Hard Drive Failure..... data recovery?

[JR2]

The hard drive on my laptop has died. Computer does not see it any more and it will not work in a USB enclosure. Its not making any really bad sounds and still spins up.



Anyone have any experience with the multitude of data recovery companies on the net?? I have a back up that is about 5 months old, but if I can spend a grand and save the million hours it will take to reconstruct some stuff it would be helpfull.



Thanks in advance.



John

 

[SFaulkingham]

put your hard drive in the freezer over night, then take it out and immediately hook it up and power on your machine. A lot of times it will begin to spin so you can copy off your data. It may be slow, but as long as it is spinning, you should be able to get your data off. I have done this to several drives with success. If you wan't more details, pm or email me.

Shawn

 

[jkalchik]

Shawn... . he did say that it already spins up.

My bet is on the drive controller itself, not the drive mechanism. It may be possible to swap on a *IDENTICAL* controller to resurrect the drive. I think I'd start with the drive manufacturer's support department.

If that doesn't work, OnTrack has a good reputation. They even managed to recover data from a couple of Seagate hard drives that came down from the last Shuttle fireball.

 

[ACoyle]

Ontrack is the Cadillac. I suggest valium before looking at the price. Dosen't change my opinion. If you absolutely have to have it - they are your folks.

AC

 

[JR2]

After a bit of messing around the with the drive by our company IT guy the drive finally installed and showed in when in a USB enclosure. It can be accessed but the guy told me he could not get any data off it. He had some data recovery program and said the drive we not working well. I think i may send it off to Onetrack next week. Our IT guy told me they are the best, but that I would probably spend $1500 to get some data, yikes not sure that is really worth it. Maybe my 6 month old back up of data is good enough.

Thanks guys.

John

 

[ACoyle]

The fifteen hundred could be low. They will tell you if they can get it first and the price for that. If you have the drive in an enclosure and recognized, they have online tools that are cheaper. Talt to them before you do anything. They will tell you up front about any costs.

 

[ToolManTimTaylor]

USB cases for Hard drives are the best. HOWEVER if your windows has several logons, passwords, or even protection via third party you won't be getting what you want from that drive.