Re: [tlug] Possibility to recover a hard disk by swapping control board

[Zev <zev@example.com>]

On Sep 16, 2011, at 11:17 PM, jep200404@example.com wrote:

> On Fri, 16 Sep 2011 22:51:54 +0900, Zev <zev@example.com> wrote:
> 
>> I then tried to mount the disk by replacing the hard disk in my laptop with it.
>> Cutting out the usb middle man.
>> Alas, it still would not mount or be recognized by the system.
> 
> Did it have a bootable OS on it? 

Yes it did.


> What do you mean by "not ... recognized by the system"? 
> Does the BIOS recognize it? 

Sorry I should have provided more information.

It is for a Mac laptop, so I was not able to easily see the BIOS.
The Mac tools (Disk Utility and the System Profiler) will not show a drive
on the SATA bus.
Also, when I attempted to boot off of this hard disk the Mac would should
the bug folder icon on the screen, which means it could not find an OS to boot.
I then tried to boot up an install disk for Mac OS X and it too would not recognize
that a disk was installed on the laptop.

> 
> First, figure out if you have a hardware problem, 
> or just undesirable data on the hard drive. 
> 
> Boot a live CD, such as but not limited to Knoppix, 
> in a desktop computer (_not_ a laptop), 
> connect the suspect hard drive 
> and run the following command for your hard drive, 
> and post the results. 
> 
>   smartctl -a /dev/foo | tee log
> 
> where foo is sda, sdb ... as appropriate for your hard drive. 

Why not a laptop?
All of my desktop machines at home are old and do not have SATA capabilities, 
so I will have to bring it to work to test this out further.

I could mount it in my laptop again and try the live cd route.
Or is that going to be a waste of time?

Thanks for the advice!
Zev