Hmm, this is a tough one. (Unfortunately, I've lost my share of data in similar ways and have never been able to recover any of it)

Your computer doesn't detect the drive at all no matter what you do? (In other words there aren't just bad sectors on the drive, a corrupted file system, etc?) Does your BIOS (CMOS setup) recognize the drive exists?

Unfortunately, spare of extracting the contents of the drive via Borg implants (from Star Trek), I'm not sure I can think of any ways you can regain lost data if your computer simply can't recognize the drive at all.

In other words, there are programs out there that will let you regain lost data that's been lost due to being accidently deleted, formatted over, corrupted, etc. But if the problem is the hardware, itself, and there's just no way to even see the drive, I'm coming up short trying to think of ways to get at that data that's on it.

Perhaps someone else might have any ideas for poor motus_fames?

Well, there are answers, depending on how much you want to pay. I've seen services that will recover dead drives.

Check around on google. Some keywords, hard drive recovery service.

found a bunch of search results from altavista.com using the quoted phrase "data recovery software"

...my twin bro lost a drive by removing a compression file - "rocket.bin" thinking it was some sort of game that i had loaded on his system that i no longer used - whooops!!! its been a long time since that incident but i'll see if he recalls what it was. not sure if any s/w is going to help retrieve your info since it seems like its a hardware issue anyway. that being the case you would almost certainly need the services of data recovery company - which can be VERY, VERY expensive.

The drive has been in three different computers. None recognise it.
I do not believe there are bad sectors or a corrupt file system either.
The BIOS/CMOS does not recognise it.
I am confident that the hardware itself is the problem.
I am not sure of the correct terminology of the piece that is broken. The guy I go to for tech help says he has seen it before and has heard of it happening, especially with the IBM Desk Stars.
Although I can’t tell by looking, the pcb may be damaged. I have another drive exactly the same and was thinking about putting the known working one onto the damaged one. This of course is a risk if the problem is internal. I may end up with two useless drives.
As for expence!!!
OMFG!
Yes.. Very much so.
One Brisbane based company have quoted $375.00 before they even look at it then depending on amount of data = $3-5,000.00 (that’s aussie dollar) and no guarantees for success.
There’s gotta be an easier and less costly way.
Thanks guys.

Unfortunately, there is not an easier, less costly way. If you want that data, you have to be prepared to pay for it.

On top of that, when you do send it off to get recovered, they are going to open up the case and remove the platters, thereby voiding your warranty from IBM.

Do you REALLY need what is on the drive?

If you are able to locate another identical drive (ebay maybe?) that is operational, you can try to swap the electronics from the good one over to the bad one amd see if you can get it to work so that you can get your data. This would work as long as there is no damage to the platters or heads internally.

actually.. pm me the model number of the drive.. i have a few laying around that i will eventually ship back to ibm.. some of them have dents in the case so i cant RMA them, if one of them matches your p/n i can get the electronics for 5 dolla plus shipping

There are large no of data recovery software at www.snapshot.com but I could not open the file after recovery. You may also vist and download those software and if worked pl mail me at kehar2005@gmail.com.
I could restore the recoverd file in a destination folder but from there every time I try to open the file message saying -the document name or path is not valid comes which I could not understand.

Kehar