drive recovery

[Charles Jones]

Technomage Hawke wrote:
> ok guys, I am in immediate need of some help here.
>
> I just had a western digital WD500ks fail on me. it started with some
> filesystem errors about 3 hours ago and after I restarted the machine,
> it failed to be detected in BIOS and makes a loud clack on startup
> (this indicates a possible electronics package failure).
>
> what I need to do is this: I need to get my data off the drive and
> onto a backup.
>
> does anyone happen to have a spare electronics package laying around
> or know of a place here in town that can help me?
>  all my personal data is on this drive.
>
> HELP!!!!!!!
>   
It may sound like snakeoil, but if you get desperate enough, try putting 
the drive in the deep freezer overnight, and then see if it will spin 
up. I've actually had this work in the past when nothing else would. If 
it is indeed the electronics and not mechanical, sometimes a component 
is overheating which you can temporarily relieve with a blast of canned 
air. Once you get it spinning be prepared to do everything you can to 
get the data off.