On 09/30/2020 12:03 PM, Simon Matter wrote: >> Since you have taken the disk apart it will now be useless as within the >> enclosure there could have been a vacuum or an inert gas. > From what I know gas filled disks didn't exist in the times when 3X0GB was > on a 2" drive. > >> You will never be able to recover any data on the disk unless you go and >> pay >> for a professional data recovery organisation to read the platters. > No, if he did care that the disks didn't become dirty then the drive > should still work quite well to recover what is on it. Of course the cover > should be put on ASAP. If you don't believe me, just try it our yourself. > >> The price for a replacement 340GByte USB disk is about $25 which would >> give >> you a better product than your old disk. > The OP wanted to recover what is on the disk, not use it as a normal disk. > > Simon > >> Mark >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: H >> Sent: Wednesday, September 30, 2020 4:47 PM >> To: centos at centos.org >> Subject: Re: [CentOS] External harddisk >> >> On 09/30/2020 05:40 AM, John Pierce wrote: >>> On Tue, Sep 29, 2020, 8:33 AM H <agents at meddatainc.com> wrote: >>> >>>> I have an old external harddisk, Toshiba 320 Gb, with a USB connector >>>> that >>>> I wanted to check for contents. It did not start up when connected and >>>> I >>>> could not hear the motor spinning. After leaving it in the freezer >>>> overnight the motor spins but it is not recognized by my computer. I >>>> disassembled it and could see that the head assembly rests outside the >>>> disk >>>> but when it is powered on, the head first moves to the center of the >>>> disk, >>>> then to the periphery and finally back to the resting position. This >>>> happens every few seconds and leaving it connected overnight changed >>>> nothing. >>>> >>> That repeated seeking suggests it's not passing its self test, and is >>> constantly retrying. It's probably searching for servo data on the >>> disks, >>> and not finding it. >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> CentOS mailing list >>> CentOS at centos.org >>> https://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos >> I see. I have not searched for any low-level disk utility from Toshiba, >> the >> manufacturer of the disk. Do you think that might be worthwhile to >> hopefully >> fix this? >> >> _______________________________________________ >> CentOS mailing list >> CentOS at centos.org >> https://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos >> >> _______________________________________________ >> CentOS mailing list >> CentOS at centos.org >> https://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos >> > > _______________________________________________ > CentOS mailing list > CentOS at centos.org > https://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos Simon, you are correct in all the above and I replaced the cover as soon as I had ascertained the movements of the head assembly.