difficult drives are fragile as well as dependable all at once. It’s completely possible to have a difficult drive fail, even if your data is still in perfect condition on the magnetic platters inside. [Keith Sherry] was just recently trying to recuperate data for a buddy off a damaged difficult drive, as well as demonstrated that contemporary twists on old techniques can still work.

The drive in concern was an old 160GB disk that itself was being utilized as a backup. Of course, a backup you haven’t tested is no backup at all, as well as this failed in the hour it was most needed.

The suspicion was that the controller board was the culprit, as well as that swapping the board out may bring things back to life. Back in the day, this was a typical hacker trick. However, it frequently stops working with contemporary drives, which store a fantastic offer of drive-specific calibration data on the controller board. Without this specific data, one more controller will be not able to gain access to the data on the drive, as well as might even cause damage.

However, as [Keith] demonstrates, there is a method around this. A controller from a similar drive was sourced, albeit from a SATA version of the drive versus the original which utilized USB. A single chip is then eliminated from the original controller, containing the calibration data specific to that drive. Soldering this chip onto the new controller got whatever up as well as running, as well as the data might be recovered.

If your data is invaluable, it’s likely worth paying a professional. As [Keith] demonstrates though, the old techniques can still are available in handy as long as your methods are as much as date. DIYing your own data healing can be done, it’s just risky is all.

Oh, as well as don’t fail to remember — when you’ve recuperated the files, throw the drive away. Don’t keep utilizing it! video after the break.

[Thanks to Amy for the tip!]