Powerbook G4 HD totally dead

[ni68ana]

Hi, I have a powerbook G4 (pre-intel processor) that a few days ago froze in the middle of work, since then whenever I boot to it I get a grey screen after a few seconds and nothing else.
I tried booting to the installation disk and running repair disk from disk utility, it gave an error and wasn't able to complete. I ran "verify disk" from disk utility, which ran indefinitely, I manually stopped the verification process and it gave the same error as I got when running "repair disk" (unfortunately I didn't write down the specific error but it seems irrelevant at this point considering what is to follow...)
Afterwards I tried running disk rescue II, which doesn't even recognize my internal HD, only the CD it boots from. And now when I go back into disk utility from the installation CD, it doesn't recognize the internal HD anymore either.

Is there anything at all left that I can do myself to recover the data from this thing? Other than paying untold amounts of money for professional recovery...

Thanks in advance.

 

[After G]

You could try sticking the drive in the refrigerator, and attempt to get the data off from it after letting it cool. I imagine opening up the PBG4 to get the drive out would suck though.

Of course if you decide to do this, watch out for condensation as that could destroy any chance you have of getting data off.

 

[OrangeSVTguy]

The freezer trick does work, sometimes.

Time to upgrade that sucker anyways. Replacing a hard drive in a Powerbook is cake, it's the iBooks that were scary(to most people). You can find guides easily online like at www.ifixit.com.

I'd purchase an external enclosure to install too after doing the freezer trick.

 

[airplaneman]

Hi, I have a powerbook G4 (pre-intel processor) that a few days ago froze in the middle of work, since then whenever I boot to it I get a grey screen after a few seconds and nothing else.
I tried booting to the installation disk and running repair disk from disk utility, it gave an error and wasn't able to complete. I ran "verify disk" from disk utility, which ran indefinitely, I manually stopped the verification process and it gave the same error as I got when running "repair disk" (unfortunately I didn't write down the specific error but it seems irrelevant at this point considering what is to follow...)
Afterwards I tried running disk rescue II, which doesn't even recognize my internal HD, only the CD it boots from. And now when I go back into disk utility from the installation CD, it doesn't recognize the internal HD anymore either.

Is there anything at all left that I can do myself to recover the data from this thing? Other than paying untold amounts of money for professional recovery...

Thanks in advance.

Yea, try the freezer trick. Also, PLEASE get an external to backup with Time Machine! That's what the program's for. That way you won't have to go through this again (hopefully). Good luck on getting your files back!