Hard Drive Data Recovery - Datatrack Labs

trust99

Steve_Andrea wrote: »

Who did they go with in the end? any idea of costs?

Steve_Andrea wrote: »

Who did they go with in the end? any idea of costs?

No one as yet.
I am a self employed IT consultant and while I was asked by my friend if it was something we did I originally said 'No' as I thought better leave it to the experts. After some pleading from my friend (after so many attempts to rip her off) and some offered assistance from our chief techie we are going to have a look using software tools (it would seem that the majority of these companies that charge 000's of pounds only do the same) If we can't recover the data (e.g. drive is too far gone or been damaged by one of several companies who have had it for quote purposes) then we will help her find a professional company that has the relevent lab and equipment.

Timeline
1.My friend and client having first paid £70 to a local company who couldn't extract anything but charged her anyway

2. Friend sends HDD to supposed London based firm Rapid data recovery for HDD recovery - web advertised price of £150-£200. Turns out HDD gone to one of Fields Data scam companies in Wales (Google Fields Data and Rapid data recovery, 000's of complaints) No surprise quoted price is now more than double with no guarantee of any data.
Request HDD returned

3. Sends HDD to Data track labs, quoted price is similar to advertised but subject to large surcharge if work to be completed in less than standard time (standard time 14-21 days) First attempt to have HDD collected by our own courier rebuffed and the courier sent packing, DTLabs say that the HDD has now been sent in standard Royal Mail as I type.

I will update this thread when we have received the HDD and
had a chance at software recovery.

**Update HDD received today so DTL true to their word.

Steve_Andrea

trust99 wrote: »

No one as yet.
I am a self employed IT consultant and while I was asked by my friend if it was something we did I originally said 'No' as I thought better leave it to the experts. After some pleading from my friend (after so many attempts to rip her off) and some offered assistance from our chief techie we are going to have a look using software tools (it would seem that the majority of these companies that charge 000's of pounds only do the same)

Whats the symptoms of the drive? is it making a clicking noise or anything like that?

I dont want to send my drive to a company who dont even open it up..... but looking at Datatrack Labs facebook they have a gallery of pics:

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?id=117911811568272&story_fbid=149938755136838#!/media/set/?set=a.356222834403834.106588.117911811568272&type=3

Apparently they are shut for a week next week.

Miss_sparkle_2

Steve_Andrea wrote: »

Whats the symptoms of the drive? is it making a clicking noise or anything like that?

I dont want to send my drive to a company who dont even open it up..... but looking at Datatrack Labs facebook they have a gallery of pics:

Apparently they are shut for a week next week.

I have my hard drive back! Xytron have done a fab job recovering my data and I'm very happy with the service I got. It did take them longer than they expected due to the condition of it and it was a very old hard drive. I had to pay for a part to help them recover data first and when they sent the file listing to me I was very happy, nearly everything is there and it didn't cost as much as they told me the worst case would be!

I bought a new hard drive from ebuyer and got it sent directly to them and they put my data on that and it all works great.

So happy I found a genuine company and would recommend giving them a call if you haven't got sorted yet just to have a chat to them about yours. Also they are on facebook too!

Hope you get sorted soon! Seeing the photos they have recovered really have justified getting it done!:)

Notmyrealname

Steve_Andrea wrote: »

Realistically, what are the chance of them recovering the data without needing extra parts?

For a clicking hard drive, zero.

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:

And thats why I use Retrodata....

closed

Data recovery threads always seem to attract a high proportion of newbies.

debitcardmayhem

I got my problems fixed for £47.85 , inc VAT and Postage.
That's how much my backup disk cost.
Jeez does no-one ever think about prevention , at this rate we will go back to the days before the contraceptive pill,... there will be one born every minute

Moretistic

Notmyrealname wrote: »

For a clicking hard drive, zero.


And thats why I use Retrodata....

Begs the question - how many times have you used retrodata and whats is their average cost?

hugoroberts1968

A friend of mine recently had data recovered with Data Track, they paid a total of £554.99 which included VAT, Delivery, Collection, and a new 500 GB hard drive, only paid after they saw a list of files and did not have to pay anything upfront. It was collected free of charge from my place of work the day after it was arranged.
They had a 500 GB hard drive recovered which had been dropped.

Had a problem with missing data but it was resolved within 4 days.

Retrodata average invoice value must be very very low.

Their latest set of accounts read...

Cash in bank : £0
Total Current Assets : £0
Total Current Liabilities : £0

Maybe they trade under a different name as this is a dormant company?

Figment

Retrodata is a LLP, not a limited company

RETRODATA LLP
St. Andrews
New Street
Lymington
HAMPSHIRE
SO41 9BQ

trust99

Steve_Andrea wrote: »

Whats the symptoms of the drive? is it making a clicking noise or anything like that?

I dont want to send my drive to a company who dont even open it up..... but looking at Datatrack Labs facebook they have a gallery of pics: No links allowed for me as newbie

Apparently they are shut for a week next week.

Yes funnily enough drive is now making a clicking noise. Original quote from Data Track labs specified logical damage and no physical damage. Since they returned it the HDD now makes clicking noise and also powers down after 20-30 seconds.

Back to Square 1 !

Suppose flip a coin between Xytron and Retrodata as both seem to have good reviews. Unless anyone knows different ?