Any Independently verified HARD DRIVE RECOVERY experts?

johnny_c

Hi,

THis is one of those 'tech' mine-fields were there are hundreds of sites, and hundreds of forums, and hundreds of so-called experts. BUT is there any one, like WHICH? for example who has independently tested these services or is it a lucky dip?

I have a failed Seagate external drive, and every single forum or 'expert' gives a different answer to my problem (i do understand these companies havent seen my drive). ANd there is so much conflicting opinion - ranging between utter incompetence to excellence - often for the same company!

I have sourced a place called Data Track Labs in cardiff, but even though they are listed as number 1, on datarecoveryprofessionals.net (whoever they may be!) my phonecall to them left me with more confusion regarding pricing than clarification.

Surely some of these data experts are friends/family of Money Savers!?!?

Any advice welcomed!

closed

Pro's are likely to charge >£500, unless it is an enclosure or logical corruption, both of which you can fix for nothing or very little yourself

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3934345


http://www.seagate.com/gb/en/services-software/data-recovery-services/

http://www.krollontrack.co.uk/data-recovery/

firmware update fixes some problems on certain seagate drives.

--

Data recovery spammers should be along shortly

JJ_Egan

Kroll / Ontrack have a good reputation .

Usually pricing starts with a from depending upon the actual problem .
Power On no then try to replace power board is the first step .

johnny_c

closed wrote: »

Pro's are likely to charge >£500, unless it is an enclosure or logical corruption, both of which you can fix for nothing or very little yourself

THanks, for the quick reply...


I have read about this issue online for weeks since it happened! The problem is knowing at what point it is ''easily fixed'' and /or logical corruption or firmware and not something else / mechanical/ platter/ other damage.?? How can an amateur know this?

And typically these data repair sites feed on the fear of you destroying your data by 'trying recovery yourself'.

I read about and actually did try very some simplistic free 'recovery' software which ended in nothing. ANd i must admit i don't know if this REALLY damages the information further or not as claimed..


...Data Track in cardiff said over the phone that ''read/write heads faulty'' plus ''bad sectors'' was most likely and quoted about £500 mimimum...

The previous 'expert' here in Belfast said it was easily fixed 'electronic' damage but then managed to recover nothing...

Kroll quoted £299-£999 !! Quite a variation.!

BTW - The drive powers up , makes no mechanical noises, and shows ALL my files (jpegs / mp3). The thumbnails are visible (jpegs) but none of them open.


In conclusion my main issue was ' can these companies tell you how much percentage is recoverable, and send you a list of files for your perusal, without having actually 'recovered' the files?'' What if i say No, when they give me the percentage recoverable?? Surely they have already done the recovery work at this point??

debitcardmayhem

johnny_c wrote: »

THanks, for the quick reply...


I have read about this issue online for weeks since it happened! The problem is knowing at what point it is ''easily fixed'' and /or logical corruption or firmware and not something else / mechanical/ platter/ other damage.?? How can an amateur know this?

And typically these data repair sites feed on the fear of you destroying your data by 'trying recovery yourself'.

I read about and actually did try very some simplistic free 'recovery' software which ended in nothing. ANd i must admit i don't know if this REALLY damages the information further or not as claimed..


...Data Track in cardiff said over the phone that ''read/write heads faulty'' plus ''bad sectors'' was most likely and quoted about £500 mimimum...

The previous 'expert' here in Belfast said it was easily fixed 'electronic' damage but then managed to recover nothing...

Kroll quoted £299-£999 !! Quite a variation.!

BTW - The drive powers up , makes no mechanical noises, and shows ALL my files (jpegs / mp3). The thumbnails are visible (jpegs) but none of them open.


In conclusion my main issue was ' can these companies tell you how much percentage is recoverable, and send you a list of files for your perusal, without having actually 'recovered' the files?'' What if i say No, when they give me the percentage recoverable?? Surely they have already done the recovery work at this point??

Try a live USB/CD of linux and see if that can open them Ubuntu/Mint/Systemrescuecd etc. We haven't seen it either but the fact it shows files then the HD may not be corrupt at all.....

Look here http://www.sysresccd.org/Sysresccd-manual-en_How_to_install_SystemRescueCd_on_an_USB-stick

closed

what do you mean none open?

what happens if you copy one (jpg/mp3/anything)to your c drive? what size are the files.

what does chkdsk say

too late now, but usb drives are good for backup, not for masters.

if the thumbnails show, it may be a simple problem

what did the belfast expert do

debitcardmayhem

closed wrote: »

what do you mean none open?

what happens if you copy one to your c drive

Good point I feel the problem might be due to Windows ownership problems , perhaps the files were created on a different PC , hence I suggested Live CD. The OP may not be able to copy the files either for the same reason.

Edited : closed please do your edits quicker

what do you mean none open?

what happens if you copy one (jpg/mp3/anything)to your c drive?

what does chkdsk say

too late now, but usb drives are good for backup, not for masters.

if the thumbnails show, it may be a simple problem
Last edited by closed; Today at 7:56 PM.

johnny_c

debitcardmayhem wrote: »

Try a live USB/CD of linux and see if that can open them Ubuntu/Mint/Systemrescuecd etc. We haven't seen it either but the fact it shows files then the HD may not be corrupt at all.....[/url]

THanks, this seems at first sight to be a bit beyond me...

In any case can you make the alledged 'damage' worse doing any of these or other 'fixes' or is it of no consequence??

I think i have tried chkdsk but again, wasn't 100% about how to use this .

The belfast expert said it was electronic damage and that he needed a new 'board.' He got the new board and they ran a check and nothing came back . HE said the platter could be damged, with bad sectors, but it was all 'maybe's' and 'could be', but how long is the piece of string when you're paying!

Some folders now say fatal hard drive error, where before the belfast expert looked at it, this never appeared. And i cannot copy the files. it just takes forever and then says failure.

closed

if it's a hard disk crash (heads hitting the platter), you can make it worse by using it or having it powered up.

impossible to say what's going on, especially since someone has had their hands on it, and may or may not have changed a board - that could be the usb drive board, the disk drive board, or an untruth - how much was charged?

where you go from here, depends how much you want to pay, mp3's are usually replaceable, photo's not - don't you have any elsewhere?

johnny_c

closed wrote: »

impossible to say what's going on, especially since someone has had their hands on it, and may or may not have changed a board - that could be the usb drive board, the disk drive board, or an untruth - how much was charged?

Nothing was charged..it was a no fix no fee place, as the majority seem to be..So its very hard to know what they did - whether they just reached the limits of their capability and maybe it might be a reasoanbly easy fix, or whether they are a generally very good company, but the damage is severe?! They seem to have good testimonials (easy data recovery . com) but these can be concocted if you so desired.. Its very unfortunate that this task is so much of an unknown.

I actually dont care for the mp3's but its the photos of course.

closed

don't you have them anywhere else? or previously existed on another disk

check there are no known firmware issues with your drive

http://www.seagate.com/support/external-hard-drives/desktop-hard-drives/story-series/seatools-win-master/