External WD My passport for Mac, any risks when recovering data?

[Medianoche]

Hi, a friend had droped her External Western Digital My passport HDD for Mac and the computer could not read the HDD anymore.

I did some research and for the sound I suspected the arm was stocked. Data companies were warning that you will need a lot of expertise and more importantly a lab to prevent air pollution.

We were not prepare to pay any money for it, so I opened the HDD to see what was inside and unblocked the arm.

I sealed everything back, and to my surprise, the data was there.

Now the questions.....

1. should I expect the disk to have catastrophical damage in a mater of hours, days, or it might as well last for months? I mean, I have been through all the information already, if it is still working, does it mean I have fixed it, or is it just a short illusion?
2. I have been able to copy to my computer at least 50% of the data. My friend is telling me that I could corrupt my computer HDD because the failures from the external HDD will be transfer to my own computer HDD... Is that so???

Well, I am sure most of you have already open a HDD and experiment similar problems, I will really apreciate your help.

By the way, they are beautiful inside arent they?!!!

Thanks

 

[Yami]

1. should I expect the disk to have catastrophical damage in a mater of hours, days, or it might as well last for months? I mean, I have been through all the information already, if it is still working, does it mean I have fixed it, or is it just a short illusion?

It is possible you've fixed it, however I wouldn't take the chance if this is important data. Back up everything you want to keep as soon as possible.

2. I have been able to copy to my computer at least 50% of the data. My friend is telling me that I could corrupt my computer HDD because the failures from the external HDD will be transfer to my own computer HDD... Is that so???

No, that doesn't make any sense.

By the way, they are beautiful inside arent they?!!!

SO SHINY! Plus when they completely die the insides make excellent fridge magnets.

 

[Medianoche]

Fridge Magnets! Great idea!

Many thanks

 

[Medianoche]

Hi,

My teacher says that I have been extremely lucky. In fact I think he does not really believe I fixed it. He claims that it was irresponsible to open the HDD (??) Maybe he is just jelous... but seriously, is it that strange to fix a HDD without a lab? I mean do you guys open HDD and fixed them 2 out of 10?? Because if that is the case, it is still pretty good, innit?

 

[Yami]

To be fair I think he's right; you were fairly lucky Or just happened to pick a particularly clean environment to do it in.

 

[Medianoche]

Thanks Yami,

I would not take it personal then.

I thought of putting my notes in here for other who fancy experimenting.

My place is not particularly clean and I even saw dust on the platters. I spinned the drive while open to gently blow away the dust before sealing it back.

I have to say that we have assumed the lost of the data and that I would not have tried should the data been very important.

Information from client


Computer is unable to see the external Hard Drive.
Client informs that the HDD had fallen from a heigh of about a metre. Wooden floor.
HDD was working fine before that.
Client cannot remember if HDD was plugged or unplugged at the time of falling (that would have determined if HDD was on or off)




Inspection:


When connecting the HDD to the computer, the computer fails to identify external Hardware.
Mini USB connector does not seem damage as power light is on.
By the sound, HDD does not seem to be spinning. There is no clicking noise, but 5 long beeps.
The following website helps identifying the problem:
Western Digital WD Data Recovery - Datacent


Problem Spindle seizure. Arm is stocked and cannot read the data.


HDD needs to be open in a 100% clean environment, client is not prepare to pay any money to data recovery companies, client instructs that I can disposed of HDD as I pleased.


I Proceed to open the HDD and force the arm into its position.
When I sealed the HDD the data was back.
I managed to recover 377GB out of 460GB
Most files were over 600 MB.
HDD is still working fine, but seems to take a long time to open up files, it is probably beginning to fail.
The files that I have not been able to copy do open fine. So I am trying a program to recover the remaining corrupted data.

Thanks for your help