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A while back my HDD on my laptop stopped working. It is not recognized by the Windows nor the BIOS.

I have tried an external drive and its not seen by it either.

Is the drive's data essentially history?

I replaced the drive and that works fine.

ænon1mus
2010-03-20 20:38:00
OK this may seem like an old question but it looks unresolved to me. Ed, your laptop's hard disk seem to have died due to a hardware malfunction. The question is, does it spin up?A dirty trick I tried a while back when my laptop's hard disk died was the freezer trick. Put your hard disk into a plastic bag and leave it in the freezer overnight (or longer if you wish). Take it out and leave it to thaw. Then when it's at room temperature, try accessing the hard disk via an external enclosure. If it doesn't work, then well, at least you tried.The logic behind the freezer trick is pretty simple: the cold contracts any part of the hard disk which may have jammed and puts lets it slowly fall back into place. When it's thawed, everything's back in order but you may not want to use the hard disk after you've claimed the data since the hardware defect may arise again.Originally taken from: http://lifehacker.com/170257/macgyver-tip--save-your-hard-drive-in-the-freezer
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baqrleybob
2011-04-01 10:50:00
hii know this post is old but could you tell me if itwould be ok to wrap the hard drive in clingfilmto maybe help with condensation issues
ænon1mus
2010-03-20 20:38:00
And here as well: http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2006/04/how-to-recover-data-from-hard-drive.html
Tech Support Guy
2010-02-04 10:40:00
Does the drive spin up? have you checked the jumper settings on the drive?have you tried connecting it to another pc and see if it works?
ed
2010-02-06 20:15:00
I am not sure which Jumper settings to change, can you advise?
Tech Support Guy
2010-02-06 22:24:00
Well look at the jumper side. You should see some marks like MS, SL, and CS..MS = MasterSL = SlaveCS= Cable SelectSet it to Master...
Tina
2010-02-02 14:23:00
Ed,you say that you tried an external drive. Since you also say that your BIOS / computer works fine with a new drive, I suppose you tried to hook up your old drive, the one that is not recognized, as external drive via USB. Is that correct?Does the drive still do anything when you hook it up as external drive?Is there more information you could add?
Ed
2010-02-06 20:13:00
Tina,No it not seen in at all, when I put in an externall drive. Is there a setting I might need to change or a jumper?