How to Fix a Physically Broken Hard Drive

If it's an inconvenience when your system crashes, it's a disaster when your hard drive heads south. Usually, that means your data is destroyed and your bits are blasted—unless you backed up, of course. But is your drive really dead, or just mostly dead? We'll show you how you might recover something, but be warned: this information is provided for use at your own risk and should only be used if the data on your drive is not worth the money to invest in professional repair. If the data means anything to you -- if you need it for your work or for legal purposes -- DO NOT USE THIS METHOD. If your the next step is to throw away or otherwise recycle a really dead hard drive, then proceed at your own risk!

Part 1 of 4: Confirm The Status of Your Drive

1. Verify the failure. Make sure your drive is truly broken by checking things that could cause your drive to not be recognized.   

• If your drive is making a steady, loud clicking noise, stop and skip to part two. Your drive is dead.

2.  Check hardware connections. This is the best place to start, and if found to be the problem, is the fastest, most inexpensive fix you can make!

• Make sure power is getting to the computer. If the cat knocked out the plug, or cable is broken, nothing will work.

• Open up the computer case. Are the data (IDE or SATA) and power cables firmly in place? Make sure they are seated well, and no pins are bent, broken, or otherwise damaged.

3. Do a visual check. Sometimes, it's not the drive that's dead, but the PC board that controls its operation (on the underside of the drive). If there's a power surge, or a component failure on that board, your drive will stop working, but only because it doesn't know what to do next.

• Look for signs of damage—burns or scorch marks. If you see this, you can breathe a little sigh of relief, for it means that is your likely culprit—and often times, this is a problem that can be fixed with relative ease.

• If you want to replace the PCB, search on Google for replacement parts for your drive's make and model.

• When it arrives, remove the old board (there are five tiny screws to remove—don't lose them!)

•  Slide out the old drive, and replace it with the new one. Do not touch the metal leads on the new board—static discharge could blow your new board before it ever has a chance to breath new life into your drive. You can ground yourself by either wearing an anti-static wrist band, or by touching something grounded and metal. The inside of your plugged-in computer will usually work.

• Slide in the new board, making sure it's seated firmly into the drive, then re-attach the screws.
• Reconnect the drive to the computer, then power back up. If it works, congratulations! It's a good idea to back up your data at this point, but you're good to go.

• If it doesn't work—keep reading.

4. Check to see if the drive is being recognized. If everything is plugged in, and nothing appears to have blown up on the controller PCB, check out Windows Disk Management or BIOS, or Mac OS X Disk Utility to determine if your drive is being recognized at all

Part 2 of 4: Options for Repair 

 

1. Make a choice: if this data is worth saving, it is worth finding a professional hard-drive recovery company and paying what it takes to get your data back. If you attempt anything at all yourself, chances of recovering any data professionally will be nil.

2. A quick search on Google for "hard drive replacement parts" will lead you in a couple different directions. Replacing parts may work for older hard drives, but usually not for newer ones.

3. Do it yourself. A favorite method of brave souls is the DIY method, promoted by companies that specialize in providing parts for do-It-yourselves. The idea is that if you simply replace the burned out controller board, your drive will spring back to life.

• Truth is, maybe it will! But there's one big caveat: the chips on the controller are, more and more, calibrated for that particular drive, and there's no guarantee a replacement will work. However, this is by far the least-expensive option.

4. Hire a professional. This is the ONLY option to get your drive back up and running, or at least have the files on the drive recovered (which is really what you want, in the end).

• Turnaround times can be quicker than the DIY method, and success is somewhat more assured, but it comes at a cost, which may be worth it if your data is important.

• You can expect to pay two or three times more than the original cost of the drive, so you will have to weigh the value of the money against the value of the data on the drive.

Part 3 of 4: Do It Yourself 

1. Read this first! If your drive made a clicking sound the first time you plugged it in, any time you plug it in again causes loss of data by damaging the magnetic layer on the drive. Do not attempt this self repair if the data is important to you for work or legal reasons. Some of these techniques are "Hail Mary" attempts that will either work or render your drive truly, finally, really dead. This will totally and finally kill any part of data that is not already damaged.

2.  Physically test the drive. Hold the drive in one hand and firmly spin it back and forth, listening for any noises as you do so. This may seem like "not doing anything" but actually if anything is loose, you may cause it to break!!! If you can't hear any noises, a likely cause—especially if you have an older drive, or one which ran very hot to the touch—is a seized head bearing or spindle. The following steps can be considered: If you open up the drive you are likely to kill whatever was still able to be saved.
 

3. Warm it up. Pre-heat a domestic oven at its lowest setting for five minutes or so, then turn it off. Place the drive in the oven for 2-5 mins, until it's warmed up. Please note that warming it up -- whether it has already crashed or not -- can and will make it die.

• Remove the drive and repeat the first step. If you still can't hear any noises, go on to the next step. However, if there is a difference, reattach the drive to your computer and listen for spin-up of the drive and normal clicking that indicates head activity. If all seems well so far, try to access the drive, and move your data onto a good drive.

• If needed, reheat the device and, whilst holding the drive in one hand, sharply spin and hit the drive on a hard surface. This is drastic of course, but may help free the heads from any binding. If anything was still alive on your hard drive, it will now be totally and finally dead.

• Repeat the first step. Can you hear head movement now? If yes, re-attach the drive to your computer, and try accessing the drive.

• If you can hear a rhythmic "click" in time with the movement, the chances are that the drive heads are free on their mounts and are not jammed. Check that you don't hear any rattling noises when you rotate the drive gently (back and forth) through 90 degrees. This would indicate loose and disconnected components inside the drive and are beyond the scope or intent of this article.

 4. Chill it down. Another option—a controversial one—is freezing the drive. This is a last-ditch effort, and you may only get the drive back long enough to copy off important files, but if all else fails, it's worth a try.

• Seal the drive in a zip-lock bag, and remove as much air as possible. Pop the drive into the freezer for a few hours.

• Plug the drive back into the computer, and give it a try. If it doesn't work immediately, power down, remove the drive, then smack it on a hard surface such as a table or floor. Re-attach the drive, and try again. If it works, save your files, then toss the drive. If it doesn't, your drive will now be beyond all methods of professional help!!

 Part 4 of 4: Professional Repair

1. Get recommendations. There are many companies out there that will offer to repair your drive for a (not so small) fee. Before plunking down any cash, check their credentials. Look at online user forums, talk to them, and find out how long they've been in business and what there recovery percentage is.

• Check their guarantee, and how much they charge for both success (which you will gladly pay for) or for failure. How much is it worth to you for them to make a failed attempt.

• You may not want to pay for a recovery that didn't happen, but if they attempted repair and if failed, they still spent some amount of time trying, which should be compensated.