WD Scorpio Blue Data Recovery

[AlaDes]

I just had a Dell laptop checked in that has a HDD issue. The laptop won't recognize the WD HDd but will recognize other drives, so it going to be a data recovery job.

After determining that it was the drive and not the laptop, I used my SATA to USB adapter to connect the drive to a desktop. The drive shows up in the disk drive section of Computer Management but won't initialize. It also shows up in R-Studio but I can't scan the drive. Of you who have used ddrescue, is there a chance I may be able to recover the data that way or am I better off sending the drive away?

 

[coffee]

If I was betting I would put 200 bucks on the recovery center you ship it too.

Here is a quick google search on what happens with those drives.

http://datacent.com/datarecovery/hdd/western_digital/Scorpio+Blue

I just never really liked WD drives. But that comes from along time ago when they had some models out that sounded like kicking tin cans down a sidewalk when they did a r/w operation.

Did you check the controller board for damage?

In the article it mentions the currupted firmware. If I were going to muck with it I would start there.

Anyways, It would be a good learning experience if you have the time.

 

[AlaDes]

If I was betting I would put 200 bucks on the recovery center you ship it too.

Here is a quick google search on what happens with those drives.

http://datacent.com/datarecovery/hdd/western_digital/Scorpio+Blue

I just never really liked WD drives. But that comes from along time ago when they had some models out that sounded like kicking tin cans down a sidewalk when they did a r/w operation.

Did you check the controller board for damage?

In the article it mentions the currupted firmware. If I were going to muck with it I would start there.

Anyways, It would be a good learning experience if you have the time.

I tried another controller board from an identical drive that had several bad sectors and it had the same results, because I was thinking the same thing: corrupted firmware.

The client who brought it in was having issues with it being slow and decided to let a company perform a remote in place install of Windows 7. During the process, one of his children knocked it off the table and it hit the floor hard enough to pop the screen bezel loose. After the fall, the laptop would not recognize the drive. I'm thinking the drive was on it's way out anyways and the fall ensured it's complete demise.

I'm just wondering if ddrescue could help me retrieve the data because although R-Studio recognizes the drive, it won't allow me to scan it.

 

[300DDR]

Couple things:

because I was thinking the same thing: corrupted firmware

Firmware on WD hard drives in on the platters, not the PCB.

I tried another controller board from an identical drive that had several bad sectors and it had the same results

This couldn't have worked since the PCB has a ROM chip which has data specific to that EXACT DRIVE you took it from and 99.9 times out of 100 for modern hard drives an exact donor PCB will not allow the data to be read on the "patient drive" without moving that chip (either physically or using special hardware).

I used my SATA to USB adapter to connect the drive to a desktop

Data recovery rule number [something]: You should never hook up a failed drive to Windows or Mac directly for many reasons, but most importantly: the OS may try to "repair" the drive and up destroying the data logically and make the drive's physical condition worse.

I'm just wondering if ddrescue could help me retrieve the data because although R-Studio recognizes the drive, it won't allow me to scan it.

If Rstudio can't get to sector 1 on the scan (rather than reading a few sectors or few thousand then stopped), I don't think DD Rescue will have any luck. But more importantly it probably won't have any luck because...

After the fall, the laptop would not recognize the drive

In this case, there is 99% nothing you can do. It's likely to have a bad head or heads and/or platter damage since the drive was on and spinning and likely writing (so the heads were moving over the platters) during the fall.

 

[300DDR]

plug the external hard drive in a usb port, power up, the systems post boot up will find the drive and inform windows what hardware is installed.
When windows boots up, it will look at all the hardware and find the external hard drive, when windows finishes booting up you should be able to see the drive in "my computer".

This will not cause any different behavior than explained in OPs first post. It will not work. Nor will booting up with the usb drive plugged in be any different than plugging it in after booting up (at least in terms of software recovery tools being able to recover data from the drive). IN FACT, it's MUCH more risky since windows WILL attempt to fix corrupt partitions connected at boot up and quite possibly destroy the data and maybe the drive.

I repeat:

Data recovery rule number [something]: You should never hook up a failed drive to Windows or Mac directly for many reasons, but most importantly: the OS may try to "repair" the drive and up destroying the data logically and make the drive's physical condition worse.

No offense, but I would NOT follow RexHooker's instructions unless your client's data is totally unimportant and they don't want to pay for data recovery (and even then, there is no point).

 

[AlaDes]

This will not cause any different behavior than explained in OPs first post. It will not work. Nor will booting up with the usb drive plugged in be any different than plugging it in after booting up (at least in terms of software recovery tools being able to recover data from the drive). IN FACT, it's MUCH more risky since windows WILL attempt to fix corrupt partitions connected at boot up and quite possibly destroy the data and maybe the drive.

I repeat:

No offense, but I would NOT follow RexHooker's instructions unless your client's data is totally unimportant and they don't want to pay for data recovery (and even then, there is no point).

As far as hooking it to a Windows machine, I am very careful and don't allow Windows to do anything. If I want something done I do it myself lol.

As far as trying anything else, my client's data is too important for me to just take a chance. They know it's not going to be cheap but ate willing to pay whatever it takes to get their data back.

Now all I have to figure out is whether or not to ship it or drop it off when I'm out that way next week. Can I get a semi in your parking lot? Lol

 

[300DDR]

Haha! Not exactly, delivery people (fedex, ups) double park, but they are quick. Mailing is usually easiest IMO. Looking forward to checking out your drive! Please let me know if you have any further questions.

 

[AlaDes]

Haha! Not exactly, delivery people (fedex, ups) double park, but they are quick. Mailing is usually easiest IMO. Looking forward to checking out your drive! Please let me know if you have any further questions.

The only other questions I really have are: If you can't recover the data and it requires a clean room, is there anyone you usually reccomend or is there somebody you get to do all your clean room stuff? Also, do you know what the price would be or at least a close estimate?

 

[DanB]

Testdisk and Photo rec

Have you tried test disk and photo recover. If the drive is recognized in bios you can usually recover files. Both of these programs are on just about every recovery cd out there. I am partial to parted magic iso.

 

[300DDR]

If you can't recover the data and it requires a clean room, is there anyone you usually reccomend

Yes, if we can't recover it, we refer people to a clean room that is local to us. They are awesome -- they've even recovered a drive I got once that DriveSavers could not recover. They also have very good prices, max ~$1425 (min around $800).