Anyone do Data Recovery?

stoney stomp

Hey, does anyone local do data recovery on hard drives? I bought a brand new hard drive that failed after two days. Unfortunately, I hadn't had time to save my data to two places and the hard drive had all our wedding photos, vacation photos, music, etc. UGH..disaster!

Does anyone know of someone local that does data recovery for less than the arm and leg that Seagate wants to charge me?


Thanks all!

jeffrey

In the spirit of "teach a man to fish" etc...

Buy SpinRite once for $89 and be set for a lifetime (of any other recovery):

http://www.grc.com/spinrite.htm

I cannot stress enough what a lifesaver it has been for me and many I know.

brooklynjack

Yep, Steve Gibson has been writing useful things for a long time

slopestar

I have recovered hard drive data twice using Linux Knoppix and my tech skills are basic at best. In a nutshell, Knoppix is an operating system that boots from CD so it will run without having to use the damaged system files that are causing your hard drive to fail. Here is a very layperson-friendly step-by-step:

http://www.shockfamily.net/cedric/knoppix/


Also, this is free, whereas data recovery is extremely expensive...

jcnycarch

buy a SATA (assuming your HD is like most others in terms of how it connects to your motherboard) to USB connection to test first. The cable is cheap compared to hiring a data recovery company (which will cost in the $100s or more). With the cable, you can connect your HD to your USB just like other external drives. Worth a shot.

peeltrident

How have you determined that the hard drive has failed? The reason I ask is, power supplies on external drives (especially LaCie drives) are notoriously flaky and may be the actual problem. The last four hard drive "failures" I've dealt with were actually all failed power supplies.

I second jcnycarch's advice. If the data on the drive is that valuable, pull the drive from the enclosure and use an SATA to USB adapter to see if the drive itself is what's failed.

stoney stomp

Thank you ALL for your replies. I should have mentioned that the hard drive was an EXTERNAL drive.

@jcnycarch and PeelTrident
I was also thinking that it could be a power issue but had no ide what to do with it to figure that out. I will try that out.

Thank you everyone for your input and advice. I'm really hoping something works

Brooklynian folks really are the best

rosweed

My hard drive crashed containing irreplaceable photos. I did the wrong thing(s). I tried the data recovery software. I tried freezing it. I took it to Best Buy who told me it would cost $1700 to try to recover that data. It cost me $169 for them to tell me that. The operative word was try. No guarantees. Then I did some research. The best place I could find was Eco Data in Florida. A lot of companies do data recovery, but they don't tell you that they outsource it to places like Eco Data which has the clean room technology to do the job properly. They will assess your hard drive for a flat fee of $150. Then the recovery will cost you about $600 if they can recover it, minus the $150 assessment fee. They could not recover my data because I did more damage trying all the previously mentioned methods. I now have a great doorstop. Moral of the story is, back up and often. If your hard drive starts making strange noises, turn off your computer immediately. Do not restart it. Do not try to recover the data yourself unless you're prepared to lose it. Send it to Eco Data. http://www.ecodatarecovery.com/

mandarins

Subject: lost data

If you are unable to get your data let me know and I will attempt to extract it for you.

cheers,
Salvatore

vanilla

tekserve will at least do the diagnosis for free. 23rd st in the city btw 6th & 7th. wait... i'm assuming it's an apple!

slopehead

Your first step is to figure out what actually happened. is the drive really dead, or is it just not recognized by your computer? These are two different situations. If the drive powers up and sounds "normal" but just doesn't show up on your desktop it may be a relatively easy fix. if the drive doesn't power on or sounds like grinding or clicking the problem may be mechanical. On more than one occasion I've had drive ENCLOSURES fail (power supply and/or interface) but the hard drive itself is still fine - so I rip the drive out and attach it directly to my system and usually the data is still there.

stoney stomp

Slopehead wrote: Your first step is to figure out what actually happened. is the drive really dead, or is it just not recognized by your computer? These are two different situations. If the drive powers up and sounds "normal" but just doesn't show up on your desktop it may be a relatively easy fix. if the drive doesn't power on or sounds like grinding or clicking the problem may be mechanical. On more than one occasion I've had drive ENCLOSURES fail (power supply and/or interface) but the hard drive itself is still fine - so I rip the drive out and attach it directly to my system and usually the data is still there.

hey Slopehead. Yep, did that. No power to the drive at all - which is why i'm hoping it's an enclosure issue. Newegg is delivering an SATA to USB converter today so hopefully, that will work and I can get the data. Crossing my fingers!

anthonycm

rosweed wrote: Moral of the story is, back up and often./

This can't be said enough. I've had a back-up drive at home, and am now in the process of backing up everything off-site (using Back Blaze, but Carbonite or other companies are also worth looking into). Off-site back-up is almost as important as having a back-up at home. Doesn't do any good to have a back-up drive if that gets trashed in a fire or stolen in a robbery. Off-site is normally only $50 or so a year for unlimited amounts of data.

That $50 a year is worth every cent knowing that irreplaceable pictures and other files are safe.

stoney stomp

(sigh) so far, no luck. The external drive i have is a bus-powered Seagate FreeAgent Go so the SATA to USB doesn't work with it.
I think my next alternative is to buy another identical drive and try to swap enclosures; hoping that it's a power issue. However, I run the risk of then having two non-working drives.
This. Sucks.

brooklynjack

Stoney Stomp wrote: (sigh) so far, no luck. The external drive i have is a bus-powered Seagate FreeAgent Go so the SATA to USB doesn't work with it.
I think my next alternative is to buy another identical drive and try to swap enclosures; hoping that it's a power issue. However, I run the risk of then having two non-working drives.
This. Sucks.

I wouldn't' buy a second drive, you just end up voiding the waranty on both of them. Just get an enclosure like this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002834G6G/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B000LM6I6W&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=07CZQPYA1SZV000CJBZ6

Or if you don't want to wait get one a B&H
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/494696-REG/Macally_B_S250U_B_S250U_USB_2_0_External.html



Have you tried a different computer just to make sure it isn't the port on yours?

Is this a Mac or PC? Laptop?

stoney stomp

BrooklynJack wrote: [quote=Stoney Stomp](sigh) so far, no luck. The external drive i have is a bus-powered Seagate FreeAgent Go so the SATA to USB doesn't work with it.
I think my next alternative is to buy another identical drive and try to swap enclosures; hoping that it's a power issue. However, I run the risk of then having two non-working drives.
This. Sucks.

I wouldn't' buy a second drive, you just end up voiding the waranty on both of them. Just get an enclosure like this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002834G6G/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B000LM6I6W&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=07CZQPYA1SZV000CJBZ6

Or if you don't want to wait get one a B&H
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/494696-REG/Macally_B_S250U_B_S250U_USB_2_0_External.html



Have you tried a different computer just to make sure it isn't the port on yours?

Is this a Mac or PC? Laptop?

Cool will check that out!

Yes, I tried the wife's PC as well and my work one.

slopehead

I actually recommend something like this:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer Technology/U2NV2SPATA/

You've got to pull the drive out of the enclosure and attach it directly using something like the above adapter. Bus-powered or not this should work if you attach it correctly.

From what you describe it *sounds* like a simple fried power supply situation so you might be in good shape to retrieve your data.

Good luck!