Help, power problems and the HDD

[Eriol]

Hello,
This was my first and so far only computer build and its about 2.5yrs old.

Here are the symptoms
today it completly shut itself off with no warning, I tried rebooting and it came on for 2minutes before the same thing. Then it wouldnt even power on at all. At first I assumed it was the PSU since nothing came on no fans, no nothing, except for the green mobo light. So I bought a new Antec 500watt psu and the same thing. Trying to get the information off I tried popping my hdd into an external case and that had no power just like the desktop. I then tryed my desktop again without the HDD plugged in and everything came on.
Can I safely assume that this would be the only problem a hdd that went bad? What would cause it to crash like that and not allow anything else to power on. Also, is there anyway to recover the information from this HDD.

Specs:
Mobo: Asus A8n-e
Proc: AMD 4000+
DVD Rom: lite-on
HDD: Baracuda 300GB SATA
GPU: GeForce 7600GT
PSU: Antec 500watt (brand new) Old one was an XClio 4500 watt, both gave the same problem.

thanks for your help

[tmathews]

That would be a pretty convincing sign that the drive is dead. It sounds like one of the supply rails is drawing too much power and the power supply is shutting down to protect itself. You might try a careful visual inspection for anything that looks wrong, especially around the power connector.

If you NEED to recover the data, you're probably looking at a professional service starting at several hundred dollars. Your failure sounds like a motor or controller board problem so at least your data should still be intact. The "freezer trick" (sealing the drive in a plastic bag and putting it in the freezer overnight) might work but also risks further damage if ice forms inside in the wrong place.

If the drive is still under warranty you can get it replaced but Seagate won't recover your data for you.

[Eriol]

I just had it looked at by a computer repair shop and the voltage controller is fried on the HDD and completly unsalvagable. Fortunatly the data wasnt critical and I can reproduce it with a little work. Im sending it back to seagate for a replacement.
Thanks for your help