Cheaper Data Recovery method?

pixelpops

In the last 6 months a Hard Disk Drive on my PC has packed up (with lots of data/family photos on it) which has since been replaced with a new HDD and now a stand-alone (Back-up) HDD has done the same. I am desperate to save family photos and other data from both drives, but I'm being quoted £200 (to look) up to £600 (to recover) to have this done by local PC Big names.
Can anyone suggest any other methods/suppliers which cost less but which are reliable? In the case of the Portable/stand-alone HDD the bearings have gone making the chip hot and the read heads are in the wrong place. I'm told the data is fine but the recovery is an horrendous amount.

Please help! Useful suggestions most welcome! :j

Lorian

Email Odie at info@retrodata.co.uk and ask for a price. He's a top man. Make sure he know's you are not a business

pixelpops

Thanks Lorian

I'll do this now!

Many thanks, Pixelpops

ormus

ive recovered data myself many times using a knoppix cd.
boot from the knoppix cd and then read and backup your hdd data onto other media.
in the case of a hdd mechanical fault, you may only have one chance to do it. so make sure everthing is ready. ie another spare hdd with space or blank cd/dvd/usb flash pens etc..

pixelpops

Thanks Ormus. This one may be a bit too technical for me - but I'll see if the family can help! Thanks you for taking the time to reply and I'll certainly look out where to find a Knppix cd. Cheers;)

mar<

You can do it very easily and for free (as in Open source) using PhotoRec.

I've also used PCInspector many times which is free, but it isn't anywhere near as good as PhotoRec

albertross_2

Does either disk spin? If so, there is a chance it can be done with software. Who diagnosed the bearings thing, it sound a bit suss to me.

Backup to DVD in future (with norton ghost), or bt digital vault. As you have found out, disks aren't reliable.

pixelpops

Thanks Albertross and Mar - good advice which I will try.:rotfl:

pixelpops

More information: My son took it to a friend who works as a technician at a PC World store, who has worked for a data recovery company before. He opened it up and the read/write heads are in the middle of the drive, not parked. Also, the chip that is hot is directly under the bearings/motor for the read/write arms. So bearing this all in mind, it is apparently safe to assume that there is read/write head failure, and recovery will entail removing the platters and reading them with another tool. Can anyone advise who could help with such a scenario? Thank you

Browntoa

its sometimes possible to put the HDD into another unit of the EXACT same model or swap the circuit boards onto your one and try again

ormus

pixelpops wrote: »

Thanks Ormus. This one may be a bit too technical for me - but I'll see if the family can help! Thanks you for taking the time to reply and I'll certainly look out where to find a Knppix cd. Cheers;)

http://www.knoppix.org/

download and burn it to a cd. then boot from the cd.
linux live OS system on a cd, no install required.