Upgrading i-river H10 (20gig) from a dead HD

[nicoma]

Hi. I have an I-river H10 20gig player that lived a very short life (I think the HD drive died when I unplugged at after upgrading the firmware, I unplugged it right when the message saying it was ok to disconnect appeared, but it must have been too early because it died right then and has been unresponsive ever since). I've kept it sitting around for a couple years and am now debating ordering the Toshiba MK1214GAH to see if I can get it working again. From what i gather though, I would need to back up files and format this new drive. What do I do if my current player is unresponsive? I can't back anything up. Will the new hard drive work if I manage to get it in the old player? Do I need special tools for this?

Thank you! 

[bluebrother]

What do I do if my current player is unresponsive? I can't back anything up. Will the new hard drive work if I manage to get it in the old player? Do I need special tools for this?

Are you sure it's actually a dead HDD? The player should power up at least. If not I suspect something else, probably a bad flash, for which you need special tools to recover from. What does happen if you plug the player to power and try to turn it on?

[nicoma]

Thanks for your reply. I am not sure what is wrong exactly, but it is totally dead. I can't turn it on, even if I keep it plugged in and charged.