[wplug] Hard drive recovery

[me at harkyman.com]

My success rate with freezing a drive has been only 2 out 4.

If the electronics are dead and you think the platters are fine, you can attempt to an identical drive, usually off of eBay. It would have to be the same lot number as your dead drive, not just the same model #. The HD manufacturers make a lot of different stuff under the same model #.

If you can find one, your last ditch attempt is to remove the platters from the new drive and replace them with the platters from your dead drive. Close it up. Ideally, you'd want a dust-free room to do this in, but I'm sure where you'll find one of those around here.

This might void the warranty. ;)

NOTE that I have not personally attempted this last method.

Roland Hess