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So my drive is not accessible via slave drive or other and my computer guy suggested a clean room was my only hope of recovering lost pictures and word docs.
He recommended one place but they are now a government-only recovery company.
There are a TON of companies online who do this, but my computer guy says most of them will rip you off!
Besides getting a "no data recovered no fee" guarantee what other things should I be looking for in a data recovery company? I know I can ship my hard drive anywhere so I'd like the best one.
Are there any consumer reports type sites on data recovery?
Any tips on how to spot companies I should avoid?
Thanks!
Feel free to PM me as well as post a response.
I've successfully used Linux to copy data off of drives that would lock up Windows PCs when trying to do the same thing.
I've even done bit-for-bit copies(from Linux) of a failing drive skipping only the bad sectors resulting in a booting, working image.
Edit: If the drive does not appear in the bios during bootup, your only option is a data recovery service.
*No experience with this service, not being compensated for this post :)
A few weeks ago I got an email from Seagate about them (now?) offering data recovery services. I think I'd be more likely to trust a HD manufacturer than any random other company that I didn't have solid info on.
[services.seagate.com...]
[edited by: Slade at 2:55 am (utc) on May 11, 2007]
I looked at their website and they seem legit and reasonable in terms of their fees (they quote you before you pay and there is no fee if there is no data recovered).
It took them just a few days to get back to me with a quote, an individual worker there is handling my case and is reachable via phone or email all day (and is very nice).
They said: "The unit was found to have serious corruption to the low level drive based instruction code written at factory level."
And quoted me $1200 with a 2-3 week turnaround. No additional fees for anything including putting data on cd and mailing. If data is over 15 GB I have to give them an external HD or something to have them put the extra on (we just got an external hd too).
I'll reply with what happens later when it does but it all seems very professional and a very good experience, and the quote is actually at the low end of what we'd been warned about (someone said it could be $5000!).
Back up your data!
The unit was found to have serious corruption to the low level drive based instruction code written at factory level.
I could be wrong but I think that translates to "if we fit a new control board, it should work fine." $1200 to replace a $5.00 component - not a bad way to make money.
Kaled.
And the controller may have caused additional data corruption or loss during its death throes, so consider your investment well-spent, and then use that cost to remind yourself to do regular backups in the future.
There are two kinds of computer owners, those who've lost a hard drive and do regular backups, and those who haven't and don't... yet. :)
It's great that (it sounds like) they'll be able to get almost all of your data back. At least it wasn't a head crash, which causes physical damage and usually results in lots of unrecoverable data.
Jim
(With a 2nd hard drive in this box, and a 2nd backup on my LAN)
They said they tried several heads and couldn't get it to spin or something like that (does that make sense?).
They couldn't get anything back.
Did I wait too long after it crashed to send it to them? It was about 10-14 days including the time it took a computer shop to say "send it to a clean room"...
Anyway
lesson learned!
Thanks.
They said they tried several heads and couldn't get it to spin or something like that (does that make sense?).
No, it doesn't.
Typically, what they do is REMOVE the disk(s) and install them in another working drive.
The only way this makes sense is if the disks were warped, etc. But then they wouldn't use the language "couldn't get it to spin". How about "physical damage"?"
Did I wait too long after it crashed to send it to them? It was about 10-14 days including the time it took a computer shop to say "send it to a clean room"...
Shouldn't make any difference. Maybe several (many) years would be a problem.
They said there was physical damage yes.
They seemed nice?
"All attempts at recovery were unsuccessful."
