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Date:      Sun, 17 Sep 2017 21:43:21 +0200
From:      Polytropon <freebsd@edvax.de>
To:        FreeBSD Questions <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>
Subject:   Disk not spinning up
Message-ID:  <20170917214321.8fd2157b.freebsd@edvax.de>

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This is more a hardware question than a FreeBSD question, but
as FreeBSD is involved, I think it's worth being asked here
due to the experienced, intelligent, creative and (in an
entirely positive sense) "unusual" participants on this list.

I have a harddisk Quantum Fireball with ca. 1 GB capacity
(yes, that's GB, not TB). It's a (P)ATA / "IDE" disk with
a 40 pin connector for a flat cable, configured as master.

The disk has been in use in a system that I built around 1995
and which I occasionaly used over the years. The last system
activation was yesterday. Today, the disk just didn't spin up
again.

After extracting the disk from the system and using my fine
"forensics adaptor" to power it, it made short cranking sounds
(ca. 1 per second) and short beeps from time to time, then went
silent. I can repeat this.

Now I probably did something stupid, but a radio amateur friend
had success with this approach on a 40 MB disk (yes, that's MB,
not GB). I _opened_ the disk (with gloves, face mask and cap,
just to minimize the dust falling from my head into the disk)
and saw the central motor "rotate" clockwise and counterclockwise
for less than 1/4 rotation. I tried to "help" the disk spin up
as you can imagine, but it would not do so.

My question:

Had anyone had success getting such a disk work again? Is it
worth searching my "museum" for a replacement controller? Or
does it look more like a motor failure than a controller failure?

I can read the disk with my "forensics adapter" like this (tested
with the other 1.2 GB disk from the same system):

	$ sudo mount -t msdosfs -o ro /dev/da3s1 /mnt

That's the FreeBSD-related part in this question. But of course,
a disk not spinning up won't be recognized by the system. I'd like
to at least access the disk once to copy as much as I can.

Are there any ideas, options, chances, suggestions or experiments
other than "throw it out of the window"? :-)



-- 
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...



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