[mythtv-users] Help with a semi-busted hard drive (with all my recordings)

Brian Wood beww at beww.org
Sun Feb 5 22:43:38 UTC 2006


On Feb 5, 2006, at 2:53 PM, Mike Grusin wrote:

>>> The "traditional" method of getting data off a drive with bad  
>>> control
>>> electronics (and the one most commercial data recovery outfits try
>>> first) is to obtain an identical drive and swap out the control
>>> board. In fact, most commercial recovery companies maintain a
>>> collection of control boards for this purpose.
>
> Quite correct, and if you have the cojones (and an identical good  
> drive),
> this is something you can try at home:
>
> http://www.hackaday.com/entry/1234000840067578/
>
> NOTE that once you open a drive, even if you manage to fix it, its  
> lifetime
> will be effectively gone because of the dust etc. that will get  
> into it (the
> heads fly over the platter at an altitude less than a human hair;  
> every
> piece of dust it hits scratches off the magnetic coating).  If you  
> get the
> drive spinning, IMMEDIATELY copy its contents to yet another drive.

Normally you can replace the electronics without opening the HDA  
(Head/Drive Assembly).

If you need to open the HDA, do it in a Class-1 cleanroom to avoid  
problems :-)


More information about the mythtv-users mailing list