Going back to my discussion about different bargain hunting strategies, here is a good chance to test if you are up to this kind of adventure.
To get the quoted prices you have to apply all your bargain hunting skills: MIR, PM, AR and yes — as always in such case, it will be YMMV. ;-)
- Maxtor 200GB Ultra/ATA 133 Hard Drive for $9.99 (free shipping)
What do you need to do?
- Buy it from OfficeDepot for $109.99
- Price match to Frys at $59.99
- And then file this $50 mail-in rebate
More details from FatWallet
- Ultra 512MB PC3200 DDR CL3 Memory for $17 (includes $7 shipping)
- Buy it from TigerDirect for $79.99
- File one mail-in rebate $30 (expires 11/30)
- File another rebate for $40 (expires 11/15)
Relevant discussion at SlickDeals forums
Hi. I have two 40GB Maxtor 34098H4 hard drives, one of which died completely three months ago. The BIOs will not recognize it and it will not spin when my computer is powered up. The dead drive does not make any noise. After doing some research, I found two seemingly possible methods of getting a dead drive to spin which each have supporters and detractors. The two methods are possible alternatives (To those who cannot afford it) to paying thousands of dollars to a professional firm with a sealed clean room to recover data. The first method involves finding the same model hard drive as the dead one with the exact PCB (Printed Circuit Board) and then swapping the PCB from the good drive into the dead one to make it spin. The second method involves putting the dead drive into a Ziplock storage bag and putting it into the freezer overnight and then taking the drive out and pray that the hard drive will spin. I wanted to try the first method but after examining my good hard drive, which is of the same size and model as the dead one, I found that the PCBs are slightly different. So, the first method will not work for me (I don’t have the time and resources to try to find an exact PCB for the dead drive). I was wondering, would the second method work? Many people have claimed that the second method works and others have claimed that it would end up damaging the drive heads or platters even further. In your experience, have you tried the second method and what is the success rate for making the hard drive spin again so that data can be recovered? I just want to recover some old pictures and music from my dead drive. Any assistance you can offer is greatly appreciated. Thanks!