WD Cavair 120Gb IDE problems

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by sparky1888, Nov 15, 2007.

  1. sparky1888

    sparky1888 Byte Poster

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    Hi Guys,

    just a quick query....

    i experienced a power cut a few nights ago , and since, my main back up drive doesnt detect!

    i have done the following:

    Tried it in a kg system = no detect in bios(i have reset this as it does a manual IDE config = same)
    Tried it as a slave in KG system = same:
    tried it on the other IDE channel as master/slave(with master present) = same:

    i am at my wits end, it has a lot of photos etc on it:

    when it is powered it is spinning, as i can just about feel the vibration(it is known to be a quiet drive)...so i know somethings going on......

    Any ideas would be great

    thanks

    Mark

    i am gonna download the util from WD Data Lifeguard tools
     
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  2. hbroomhall

    hbroomhall Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    It sounds as if the drive electronics has gone.

    One *possible* way of dealing is to get an *identical* (but working) drive, and swap the board.

    Otherwise it is a case of sending it to a recovery place.

    Harry.
     
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  3. sparky1888

    sparky1888 Byte Poster

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    Hi Harry,

    after looking on the net i came across this site http://www.deadharddrive.com/ ....SO, i have found a place on ebay that stocks the same.....

    WATCH THIS SPACE!!:twisted:
     
    Certifications: Cerco's CCSN A+ DCSE
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  4. Neil

    Neil Byte Poster

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    Before buying anything, use a working HDD (or borrow one from a buddy) and boot from that. Once that works, shut down and connect your HDD as slave and reboot. If your drive is still alive (and you're really darn lucky) you would see it appear in My Computer. Once it appears, just COPY ALL your important stuff to the other drive. Remember, your data is more expensive than your drive!

    That happened to me the other day on one of my Dell systems. The BIOS didn't detect any boot device despite everything I tried. So I attached and booted off one of my good drives and then attached the original drive as slave. I saw that it showed up in My Computer and I just used the window of opportunity and copied everything I saw!!! Now I have my data safe and sound, and I haven't even tried to format the drive since then. Thanks for reminding me, I gotta check out that drive early in the morning.....

    Lemme know if this helps. When I troubleshoot the drive, I'll let you guys know if its workable or not.
     
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  5. Neil

    Neil Byte Poster

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    Coincidentally, my drive also happened to be WD also! Its a 40GB one though. I forgot to ask if you tried using your XP cd at the boot screen. Just pop your XP cd in and boot from it. The blue screen will come up where it loads a bunch of drivers.

    TIP: You'll be amazed by how many boot problems you could fix by just doing that!

    But if after doing that and your drive still isn't recognised (like mine) then follow the steps in my last post and update us on the results. Good luck mate!
     
    Certifications: CompTIA A+ & Network+
    WIP: MCSA: 70-270
  6. Mathematix

    Mathematix Megabyte Poster

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