Hard Disk Recovery

ron_burgundy_2

Evening all,

My external HDD has got a mechanical problem - I need to send it to a recovery firm to get part of the data recovered. Just curious as to which places (if any) anyone may have used in the past? There is a plethora of companies to choose from, quite a minefield, and i'd much rather go on a reccommendation from someone. I've searched the forums from the past, but many of these were from a fair bit of time ago.

Any suggestions appreciated.

Cheers
RB

debitcardmayhem

No recommendations here but questions
1) How Much Data (disk size
2) How much do you want it back
3) Sit whilst the rest of the gang come back with recommendations

4) whilst waiting, contemplate about £500 for a miniscule amount to possibly recover, but don't worry about the "why did I only have one copy" ones .
Sorry unable to help further, but good luck.

ron_burgundy_2

Disk is 250GB

I really really need part of the data back (circa 5gb)

I backed up a friend's docs and photos onto my External HDD, then rebuilt his laptop, but my disk fell off my table (ouch) and now doesn't work. I've rebuilt and his laptop is working great now, but his photos (kids etc) are pretty important to him!!

I'm rather annoyed about my clumsiness causing this problem, but I can't do anything about it now, I just need to get that data back! The rest of it doesn't matter as it's a backup of my PC which still works fine.

stubbyd

ron_burgundy wrote: »

Any suggestions appreciated.
RB

My professional opinion says speak to Vogon or OnTrack (now both the same company I believe) as both have done well for some clients in years gone by.

Ontrack even do an online assessment which is far cheaper but as you have a mechanical issue I'd guess that won't be possible. They even have an 0800 number - see here.

DTIdata is another one I've heard good things of but have no practical knowledge and Fields data Recovery is not too far from where I live and have been around for a couple of decades and also have an 0800 and a 'give me a quote' process.

HTH?

debitcardmayhem

ron_burgundy wrote: »

Disk is 250GB

I really really need part of the data back (circa 5gb)

I backed up a friend's docs and photos onto my External HDD, then rebuilt his laptop, but my disk fell off my table (ouch) and now doesn't work. I've rebuilt and his laptop is working great now, but his photos (kids etc) are pretty important to him!!

I'm rather annoyed about my clumsiness causing this problem, but I can't do anything about it now, I just need to get that data back! The rest of it doesn't matter as it's a backup of my PC which still works fine.

When you say rebuilt do you mean new disk or re-loaded software etc etc. There may be stuff on the original lappy disk, as long as you have not passed it back to him/her yet. Recuva or similar may get some of it back.

jamdog_2

There is a guy at Microdirect who fixes hard drives, as it may be the circuit board on the drive that could be broke and the spindls with the data are intact. He offers a service of replacing the circuit boards and then voila hard drive working

ron_burgundy_2

Good point debit card - i'll give it a go recovering, but i'd be suprised if i got the lot back, it's very hit and miss. If that doesn't work i'll look into the alternatives that Stubby & Jamdog suggested. Cheers guys :-)

davb

You mention this is an external disk, are you sure it's a mechanical problem with the actual disk, and not a problem with the enclosure it's mounted in. If say it just won't power on, you could strip the disk out of the enclosure try it in another one.
Be careful though, as if it is mechanical damage, then you are better leaving it alone to give a data recovery firm the best chance.

debitcardmayhem

ron_burgundy wrote: »

Good point debit card - i'll give it a go recovering, but i'd be suprised if i got the lot back, it's very hit and miss. If that doesn't work i'll look into the alternatives that Stubby & Jamdog suggested. Cheers guys :-)

If the lappy still has the original disk in it or it's available use recuva or something similar. I would have suggested putting the disk into a caddy but perhaps it would better if you start on the floor . I would imagine your external has more or less gone to the scrapyard in the sky.

WhiteChristmas

ron_burgundy wrote: »

my disk fell off my table (ouch)

I did exactly the same thing to my USB external drive (too many trailing cables).

Open up the case and you'll find a standard 3.5" hard drive attached to some electronics. Those electronics are almost certainly dead, but the drive itself might not be.

Unplug the drive and either try it in a new enclosure/cradle or (preferred for speed) install it as a second drive on your PC.

In my case, the drive threw up all sorts of SMART warnings but I was able to copy almost everything off of it (albeit in small packages). Out of about 500gig, I lost a dozen or so photos.