Dead hard drive...put it in the freezer?

[Veritas&Equitas]

So, my mom's Macbook just conked out yesterday...she said that it got really slow, and then froze. She then turned it off, and when she tried to boot it again, the folder with a question mark showed up on the boot screen.

I took out the hard drive, and tried to boot it up externally, which was not successful. I've also tried Disk Warrior and Data Rescue II, neither of which can recognize the drive. However, it clicks for about 20 seconds when it powers up, then simply goes into a solid state where the drive is up and running, but no longer clicks or anything. So, it would seem that it can still get power, I just don't know why anything can't recognize it?

I've tried the "Freezer Trick" where you put the drive in a plastic ziplock, and try to run it from in the freezer using a long cable to connect it externally to my MBP, but it still won't recognize.

Do you guys have any other ideas of what I should try/do before I just give up? There are some pretty important business files and the like on the drive, and I really don't want to pony up $2k for a data recovery business. Any help would be appreciated...thanks!

P.S. AppleCare ended 8 days ago.

 

[balamw]

Sounds to me like the drive is freely spinning (& thus clicking), so the problem is probably something on the controller board. Ones "simple" thing you can do is swap controllers with a similar drive from the same manufacturer.

B

 

[EricNau]

P.S. AppleCare ended 8 days ago.

Yeah, call Apple about that.

If you are persistent, that may be recent enough to where they can still help you. (For example, was your computer bought over the internet? ...Can you prove to Apple that you didn't receive the computer for at least 8 days after the purchase date?)

That wouldn't help you get your data back (that's what backups are for), but you may be able to get the necessary repairs.

 

[balamw]

Yeah, I agree that Apple should be contacted, but Applecare won't recover the data either.

b. Limitations The Plan does not cover:
(xi) Damage to, or loss of any software or data residing or recorded in the Covered Equipment. When providing repair or replacement service, Apple will use reasonable efforts to reinstall the Covered Equipment’s original software configuration and subsequent update releases, but will not provide any recovery or transfer of software or data contained on the serviced unit not originally included in the Covered Equipment.

B

 

[hayduke]

Hmm. Well the obvious thing is to just boot from your back-up drive and clone it to a new internal drive. You do have a back-up drive, right? They're a *LOT* cheaper than data recovery services.

Sorry if that sounds pissy, but I'm still flummoxed by folks without a decent back-up plan. Sorry I don't have better *real* advice.

 

[Veritas&Equitas]

Hmm. Well the obvious thing is to just boot from your back-up drive and clone it to a new internal drive. You do have a back-up drive, right? They're a *LOT* cheaper than data recovery services.

Sorry if that sounds pissy, but I'm still flummoxed by folks without a decent back-up plan. Sorry I don't have better *real* advice.

Yeah, that doesn't help, but thanks anyways. Sorry I can't get my mom to back up her data to an external every week or so, she's too busy trying to open Safari. Sorry if that sounds pissy, but I'm flummoxed by people who chide others like children about something that has already happened (I personally do have back-up drives, thanks). I mean seriously, nearly every single hardware forum has someone who jumps on the train chiding about a lack of a back-up drive. Hers is backed-up from when I transferred her info from her PC to the new Mac about a 2 months ago, but I haven't been at home to back it up recently. Was your point meant to be a lesson? Thanks, got it, I'll relay it to her.

Anyway, thanks to everyone else who has honestly tried to help, I really do appreciate it. I'll try contacting Apple, and it's a Fujitsu drive, so thanks Balamw, I'll try to find one and maybe switch the board? Is that the next step you think?