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I have a 4TB Seagate external drive that stopped working when it was incorrectly ejected from Mac. Since then it won’t appear on Mac or Windows machine except as a drive visible in disc utility (Mac) and drive manager (Windows). I can’t access the drive structure or files at all even with data rescue software.

I opened up the HD to see if the platters were scratched or carbonized (no) and checked the heads were moving ok and parked properly (yes). Yes I probably shouldn’t have opened the HD. Any suggestions about how I can retrieve the data from this without taking it anywhere?

Now it will boot up when given power and USB access but powers down after 10 sec or so.

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  • The minute you opened up the case and exposed the platters to the environment any chance for data recovery was lost. A single partial of dust can damage a HDD platter
    – Ramhound
    Commented Nov 8, 2014 at 11:12
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    -1 for opening the drive. That will now cost you money to try get it professionally recovered, with no guarantees. I hope you have a backup.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Nov 8, 2014 at 13:08
  • Don't downvote because user387916 opened the drive. This is a good and well-written question. People will search the Internet and learn from this.
    – LawrenceC
    Commented Jul 16, 2020 at 15:15

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I opened up the HD to see if the platters were scratched or carbonized (no) and checked the heads were moving ok and parked properly (yes).

You killed it by doing this. HDDs are assembled in clean-room facilities. The head on HDDs float microns above the surface; dust in normal air will make the head crash.

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Any suggestions about how I can retrieve the data from this without taking it anywhere?

No. You will need to take it to a professional data recovery service to get anything off of it. This will likely cost hundreds to thousands of dollars. There is nothing else you can do other than restore from backup. Swapping the board will not work. Cleaning the platters will not work. There is nothing else you can do other than restore from backup.

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  • Upvoted for using bold for "You killed it by doing this." Sadly, user387916 has not returned to the site since asking, so we are doomed to see this question modified by Community ♦ and resurfacing for eternity.
    – Andrew Morton
    Commented Jul 16, 2020 at 16:15
  • Well, strictly speaking the HD is not necessarily "killed" - if there was little dust in the air, it may survive for a while longer. I have read (anectotal) report of people running HDs open (for fun), which did continue working for a short while. But it's definitely a gamble.
    – sleske
    Commented Sep 9, 2020 at 8:23
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The short answer is "No".

The long answer is: It all depends. If you live within striking distance of a large (read: "Capital") city, AND if you have significant amounts of money, then unfortunately you will be able to use the services of a data recovery specialist. How much is your data worth?

What's happened is the platter stack has become mis-aligned with the heads. On modern HDDs this needs only a few microns before you are trying to read two tracks simultaneously. It could be worse, if the shaft is now loose in the bearings the platters will now have an elliptical orbit...

I guess you may have figured already that a format would have done less damage and perhaps been the equivalent of a CPR resuss, but for those who have yet to face this problem: STOP! Doing nothing is a very good idea! Figure out how much the data will cost you, and can you now afford a data recovery specialist?

Gordon.

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