PC Data Recovery

splishsplosh · 16 November 2008 at 11:21AM

Hi
Warning to all with Data Recovery problems.
My hard drive failed and my local PC repairman couldn't help recover any data. So I googled and came up with Rapid Data Recovery. net who offer recovery from £97. They seemed very efficient and helpful until they actually had my hard drive. I had to chase and chase and finally I was told what a difficult problem it was! 2 weeks later (very rapid!) I was told that it wouldn't cost £97 but £340 this was after being told several times that the data was fully recoverable but their top price would be £200 tops.
I couldn't afford it so they returned my drive. I'm not sure in what condition and won't until I find a reputable, non-rip-off company who will actually do what they promise.
They promise:
Rapid - NOT
Cheapest Data Recovery in the UK - NOT
Recovery does not have to costs a fortune - OF YES IT DOES
:mad:

SJames_3 · 16 November 2008 at 12:29PM

Always cheaper to backup, especially with GBs so cheap these days.

Conor_3 · 16 November 2008 at 2:27PM

The only companies that are worth a toss START at £400 for data recovery. The rest merely use software to try and recover it, although if a mechanical failure they'll try and swap bits with another drive but that doesn't help if the read head is duff, whereas the £400+ companies will actually dismantle the HDD in a white room and recover the info directly from the platters. It's dear but you get it back.

50Twuncle · 15 May 2010 at 1:57PM

If your HDD is not physically damaged - I always suggest that people try plugging it in as a slave to another PC and running http://www.piriform.com/recuva - which is freeware and may surprise you at what can be recovered

Lil306 · 15 May 2010 at 2:59PM

Conor wrote: »

The only companies that are worth a toss START at £400 for data recovery. The rest merely use software to try and recover it, although if a mechanical failure they'll try and swap bits with another drive but that doesn't help if the read head is duff, whereas the £400+ companies will actually dismantle the HDD in a white room and recover the info directly from the platters. It's dear but you get it back.

I always became interested by stuff like this

Is it possible to make your own DIY "white chamber" (like a small one). How abouts do they recover data from the platters, I assume it's some form of microscopic device that reads the binary data (or works to that fashion)?

spud17 · 15 May 2010 at 3:49PM

Lil306 wrote: »

I always became interested by stuff like this

One of my most satisfying achievements was recovering 24GB out of 25GB of data from a fried external HD, wouldn't even spin up.

The remaining 1Gb was a program which could be obtained elsewhere.

2 mins with a soldering iron.

Details on request.

Lil306 · 15 May 2010 at 3:55PM

spud17 wrote: »

One of my most satisfying achievements was recovering 24GB out of 25GB of data from a fried external HD, wouldn't even spin up.

The remaining 1Gb was a program which could be obtained elsewhere.

2 mins with a soldering iron.

Details on request.

Sounds like resoldering electric contacts of the control interface,

Send plx, always interested in professional and non-professional data recovery

spud17 · 15 May 2010 at 6:43PM

Defo not professional. :rotfl:

Briefly, new guy at work threw an external HD into the bin.
Being a tightwad, I asked what was wrong with it.
The power supply had packed up, and even with a new one it still wouldn't spin up.
He said I was welcome to have a go at it, the data on it was needed but not totally irreplaceable.
The drive was a Seagate 7200 which are known to give problems.
Paradoxically if they don't spin up, that's more optimistic for recovery.
Did some Googling over a couple of evenings, and kept coming back to

http://forum.hddguru.com/

I *think* it was this thread,

http://forum.hddguru.com/st3500320as-7200-fried-t10453.html

It seems that if an HD has too many volts, a diode (poss 2), known as TVS, acts as a fuse and blows, sending remaining volts to earth, and saving the drive itself.
That's why with the drive out and connected to a spare ATX psu it would just trip.

Un-soldered one TVS, tried and it still wouldn't work, un-soldered the other, plugged in and away it went.
It would run for for about 5/10 mins then stop, I'd turn everything off, restart and get a bit more off, the more important stuff first.
Eventually it wouldn't start at all, all that was left was a copy of Autocad, which could be found elsewhere.

Well you did ask!

Lil306 · 15 May 2010 at 8:37PM

Thanks, always useful to know. I've saved that link for further research

spud17 · 15 May 2010 at 9:09PM

Lil306 wrote: »

Thanks, always useful to know. I've saved that link for further research

No probs, but definitely only use as last gasp attempt, and not for the faint hearted.

Some very techie stuff on that forum.

Mr_Oink · 16 May 2010 at 7:37PM

Conor wrote: »

The only companies that are worth a toss START at £400 for data recovery. The rest merely use software to try and recover it, although if a mechanical failure they'll try and swap bits with another drive but that doesn't help if the read head is duff, whereas the £400+ companies will actually dismantle the HDD in a white room and recover the info directly from the platters. It's dear but you get it back.

This is a bit of an incorrect stereo type. There are plenty of +£400 recovery specialists that are pants and would not have the first clue on the mechanics of a drive :-)

People perceive that paying more means getting more and it is not always true. There are a few levels of failures and as you point out, software is often the first call. But secondary is drive electronics and matching the board to a drive is not a case of find an identical drive, but an identical working drive from the same location and batch (usually a few days apart) - that's the cost factor. As for changing heads or 'opening the can' the chance of recovery at this stage lessens significantly depending on the damage caused by a failed head - beyond this it becomes a forensic operation and you would then start talking in terms of £K+.

When I had an 80gb fail I used a small company in Hampshire that I have found to be honest. They told me they would evaluate it for £49. They were able to recover it with software and the total bill was £90. Most of that was for a new 80gb drive to hold the data. I could not fault service like that. When I had a 250gb sata die in Novemeber I contacted them again. Again the evaluation was £49. This time the controller was found faulty on the drive and it took four months to find another. Total bill (with a new 250gb drive for the data) £170. Perhaps we are lucky around here. I won't post the company details as that would be against the policy of this forum.

Once you get into heads and platters that data needs to be mighty important to recover it and yes, it's megabucks. My overall point is there are good small businesses out there that know what they are doing that *don't* rip you off.

PC Data Recovery

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