Dead hard drive

[Drive Blind]

Hi,

I was asked to look at a laptop for a mate. It wont boot cos the hdd isnt recognised at bios level. Tried it in another PC and it was still not recognised.

Is it worth opening up for a look at the heads - maybe stuck heads? - or is it more likely a fault on the pcb? I've heard of swapping pcb's bring a drive back to life.

The fact it's not even recognised at bios level makes me think it's a lost cause.

There are many years of family pics that they havent backed up on the drive.
Its a Hitachi 2.5inch 120Gb sata drive.

Any advice much appreciated

[Drive Blind]

not sure if the platters are spinning - i'll need to hook it up again and listen more closely
definitely making clicking noises

[Drive Blind]

Morningside said:

There is a recovery expert on here but I understand that some require the correct torque on the screws otherwise it warps and will not start up again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CAn22TiVV0

at 2:25 in that video, it sounds the same as that

[Drive Blind]

otherman said:

I wouldn't open it up. Get any dust in there and it's done anyway. When you put it in another machine was that as a boot drive, or just as a secondary? It might just read on a machine that's booting from a good drive.

as a secondary on my own pc.

[Drive Blind]

i did a bit of googling and you tubing last night so I've gained a few ideas if required. Also found a similar dead hitachi drive at work that i took the cover off to see what i'm dealing with.

The ball's now back in my mates court, if he's willing to stump up for a pro to recover his data or if he wants to risk my amateur attempt at it.

I'll let you know how i get on,