than allowing the device to draw it.

Cheers.
 >> Stay informed about: How to recover a crashed laptop hard disk (windows NTFS) 

On Sun, 04 Nov 2007 08:43:26 -0800, bluerhinoceros wrote:

>> Here is the freeware/demoware that PC World suggests at
>> http://www.pcworld.com/video/catid,1610-page,1/video.html
>> How to Resurrect a Crashed Hard Drive - PC World Video
>> Electrical recovery for not spinning drives
>> - Connect to a high wattage power supply
>
> I don't understand this one.
> the video implies that the power supply "pushes"
> the current rather than allowing the device to draw it.

I agree with you - this is a wierd suggestion by PC World.
But, I can tell you watched the video because that's exactly what it says.

PC World seems to imply that a larger capacity power supply INITIAL
current/voltage (they call it wattage) surge into the reluctant disk drive
could JOLT the dead disk drive into cooperating - sort of like a Taser for
reticent hard disks.

http://www.pcworld.com/video/catid,1610-page,1/video.html
Does anyone else know more about this PC World suggestion to resurrect my
dead but spinning hard drive - is it science or is it voodoo?
 >> Stay informed about: How to recover a crashed laptop hard disk (windows NTFS) 

It seems to me I heard somewhere that Erica Eshoo wrote in article
<lVnXi.138$TR5.95@nlpi061.nbdc.sbc.com>:

>On Sun, 04 Nov 2007 08:43:26 -0800, bluerhinoceros wrote:
>
>>> Here is the freeware/demoware that PC World suggests at
>>> http://www.pcworld.com/video/catid,1610-page,1/video.html
>>> How to Resurrect a Crashed Hard Drive - PC World Video
>>> Electrical recovery for not spinning drives
>>> - Connect to a high wattage power supply

>> I don't understand this one.
>> the video implies that the power supply "pushes"
>> the current rather than allowing the device to draw it.

>I agree with you - this is a wierd suggestion by PC World.
>But, I can tell you watched the video because that's exactly what it says.

>PC World seems to imply that a larger capacity power supply INITIAL
>current/voltage (they call it wattage) surge into the reluctant disk drive
>could JOLT the dead disk drive into cooperating - sort of like a Taser for
>reticent hard disks.

Wattage, as everybody here seems to agree, is the actual power consumed
by a device; the wattage rating on a power supply is the highest power
it's capable of or designed to supply. Amperage is only drawn to the
level required by a device; if a device is not defective it will only
draw up to its rated amperage and the supply has to be able to meet that
demand. Voltage higher than the designed operating voltage of a device
may damage or ruin the device. ISTM PC World must be outsourcing its
technical writers these days.
 >> Stay informed about: How to recover a crashed laptop hard disk (windows NTFS) 

Larry Sabo <larry_sabo.DeleteThis@hotmail.com> wrote
> Rod Speed <rod.speed.aaa.DeleteThis@gmail.com> wrote

>>> Has anyone tried moving the "platter" from one 2.5"
>>> laptop hard disk to another? Is it worth trying?

>> Its not practical to do that, its close to impossible to get the platter
>> back on the rotation motor accurately enough so that the tracks
>> arent eccentric. The tracks are written to the platters after the
>> platter has been mounted on the rotation motor in manufacture.

> Fred Langa suggested it in...

> http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2005/2005-08-15.htm#11se

> ...as a last-ditch effort.

He's mad, and it aint gunna work with a laptop drive.
 >> Stay informed about: How to recover a crashed laptop hard disk (windows NTFS) 

Erica Eshoo wrote:

> On Sun, 04 Nov 2007 08:43:26 -0800, bluerhinoceros wrote:
>
>>> Here is the freeware/demoware that PC World suggests at
>>> http://www.pcworld.com/video/catid,1610-page,1/video.html
>>> How to Resurrect a Crashed Hard Drive - PC World Video
>>> Electrical recovery for not spinning drives
>>> - Connect to a high wattage power supply
>>
>> I don't understand this one.
>> the video implies that the power supply "pushes"
>> the current rather than allowing the device to draw it.
>
> I agree with you - this is a wierd suggestion by PC World.
> But, I can tell you watched the video because that's exactly what it
> says.
>
> PC World seems to imply that a larger capacity power supply INITIAL
> current/voltage (they call it wattage) surge into the reluctant disk
> drive could JOLT the dead disk drive into cooperating - sort of like a
> Taser for reticent hard disks.
>
> http://www.pcworld.com/video/catid,1610-page,1/video.html
> Does anyone else know more about this PC World suggestion to resurrect
> my dead but spinning hard drive - is it science or is it voodoo?

Urban myth!

--
Best Regards:
Baron.
 >> Stay informed about: How to recover a crashed laptop hard disk (windows NTFS) 

On Sun 04 Nov 2007 07:08:06, Erica Eshoo <evesunflor RemoveThis @sbcglobal.net>
wrote:

> On Sat, 03 Nov 2007 10:53:08 -1000, Richard wrote:
>> Didn't notice anybody mentioning PC Inspector...
>> http://www.snapfiles.com/get/pcinspector.html
>
> This was in the first post:
>> Digging further, I found PC Magazine recommended PC Inspector
>> (http://pcmag.ph/hard-disk/recovering-from-a-hard-disk-crash/) for
>> freeware hard disk recovery after crashes.
>
> I did find a good video from PC World at
> http://www.pcworld.com/video/catid,1610-page,1/video.html
> titled "How to Resurrect a Crashed Hard Drive - PC World Video".
>
> This video has LOTs of suggestions which were not covered in this
> thread yet.


That video maye misleading because there is a far better approach for
fixing certain IBM hard drives. If you have one of the old Deskstar
drives then check out the following repair guide.

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/morgan.tate/
 >> Stay informed about: How to recover a crashed laptop hard disk (windows NTFS) 

Franklin wrote:

> That video maye misleading because there is a far better approach for
> fixing certain IBM hard drives. If you have one of the old Deskstar
> drives then check out the following repair guide.
>
> http://web.ukonline.co.uk/morgan.tate/

My hammer is missing one side of its claw. Will it still work?
 >> Stay informed about: How to recover a crashed laptop hard disk (windows NTFS) 

On Sun, 04 Nov 2007 17:13:09 -0600, bluerhinoceros
<bluerhinoceros.TakeThisOut@humanzoo.invalid> wrote:

> Franklin wrote:
>
>> That video maye misleading because there is a far better approach for
>> fixing certain IBM hard drives. If you have one of the old Deskstar
>> drives then check out the following repair guide.
>> http://web.ukonline.co.uk/morgan.tate/
>
> My hammer is missing one side of its claw. Will it still work?

Depends on how deeply the nail is buried.

--
Bear Bottoms
Freeware website http://bearbottoms1.com
 >> Stay informed about: How to recover a crashed laptop hard disk (windows NTFS) 

On Sun, 04 Nov 2007 20:18:40 GMT, Franklin wrote:

> http://web.ukonline.co.uk/morgan.tate/

Interesting article.
It's an IBM laptop so it has a Hitachi 2.5" hard disk drive in it, not an
IBM desktop hard drive.
But, in the end, if I don't resurrect the disk by less drastic means, it
will be time to go in for the kill and rip the innards out and put them in
another drive. But that's for later.

For now, I found the IBM Thinkpad recovery disks and have re-instaleld the
operating system - having given up on the buggy Windows Activation (it
should at least have given me the chance to type SOMETHING in - and not
just hang like that).

The good news is the computer is back up - the bad news is I have to
install all the programs all over again, like WinXP SP2 and all the
updates. For example, I have to dig up how to load Wireless Zero
Configuration stuff so that WPA2-Personal works again (it's not even an
option in SP2 - I remember digging that one up on google so I'll dig it
up).

If you know of better freeware that can diagnose this hard drive, let me
know.
 >> Stay informed about: How to recover a crashed laptop hard disk (windows NTFS) 

bluerhinoceros wrote:
> Erica Eshoo wrote:
>
>> Electrical recovery for not spinning drives
>> - Connect to a high wattage power supply
>
> I don't understand this one. Doesn't the device draw the amps it needs
> regardless of the supply's maximum output rating? I can see it making
> sense if the original power supply was overloaded/overrated and not
> really delivering, but the video implies that the power supply "pushes"
> the current rather than allowing the device to draw it.

Watts = Amps * Volts (W=IV)

If a maximum rating of a supply is 100 Watts and the desired electron pressure to be maintained is 10 Volts then a
maximum of 10 Amps can be drawn. Therefore if 15 Amps is drawn then the electron pressure must fall to 6.667 Volts. If
10 volts is required for correct functioning of a circuit drawing 15 Amps then a power supply of 150 watts is required
(W/I=V). I have no idea if this sort of thing works but I understand the reasoning. A component may have stepped outside
the desired specification, say a resistor with a lowered value, allowing a higher current to flow and exceeding the
ability of the power supply to maintain correct voltage levels.

Zak Hipp
 >> Stay informed about: How to recover a crashed laptop hard disk (windows NTFS) 

> I had already realized it was spinning because when I pressed on the top of
> the hard disk drive, I could hear a whirr as I made something touch
> something else.


Most laptop hard drives have a label that says DO NOT PRESS HERE!

A hard drive depends on a 100% dust free interior to work correctly.
By causing the cover to rub on the spindle that holds the disc in place,
even for a moment, you have likely ground off a few tiny metal particles.
These particles will probably end up between the heads and the disc.
This will scratch the disc and damage the heads.
That hard drive is no longer reliable.
If you get the system up and runnig you should retrieve all the data you
can off that drive then destroy it (to prevent someone else from
stealing your information.)
 >> Stay informed about: How to recover a crashed laptop hard disk (windows NTFS) 

In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Erica Eshoo <evesunflor.TakeThisOut@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> On Sun, 04 Nov 2007 08:43:26 -0800, bluerhinoceros wrote:

>>> Here is the freeware/demoware that PC World suggests at
>>> http://www.pcworld.com/video/catid,1610-page,1/video.html
>>> How to Resurrect a Crashed Hard Drive - PC World Video
>>> Electrical recovery for not spinning drives
>>> - Connect to a high wattage power supply
>>
>> I don't understand this one.
>> the video implies that the power supply "pushes"
>> the current rather than allowing the device to draw it.

> I agree with you - this is a wierd suggestion by PC World.
> But, I can tell you watched the video because that's exactly what it says.

This sounds pretty bad, because it is complete nonsense. "Pushing"
the current would imply a current source. PC PSUs are voltage sources,
i.e. the connected device decides how much current it draws.

> PC World seems to imply that a larger capacity power supply INITIAL
> current/voltage (they call it wattage) surge into the reluctant disk drive
> could JOLT the dead disk drive into cooperating - sort of like a Taser for
> reticent hard disks.

Nonsense. Modern drives do not start up as soon as power is applied.
There is at least s slight delay until the voltages have stabilized.
It is also possible not so auto-spin, i.e. the drive starts up when it
gets a reset signal or a start unit command.

> http://www.pcworld.com/video/catid,1610-page,1/video.html
> Does anyone else know more about this PC World suggestion to resurrect my
> dead but spinning hard drive - is it science or is it voodoo?

It is voodoo. Might have worked with historic drives > 20 years ago and
a marginal PSU. Does not work with todays HDD motor controllers.

Arno
 >> Stay informed about: How to recover a crashed laptop hard disk (windows NTFS) 

In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Don Kirkman <donsno2.DeleteThis@wavecable.com> wrote:
> It seems to me I heard somewhere that Erica Eshoo wrote in article
> <lVnXi.138$TR5.95@nlpi061.nbdc.sbc.com>:

>>On Sun, 04 Nov 2007 08:43:26 -0800, bluerhinoceros wrote:
>>
>>>> Here is the freeware/demoware that PC World suggests at
>>>> http://www.pcworld.com/video/catid,1610-page,1/video.html
>>>> How to Resurrect a Crashed Hard Drive - PC World Video
>>>> Electrical recovery for not spinning drives
>>>> - Connect to a high wattage power supply

>>> I don't understand this one.
>>> the video implies that the power supply "pushes"
>>> the current rather than allowing the device to draw it.

>>I agree with you - this is a wierd suggestion by PC World.
>>But, I can tell you watched the video because that's exactly what it says.

>>PC World seems to imply that a larger capacity power supply INITIAL
>>current/voltage (they call it wattage) surge into the reluctant disk drive
>>could JOLT the dead disk drive into cooperating - sort of like a Taser for
>>reticent hard disks.

> Wattage, as everybody here seems to agree, is the actual power consumed
> by a device; the wattage rating on a power supply is the highest power
> it's capable of or designed to supply. Amperage is only drawn to the
> level required by a device; if a device is not defective it will only
> draw up to its rated amperage and the supply has to be able to meet that
> demand. Voltage higher than the designed operating voltage of a device
> may damage or ruin the device. ISTM PC World must be outsourcing its
> technical writers these days.

Yes. To people that do not have a clue.

Arno
 >> Stay informed about: How to recover a crashed laptop hard disk (windows NTFS)