How to Recover a Seagate Hard Drive
A failed computer hard drive can cause the loss of hours of hard work, irreplaceable family pictures or hundreds of dollars worth of purchased music. Although computer hardware is becoming more reliable, there is still a good chance that a power surge, lightning strike or accidental damage could end the life of your drive. But with any hard drive manufacturer, such as Seagate, there are programs available that will help you recover from data corruption. Hardware failure is more difficult to work with; if the hard drive clicks when it's powered up and does not read, you may be able to use a parts (also known as a donor) hard drive and a clean work space to get the data back.
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Things You'll Need
- Small multi-bit screwdriver
- Small multi-bit Torx driver
- Hard drive adapter
- Recovery software
- Donor hard drive
- Free space for recovered data
Instructions
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Logical Recovery of Corrupt Data
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1
Remove the hard drive from the computer. Remove any mounting brackets or cages from the outside of the drive. Determine the drive type: SATA drives will have two flat connectors on the front, while IDE drives will have two rows of small brass pins. Read the drive's label for more information if necessary; the label will identify the drive type as Serial ATA (SATA) or IDE.
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2
Purchase an external USB hard drive adapter designed for the type of drive you want to recover data from. Connect the adapter's USB cable to a good working desktop or laptop computer. Place the hard drive in the adapter or, depending on the brand of the adapter, connect the cables.
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3
Download or purchase a recovery program such as TestDisk, Handy Recovery, Stellar Phoenix or Ontrack. Use the software to scan the drive in the adapter and recover the data. Attempt hardware recovery if the drive still clicks while being scanned.
Hardware Data Recovery
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4
Purchase a good used donor hard drive of the same make, model and size as the drive that failed. Read your drive's label for information such as the model number. Use only a donor drive that is the same model number.
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5
Test the donor drive to ensure it is functional by placing it in the drive adapter and verifying it shows up and is readable in My Computer. Use a marker to write Good on the new drive housing. Turn the drive upside down and write Good on the controller board. Use the small screwdriver or Torx driver to remove the controller board from the donor drive. Do not touch the contacts and chips on the board if possible.
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6
Turn the failed hard drive over, remove the controller board and set aside. Carefully line up the screw holes to ensure good contact between the board and the drive head connector under it. Install the good controller board on the failed drive and tighten the screws.
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Place the failed drive with the good controller board in the adapter. Verify the drive shows up in My Computer. Explore the drive and verify your data is present, then move your data to a safe location. Rescan the drive with the data recovery software if your data does not show up in Windows Explorer.
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Listen for clicking noises when you place the drive in the adapter; if it still clicks and your data is unreadable with the replacement controller board, contact a professional recovery company. Further disassembly of the hard drive is not recommended for home users.
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Tips & Warnings
Use multiple passes with recovery software to ensure all data is read.
Try different software products; if one doesn't work, another might.
Consider the value of the data on the drive before spending a lot to retrieve it.
Create a clean environment for working with a hard drive.
Work slowly and cautiously when swapping drive parts.
Keep static discharges to a minimum by occasionally touching a grounded object such as a metal lamp base.
Do not reuse a drive after its data has been corrupted; if it failed once, it will probably fail again.
