External HD failure

**Partyball** · 10-29-13, 10:55 AM

I would not attempt anything if you do not know what you are doing. How much are they worth to you? Is it worth the money to hire someone to get the data back? Only you can decide that.

Your an FF right? Don't have any LEO buddies in the IT department that might be able to help you out on the side?

I do the same process essentially but for a totally different purpose( lets just say it isn't good for you if I receive your hard drive).

**Partyball** · 10-29-13, 10:58 AM

Originally Posted by Phyrelight

Yea the university had to send out a drive 8 years ago and it had sensitive data on it so we could only use a certified recovery service and it was just under 10k for the recovery.

Back 5+ years ago, most would charge a 1k diagnostic fee just too look at a bad drive. This is why back-ups are so important. If you care about losing the data, you HAVE to back it up. I don't know why that has to be pounded into people's heads. Guess they don't understand it until it is gone.

**Kanati** · 10-29-13, 11:02 AM

Originally Posted by Partyball

I would not attempt anything if you do not know what you are doing. How much are they worth to you? Is it worth the money to hire someone to get the data back? Only you can decide that.

Your an FF right? Don't have any LEO buddies in the IT department that might be able to help you out on the side?

I do the same process essentially but for a totally different purpose( lets just say it isn't good for you if I receive your hard drive).

You in forensics data recovery?

Thermite FTW.

**Partyball** · 10-29-13, 11:25 AM

Originally Posted by Kanati8869

You in forensics data recovery?

Thermite FTW.

Of a sort. My title is very broad and I do many things. Just like the saying "Jack of all trades, Master of none" I know enough of just about everything to get things done. But, I wouldn't call me an expert in any of it. It works well for the small city I work for. An IT staff totaling 2 people. My self included in that number. We do anything and everything. If power runs through it, we manage it and fix it. From City Hall to the PD. From the mag locks, the cameras, A/V equipment, servers, desktops, phones, wires, digging the ditches to run the cables, websites, user support, etc. I could go on and on.

Oh, I am also one of 3 licensed water treatment plant operators here. I do that from time to time. We are a self serve bunch. We set up everything our selves. From the Scada system to the radio telemetry and even laying the water mains to general repairs and additions.

Like I said, know a little about everything. I guess that makes me dangerous.

**Gunny** · 10-29-13, 01:03 PM

I know my way around hardware but have never opened a hard drive. This one was brought to me to try and recover the data, I too am a jack of all trades and master of none around the Fire House. I have already told him that the drive is not salvageable unless he takes it to a data recovery center which could cost him up to 1k.
He just wants all the pictures off the hdd and this was his backup but he lost both the back up and main hdd to a power surge in the house one nite during a thunder storm. At least this is what he tells me. I am thinking the hdd was already starting to show signs of failing and he never recognized it.

Thanks for the input, I will see what he wants to do, it may be my chance to try my hand at opening one and seeing if I can do anything with it.

**Partyball** · 10-29-13, 01:13 PM

Good luck. Be sure to take the correct precautions. ESD, dust, and the like. If you are dead set on opening it up, I would start on an old one to get a feel for how it comes apart and whatnot.

**Kanati** · 10-29-13, 01:51 PM

There's youtube videos out there as well that you can watch to see how it occurs.

Keep in mind that the screws on the drive casing are torqued to a specific setting. If they are torqued too much it can cause it to sit there and click. Set the torque right and it may work fine. Ask him if he already tried his hand at removing the top of the drive.

**Phyrelight** · 10-30-13, 10:47 AM

I have torn many apart, its not that hard if you have the proper tools. Be careful of the magnets, they are powerful enough that if you get a digit caught between them and they slap shut on it you will be bleeding.

Attachment 11698

This is my all mighty screw finder.....its made from HD magnets tapped to a cardboard handle. I am always dropping small screws and what not under my desk. This finds them all with a single swipe of my wand.

Keep this in mind, I tore them apart to destroy the platters due to the drives having sensitive data on them. Now we DOD wipe them or send them to the engineering building to be shredded in their industrial shredder.

If you take it apart you will not be able to put it back together without the proper torque tools and settings from the manufacture. You will also NOT be able to pull data off the platters without a specialized machine to spin them up and read them (laser). So if you are opening it in hopes of getting data off it, it doesn't work that way unless you have a machine to read the platters

**WileECyte** · 10-30-13, 10:50 AM

That's not true Phyre... It's possible to pull the platters, swap out the heads with an identical drive, and put it all back together. There's a lot of FUD out there about hard drives put out there by both the manufacturers and the recovery companies.

That being said, it's definitely not for the lighthearted. If you're not careful how you remove the heads... you can scratch the platters and there goes your data.

**Phyrelight** · 10-30-13, 10:54 AM

True, in that case putting the platters into a different HD enclosure and screwing things back down falls under the having the proper tools and torque settings. I said he can't get the data directly off the platter without a machine to read them. In this case the machine to read them is a different HD. That only holds true if its the header that is out and not the spinners or the laser. Regardless, I want to see him pull the magnets and springs and swap the metal platters and try and get everything to fit back together....its not easy.