So my hard drive died...

I think one of ya asked the type of HD..sorry forgot it in my reply. It's a western Digital 500gb.

Thanks again one an all!

Sirscrapalot - Sending his old hard drive to the great scrap yard in the sky...soon, once recovery has been determined or not.

Originally Posted by Sirscrapalot

I think one of ya asked the type of HD..sorry forgot it in my reply. It's a western Digital 500gb.

Sir, which WD model number is it? It might have fluid dynamic bearings instead of ball bearings.

There are 2 different things you could try, depending on the type of bearings:

(1) Fluid dynamic bearings: Warm up the bearings with a blow dryer. This might free up the spindle long enough for you to copy your data onto another drive.

(2) Ball bearings: Put the drive in your freezer for 2-3 hours. The metal might contract enough for you to be able to operate the drive long enough to copy your data, but this "fix" won't last long, since the drive heats up fast once it starts spinning. So you'll have to work fast to grab your data. Another risk with this is that if there's any moisture and dust particles inside the drive, the water will condense around the dust and could land on the platter. That could cause a head crash.

Aside from those 2 things, the only other way I know of to fix a seized spindle involves opening up the hard drive. That really should only be done in a cleanroom, which means you would have to give it to a data recovery service, and that is expensive. (>.<)