Hard drive data recovery

[TeZREX]

Hi, well my old HD has died a mate who is a bit nerdy tried to get it going with a different board it span up up would not read hence Im looking for a firm to recover my photos music etc etc that don't charge the earth. Most seem to charge by the HD size which would be £250 in my case even though there wont be half that used ;?(

Frustrating thing is I had bought a new HD that I was going to transfer the data onto but it was faulty, next day death of the old HD....

CP up and running with new HD and windows 7 but I would like my last 8years worth of photies....

If you can give some recommendations it would be appreciated

TeZ

 

[Deleted account 190920001]

You could try the old trick of a sealed bag and put it in the freezer. The reason it costs do much is because they rebuild the plateers into a new enclosure. Takes skill and equipment so costs. Still no guarantee if the platters are damaged. Too late now but go out and get a usb drive to backup on. They are dirt cheap these days.

 

[(RIP) DitchWater]

You could try the old trick of a sealed bag and put it in the freezer.

What does the trick with the freezer do?

The reason it costs do much is because they rebuild the plateers into a new enclosure. Takes skill and equipment so costs. Still no guarantee if the platters are damaged.

The last HDD I took apart didn't look like it needed anything more than reassembley to get it working again but I didn't try because it was due for recycling. So what's the score with simply putting the disc in another enclosure of the same type? I couldn't see any realignment features.

Too late now but go out and get a usb drive to backup on. They are dirt cheap these days.

Tooooo obvious but had to be said. The OP needs to back up his stuff.

 

[Deleted account 190920001]

Electronics sometimes (not always) come back to life when they are cold. Never tried it myself but have heard of it being done. The trick is to keep it cold long enough to get data off. Have also heard of some kind of freezing spray being used or actually packing in ice.

They need to be taken apart and put back together in a clean room. Any dust will at best stop data being read where its sitting and at worst trash the bearings. The platters also need to be aligned correctly when they have been used. When they are blank it doesn't matter but because the data is read/written to all the platters at the same time if they go back skewed it wont work. The diy way if done carefully could work but it isnt the way the recovery guys work.

£250 isnt a bad deal, it used to cost loads more than that like add a zero.

 

[Dansin]

Have to agree. If you're data is important then pay the £250 and also buy a backup drive. The chances of DIY recovery are slim and you're more likely to lose everything. Expensive lesson though.

 

[mrsroynie]

You could try the old trick of a sealed bag and put it in the freezer. The reason it costs do much is because they rebuild the plateers into a new enclosure. Takes skill and equipment so costs. Still no guarantee if the platters are damaged. Too late now but go out and get a usb drive to backup on. They are dirt cheap these days.

Depends what's wrong with it. We were in similar circumstances with a hard disk that wouldn't boot. Couldn't read any of the data on it as the primary disk, but a clever colleague managed to install it as a secondary and recovered practically all our data using an old version of Norton Ghost. If you have a mate who likes this sort of challenge, its worth a try before you start taking things apart.

 

[cookie]

Depends what's wrong with it. We were in similar circumstances with a hard disk that wouldn't boot. Couldn't read any of the data on it as the primary disk, but a clever colleague managed to install it as a secondary and recovered practically all our data using an old version of Norton Ghost. If you have a mate who likes this sort of challenge, its worth a try before you start taking things apart.

well worth trying IMO

 

[MikeO]

Hi, well my old HD has died a mate who is a bit nerdy tried to get it going with a different board it span up up would not read hence Im looking for a firm to recover my photos music etc etc that don't charge the earth. Most seem to charge by the HD size which would be £250 in my case even though there wont be half that used ;?(

Frustrating thing is I had bought a new HD that I was going to transfer the data onto but it was faulty, next day death of the old HD....

CP up and running with new HD and windows 7 but I would like my last 8years worth of photies....

If you can give some recommendations it would be appreciated

TeZ

I'd have no hesitation in spending £250 to get eight years of pics back.

Top tip - when you've retrieved the data, copy all your pics onto a) a second hard drive and b) an online photo account (SmugMug or similar)...

Good luck,

Mike

 

[bowser]

The last HDD I took apart didn't look like it needed anything more than reassembley to get it working again but I didn't try because it was due for recycling. So what's the score with simply putting the disc in another enclosure of the same type? I couldn't see any realignment features.

He is talking about taking the drive apart and not the hard drive enclosure. The drive itself is a vacum, and the as the disks spin the read/write heads skim above the surface of the disk as a very small height (small than the width of a human hair), so any dust in the system causes havoc.
The drive has to be taken apart in a clean room, the individual platters are taken off and put into a system with new drive electronics and reassembled, it is very time consuming, quite difficult and very expensive.


however another trick is to get a know working drive of EXACTLY the same type and size and make and transfer the electronics on to the old disks

 

[claw]

I can give you a link to download OnTracks Easy Recovery Pro....

http://uk-store.krollontrack.com/fiche.html?REF=721774

It'll be for evaluation purposes only though

 

[Rasher]

If you REALLY want this data badly stop trying self recovery!!!!

It is possible to just keep doing more damage (imagine your FD making horrible noises and you keep running it, it ain't gonna get better, the sooner you stop the less damage will be done overall)

Decent professinal services will probably charge a couple of hundred quid to do an initial investigation and report. This will show what they believe they can recover although they will not gaurantee it. You then pay a few hundred more (depends on how difficult the recovery will be) and they will recover what they can.

I have used this company in the past with good results:

http://www.diskeng.com/

The last time was a laptop HD that several people had a go at recovering data from using various software tools to no avail, they recovered all of the data the chap wanted from it (About £800 if I remember rightly)

If it is not all that important then go with witchcraft, voodoo and anything else that pops up when asking for advice on forums.

 

[TeZREX]

Cheers for the replys, My mate did try a software type solution and changed the board on the HD but that did not work hence me looking for the best deal on recovery. I will be getting myself an external drive for back ups of photos etc and hopefully i won't be in this position in future.

i guess its just pay the cash...

TeZ

 

[skyenet]

I will be getting myself an external drive for back ups of photos etc and hopefully i won't be in this position in future.

External disk drives are so cheap these days that I have quite a few. Also allows to clear out main drive of stuff not readily needed.

Just picked up another drive last week and very pleased with it. Its an Hitachi LifeStudio Desk Plus 2TB Hard Drive. I have reformatted it for Mac OSX Lion. Includes a variety of software and despite using other backup software on my other external drives I have just gone with the Hitachi software and it just does its stuff in the background. The removable USB includes 4Gb but is actually just a Micro SD memory card in the enclosure, so easily expandable.

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/9295249/Trail/searchtext>HITACI+LIFESTUDIO.htm Good value for £79.99

Hitachi LifeStudio Desk Plus 2TB Hard Drive.

Black.
Compatible with Windows (XP, Vista, or 7 with an available USB 2.0 or USB 1.1 port) or Macintosh (System 10.5 or newer with an available USB 2.0 or USB 1.1 port).
Run speed 7200 rpm.
Storage space 2TB: 4000 hours of video, 500000 MP3s, 666000 photos.
High speed USB 2.0 connection.
Software: LifeStudio and Hitachi Backup.
Includes 3.5" external hard drive, 4GB USB key, USB cable, AC power adapter.
Weight 1.09kg.
Size L18.09, W12.33, D8.27cm.
UK Helpline and Online Support.
Manufacturer's 3 year guarantee.

Best of luck with recovering your data