So as of 10-22-2009, here lies my Hitachi 320GB Notebook Hard drive. All my blends, all my files…gone. Even the commercial I was working on for some people. They won’t be too happy but at least I still have the footage.
So for everyone who’s lost a hard drive, and everything, feel free to mourn your lost drives.
Have you tried the ol’ freezer trick yet? I did it recently and was able to save every single file.
This is a prime example of why one ought to back-up frequently. I have made some copies of family photos on a cd . . . and the rest of the files like my blender files, age of empires and so one can be safely left to my trustworthy hard drive . . . argh wait I’m off to back these up right now!!! (-:
Ha, I bet you play the forum games here more than play AOE and use Blender combined.
And I know what you’re going to say, ‘Good spotting’ which is also like saying.‘I just failed the turing test again’
I recently had my files backed up, so I should almost be safe.
i thought i was gonna see a reference to this site when i entered the thread http://timecapsuledead.org/
what’s that?
Probably put the ol’ computer in the ol’ freezer.
That’s sad but just because your drive doesn’t work anymore that doesn’t mean your data isn’t still on it. Unless you dropped or bumped your computer while it was running, that could permanently damage the hard disks. Even if your data is deleted it may still be recovered. Just do some searches, there are professionals and companies that can also help if necessary.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/how_to/4294038.html
mine went the way of the dodo bird about 2 months ago
@PhilB maybe its cheaper where you are but you should see what gets charged here for data recovery
The ol’ freezer trick is when you put the hard drive in the freezer for a few hours. Once it’s good and cold, take it out, hook it back up (preferably in an external enclosure) and see if it works. If it does, you may be able to salvage at least some of your files before it seizes up again. I’m not joking. If you search the internet you will find more information about this, and I am among those who have done this and succeeded.
As far as kbot is concerned, I’m guessing that he’s a strong advocate of backup mainly because his consciousness is stored in some sort of blade server and backups keep him assured of his continued existence. Don’t forget to keep some off-site copies!
Yes, even tried the freezer trick before I even posted. There is something wrong with the drive itself as it freezes the computer upon start up on the bios screen. insert heavy sigh Most of the files were not necessary enough to pay money to get back. Oh well. At least I have extra drives to use.
if it is freezing on start up use a linux live cd like ubuntu or mepis. that will get you past bios and into an os. from there you can tru to open the drive, and maybe even run diagnostics.
Hopefully you have learnt to create backups 
sincronise the data on any computers you own, and, if possible, set up a SVN server to manage your files.
This, and try it in another computer if possible.
Also you may want to try: http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm
Actually I tried two different Linux boot disks before trying anything else
I know this thread is a little old. But I just ran across this today and thought I would share it.
I hope it helps some.