And for my second posting...things that went wrong.

[jpub]

So upon coming back from the trip this weekend, I turn on my computer, and...hangs on boot.

So I try a hard reset, and it comes up. But mail takes about 10 minutes to boot. Then the HD locks and starts making hard clicking sounds.

Yep, HD failure.

Lost quite a bit. I was NOT pleased. Nothing irriplaceable, mostly savegames and the lick, but still, DAMNIT.

I went and installed Vista 32, since it was what I had on hand, and I'll be handing this computer down to my wife in a month when I get a new computer with
Win7 on it. Spent the evening installing stuff on it. JOY.

[Sofaspud]

Something you can try, when you get a replacement HD up and running, I mean, is to stick the dead one in the fridge for an hour or two (tops). Not the
freezer! You don't want to risk condensation. But in the fridge, wrapped in a paper towel to ward off moisture.

Then immediately stick it in the machine on the secondary connection, power on, and see if you have enough time before it dies again to pull your data off.

This doesn't work all the time, but the clicking sound you describe and the slow response time make me think it's either a servo motor or a bearing
that's bit it, and both of those tend to respond well to thermal shock. (For sufficiently loose values of 'well', I should add.)

(Alternatively, if you happen to have some Freeze-It! circuit coolant or similar product, you can give it a good healthy blast with that. But the fridge is
cheaper.

--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs

[Bob Schroeck]

When my last hard drive crashed, the freezer (not the fridge) was the advice I got here, and it worked amazingly well. So it's at least worth a try.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[jpub]

Nope. No worky. I tried that, actually.

[Black Aeronaut]

Meh... I feel your pain. I got a dead drive with some of my old material on it - absolutely irreplaceable! The problem is a bit more interesting: fried chip in
the power sector of the drive's controller card. I've heard this is easily fixed by finding a good drive of same or similar make and model and swapping
out the cards. Haven't tried it yet, though, because A) I haven't had the time and B) I'm kinda leary of frying my drive even worse.

[paladindythe]

The control boards on Hard Drives of the same manufacturer and model are interchangeable, so replacing one is definitely worth a try if the data on the drive
is that important. There's a simple connector where the board hooks into the drive proper.

[Black Aeronaut]

Yeah, definitely worth a look. I'll start looking for similar models. Thanks, paladin.

[jpub]

Be warned that deosn't always work with modern drives. I've seen it work with about 50% success rate.