Unseize HDD

[Joygasm]

My 120G WD drive(don't remember exact model) seized on me, and well, contains some junk I'd like back Is there a way to get it to work, for even like 5 minutes? Someone told me to try to spin all the platters at once and it might work? I figure it's a trashed drive as-is so if anyone has a solution, that'd be great. Like I said, only needs to function for like 10 minutes, if that.

[Darksat]

Defcon had the same problem a while back, stuck it in the freezer for 24 hours and it started working for him again.
http://geeksaresexy.blogspot.com/2006/01/freeze-your-hard-drive-to-recover-data.html
Not saying it will work, or even to try it but it might be worth a shot.
Its normally heat that causes problems for drives so logically freezing the drive might temporarily fix it again.
Just remember to stick it in a ZipLock Bag first.

[Joygasm]

Going to have to try that when I get home. I got the drive free from a friend because he said it was seized. But when I got home it seemed to work fine for about a month, now I have the ssaammmeee problem I'll post with findings tomorrow(assuming anyone wants to know if it worked )

[Darksat]

Good Luck.
yes I would be interested to see how well it works.
Just make sure not to let any condensation/moisture onto the drive or it might react very badly.
(Water bad, expanding ice worse)

[Joygasm]

I was just notified that you can sometimes bring back a drive if you hook up the power supply but not the IDE cable, hold it in your hand and jerk it quickly clockwise. Repeat a couple of times, it will sometimes release the platters and work for a while. I'll try the freezer first, since that sounds more fun, and less dangerous(IE throwing it into my tv. Go Wii remotes!). If that doesn't work I'll try the latter. We'll see how it works

[Darksat]

Ahh the old jerk your hard drive approach.
just remember to clean up after.

[Joygasm]

Haha. I'll make sure to use my wipe off my keyboard and monitor when I'm finished Don't want to leave any platter matter anywhere

[Defcon 5]

I would say try and jerk the HDD first, if that works you get your data faster .

Freezing worked for me, place it at the bottom upon the ice and place some frozen pee's ontop of it, you will find it freezes it much faster.

I tried 15 mins, it worked for a short time but 24 hours really did it for the HDD.

[Darksat]

And you can always add jerking hardware to your resume then.

Sorry, they just keep comming.

[Joygasm]

Okay, good news-bad news time. The good news, I finally got all that jerking out of my system, and I feel a lot better The bad news, was a no go on both accounts. It's fish food now. Oh well, who needs family photos Thanks for the suggestions guys

[solidghost]

Hmmm....never used the "jerk" hdd method before. Could be useful if in desperation.

[Joygasm]

Yeah, when I get desperate I tend to use the "jerk" method :/ But what can ya do ya know? :p

[Joygasm]

*UPDATE!*
Although I didn't fix the drive, lastnight I decided to make a shopping trip to fry's (http://outpost.com) and bought me a new drive for $180. Don't think I'll be worrying about that 100g anymore

joygasm@famine ~: df
/dev/hda5              29G   23G  5.8G  80% /
/dev/hda1              48G   46G  1.2G  98% /XXX/XXXXX
/dev/hdb1             190G  169G   22G  89%/XXX/XXXXX
/dev/sda1             699G   33M  699G   1% /XXXXXXX               <----- My new drive

Now, to get rid of my windows partition, that'll free up another 48.
On a side note, does anyone know how to create an LVM easily? PM me if ya do.

[Defcon 5]

get rid of that windows partition, scap it asap!

how to links at bottom of this link.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logical_Volume_Manager_(Linux)

[Joygasm]

OMFG! My hdd with my filesystem on it is f'ing clicking now >.< Stalls every 20 seconds. Guess it's time to backup, and get rid of that drive :/ Oh well, got a good 7 years out of it.