WTF: Western Digital Drive Goes Bust?

MGP · Post by **MGP** » Mon Oct 27, 2003 9:46 am

While I was conveniently working on my paper due this Friday on my "loud/annoying rig"

, I noticed that my HD suddenly started making on/off whining noises as if it was shutting off and powering back up (like going in and out of sleep mode). I foolishly ignored the sounds as Windows was still up and continued to browse the Net...and then, suddenly, FREEZE! I rebooted and now Windows can't get fully past the Windows XP loading screen without a blue screen showing up, claiming that there's something wrong with my boot volume!!! Can anyone help? I need my files!!! ARGH!!!

MGP · Post by **MGP** » Mon Oct 27, 2003 9:53 am

BTW, if it helps, here's the main specs for my "loud/annoying rig:"

1.4GHz AMD Athlon Thunderbird
60mm Thermaltake Volcano 6 Cu
FIC AD11 Mobo (AMD 761 northbridge 266MHz FSB)
256 MB Crucial DDR2100 (1 DIMM)
Enermax "Whisper" 431Watt PSU
Western Digital WD1200JB 120GB w/ 8mb cache 7200RPM
Gainward GeForce 4 Ti 4600 w/ Zalman ZM80A-HP (5V NMB 92mm fan in side panel blowhole mod)
16X Pioneer DVD
40X12X48 CD-RW
60mm Panaflo Rear exhaust fan @ 12V
2 80mm Vantec Stealth Fans @ 12V

ez2remember · Post by **ez2remember** » Mon Oct 27, 2003 10:09 am

Press F8 just before you see the windows XP bootup logo. Select safe mode see if it boots up. If it does, copy/backup files you need.

MGP · Post by **MGP** » Mon Oct 27, 2003 10:58 am

The system can't even boot into safe mode.

lenny · Post by **lenny** » Mon Oct 27, 2003 11:15 am

At this stage your only option appears to be to boot from another device (or connect the WD to another machine as slave drive) and copy out as many files as you can. Since your machine can still see the drive, and access some of the files (or you wouldn't have been able to see the XP boot screen) hopefully all is not lost. Good luck.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Mon Oct 27, 2003 1:29 pm

An old trick is to put the drive into the freezer (inside an anti-static bag + ziplock bag) for a while, then take the drive out and quickly start copying files off of it. When it starts messing up again, put it back into the freezer for another go-round. Repeat as necessary.

ez2remember · Post by **ez2remember** » Mon Oct 27, 2003 3:01 pm

Ralf Hutter wrote:An old trick is to put the drive into the freezer (inside an anti-static bag + ziplock bag) for a while, then take the drive out and quickly start copying files off of it. When it starts messing up again, put it back into the freezer for another go-round. Repeat as necessary.

LOL, I use to do this with an ancient external CDROM drive that could not read any discs. I stuck both the CD and CDROM in the fridge and for some strange reason it could actually read from it, for a while until it warmed up again.

tonsil · Post by **tonsil** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 9:10 am

I've had 2 WDs breaking on me. They started to work if turned upside down though, for a while anyway :)

flip it over and see if it starts to spin!

MGP · Post by **MGP** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 9:05 am

Look's like I'm going to have to rummage through my sales receipts to see if my drive is still under warranty.

Man, I will miss all of that data.