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3rd Opinion Needed - Data Recovery

1K views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  Networks 
#1 ·
Hi everyone – I’m hoping someone can offer some advice on this…

I have a Western Digital 500GB MyBook Essential external hard drive that I purchased about 5 years ago. The drive stopped working one day-- quite shocking because I used it sparingly. None the less, the data on it is irreplaceable.

I have sent it to both OnTrack and DriveSavers and they have both told me the same thing – the firmware located in the "negative" cylinders on the platter is corrupt – therefore they are unable to read anything off the drive. They exhausted all of their methods in trying to repair the firmware.
Other than that, there is no visible platter damage, the read/write heads work, and the logic board works as well. It’s a communication issue, they say.

In theory, the data is still there on the drive (assuming no media damage), they just can't get all the parts to talk to each other in the right way to get to it.

My question is this – am I at the end of the road here? I have seen other companies online that advertise that they can fix this particular firmware problem – but from what I have been told, if DriveSavers or OnTrack can’t fix it, no one can. Is this true, or has anyone else out there seen this problem and know where I can turn to for help? Do other companies really have different “methods” that work, or do they all essentially have the same technology?

Thanks for your help!
 
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#2 ·
Does On track use clean rooms? if they do the question is; why not swap the platters into a hard drive chassis that has the same firm ware as the old drive?

Or even reload the hard drives firmware
 
#3 ·
I asked them that - they said remounting the platters would do no good since the "firmware" on the platters themselves is the issue, not the other drive components. (To be sure, they replaced the components with exact duplicates)

They said they tried fixing the firmware on the platters it but no dice...
 
#4 ·
It could be the SA area on the platter itself is so damaged the bad area's ie sectors can't be read or re-written to the SA track area thus the issue you have. Swapping platters is only done as a last resort and when motor failure is the issue ie platters can't spin. You may want to call Data Savers, LLC - Inexpensive Hard Drive Recovery - Atlanta, GA in Atlanta Ga they are WD authorized warranty repair ( I know drive is out of warranty ) They are good and offer free diagnosis. Some of the big shops wont spend the time to do the hard jobs they want the easy low hanging fruit if you catch my drift. Many years back I have had many drives returned from one of the vendors you mentioned which were sent to shop #2 and recovered just sayin. I rarely have to outsource any drives these days. Best of luck let us know how it turns out just so others know it helps others make same type decisions.
 
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