Hard Drive Data Recovery - Datatrack Labs

ChiefGrasscutter

Steve_Andrea wrote: »

Hey, just tried to send you a PM but it says you have disabled them so I will have to post my comments below:
_____________________________________________________

Hey,

Im a bit confused...

Why have you changed your screen name and removed the post you made yesterday?

I am assuming you are the same user who posted yesterday with the name Datatrack Labs?

As you can probably appreciate, with so many scammers out there I want to independently check the firm I send my drive to as the best chance of recovery is the 1st time the drive is opened.

I've got a few more questions about the recovery before I send my drive in, but removing your posts on the forum hasnt filled me with much confidence.

The post would have been removed by MSE as the poster was appearing to act as if they were a bonefide authorised represetative of the actual company -without prior having their ID checked by the MSE team to ensure that the person posting WAS actually a company rep with the full authorisation of the company to post on the company's behalf.
If this was not done then anyone could for instance setup a username of say xxx bank and make posts which might lead other readers to think it was xx bank posting answers - when it was not.

Steve_Andrea

ChiefGrasscutter wrote: »

The post would have been removed by MSE as the poster was appearing to act as if they were a bonefide authorised represetative of the actual company -without prior having their ID checked by the MSE team to ensure that the person posting WAS actually a company rep with the full authorisation of the company to post on the company's behalf.
If this was not done then anyone could for instance setup a username of say xxx bank and make posts which might lead other readers to think it was xx bank posting answers - when it was not.

Thanks for confirming this....

Moretistic

ChiefGrasscutter wrote: »

The post would have been removed by MSE as the poster was appearing to act as if they were a bonefide.

Data track labs website says they are in the top 5 of the best 5 data recovery companies and No1 in the country, where does ,Retrodata, fit in on that scale ?


Theres an interesting write up here fields-data-recovery-scam.com/?page_id=225

ChiefGrasscutter

Sorry I have no experience or knowledge of the computer data recovery industry. I just keep lots of backups: daily backups, weekly backups, monthly backups both files and disk images which are then rotated round. All camera images are downloaded at the first opportunity so they go into the backup sequences.

In my post I was merely answering the admininstration question about the process by which the MSE site authorises legitimate company representatives to post on their company's behalf. Those so approved have under their user name something like "authorised company representative" to show they are genuine.

Most companies tend to stay well clear of the MSE site as they would just get into a slanging match with posters with some sort of grievance who could say virtually anything about them and invent any imaginary complaint they wished. In such circumstances the unidentified posters may call the company a 'bunch of crooks' but the fully identified company can hardly call the poster 'a lying toad' so the company invariably comes off worse in these encounters.

Steve_Andrea

ChiefGrasscutter, I think Moretistic was referring to Macmans post below.

macman wrote: »

If you can't afford that then maybe your data is not as irreplaceable as you think.
I have heard good accounts of this company:
http://www.retrodata.co.uk/

I've had a qoute from Retrodata and they want £500+ to carry out the recovery.

Datatrack Labs will do the recovery for a maximum of £249.99 + VAT plus any parts they need to order

They have confirmed that if they have to order parts in costs will range from £45 to £195 + VAT which would take the cost of recovery to £444.99 +VAT

I appreciate this is worst case scenario, but if you add the £75+ VAT for the 500gb portable hard drive they return your data on the total cost of the service is ££623.99 (including VAT)

Realistically, what are the chance of them recovering the data without needing extra parts? The offer of CAPPED recovery costs of £249.99 sound impressive but once they have your drive the bill could quite easily rise to £623.99 :eek:

LucianH

Just another idea - will probably not work but it may be worth a try. Put the drive in a freezer for about an half an hour and then see if you can read it - it's normally only applicable to older drives where things get out of tolerance. I've used this on an internal HDD that packed up - after taking it out of the freezer, the drive worked for a few minutes until it warmed up. I managed to recover the data after over about ten goes. The problem is that condensation builds up.

Edit: Google for more info

Steve_Andrea

LucianH wrote: »

Just another idea - will probably not work but it may be worth a try. Put the drive in a freezer for about an half an hour and then see if you can read it - it's normally only applicable to older drives where things get out of tolerance. I've used this on an internal HDD that packed up - after taking it out of the freezer, the drive worked for a few minutes until it warmed up. I managed to recover the data after over about ten goes. The problem is that condensation builds up.

Edit: Google for more info

I've heard of the freezer trick, but to be honest I dont really want to risk it as the data is really important and will reduce the chances of a professional being able to recover the data.....

mr_fishbulb

the_r_sole wrote: »

worked for me

Me too. Fixed it for long enough to get the data off.

Nowadays I have an external hard drive, and online backup so I don't have to go back to the freezer (unless I want ice cream).

esuhl

The freezer trick worked for me too. It's probably quite risky as I imagine that condensation would be really bad and cause more damage. In the end I had to choose between spending ~£1000 (as a poor student) or risk losing everything by whacking it in the freezer. Fortunately I was lucky.

LucianH

AnnoyedwithMoneySavingEx wrote: »

Do not under any circumstances try the freezer trick if the data is important. This is just a myth.

This is not a myth - it does work and yes it contains some risk. And the previous few posts (from regular MSE posters) also confirms it works.

But as I said in my previous post there is a risk, largely from condensation if you repeatedly do it without ensuring it’s dried out in between (airing cupboard overnight to be sure).

If you put it in the freezer and then if it spins up you have got two options:

1) If you have a few gbyte of data then go for transferring it.
2) If you have a lot a data and concerned about doing it too many times then simply disconnect and power off. At least it would have proved that the data is more easily recoverable and then you can decide to fork out loads of dosh to someone to do it for you (possibly AnnoyedwithMoneySavingEx).

A third option is not to try the freezer trick and fork out loads of dosh to someone to do it for you (possibly AnnoyedwithMoneySavingEx).

Let’s see what other experts post. Oh, if you want my credentials – I work in a military electronics environment developing precision electro-mechanical equipment (with complex and sometimes off-the-self electronics) which we test (operationally) down to -40 degrees (but I am no expert in the design of HDD!)

Edit: Forgot to add - check it out with more google searches if you're worried. And you'll get the pros and (sometimes marketing) cons