[ismaelg]

Hi,

I just had a hard drive failure on my computer. Fortunately, most of the data was backed up, especially the thousands of pictures. But there is data that haven't been backed up in a few weeks. So, while not exactly an overly critical emergency, I would like to explore the possibility of properly recovering the data on the hard drive. I'm a computer techie but this is beyond the DIY and office/home techs.
When you google Data recovery services, there are so many options it is mind blowing. However, digging deeper you find most are scams or less than "reputable" outlets.
Does anyone have any experience in this? Any recommendations?

Thanks,
Ismael

[photolady95]

Research recuva, a reputab!le recover software for free.

[Not a Number]

Recuva won't work if the drive is dead. One of my clients used a service maybe 20 years ago. There were only a few back then, mostly based in California. Irvine I think it was.

Search for reviews on PC World/Mag and ComputerWorld.

The most common advice you'll find on the 'Net is to put the drive in the freezer for a while and maybe it will spin up while it is cold and you can recover what you can before it dies again. Whether this actually works or not I couldn't say. Some people swear it works.

[Ratmagiclady]

Hrm. I do know someone local who might or might not be equipped in his home shop (He's a computer professional with a sideline of his own) but I can vouch for his professional honesty, if he does that sort of work. Offhand, he might be able to make the hard drive work long enough to get the data off it. Or do something smart otherwise. Or say where to go more commercially. (Guess I'll just ask. )

(Edit: OK, my friend says that if the drive still spins, it's likely he can help: if it does not, he likely can't do it without a clean room, which he doesn't have, but he will look for reputable outfits that can do the job and get back to me. I'm guessing that since you say you're a techie yourself that it's the latter sort of help you're looking for. But I'll post again if my friend comes through with some names. )

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Last edited by Ratmagiclady; 12-13-2014 at 06:42 PM.

[Not a Number]

This is the company that my customer used. Western Digital is/was partnered with them at one time.

Data Recovery - Kroll Ontrack

Here are some reviews of 10 companies.

http://hard-drive-recovery-services-review.toptenreviews.com/?cmpid=ttr-bnd

Recovering data from dead or damaged drivers requires very specialized equipment, a clean room being one of them. It may be as simple as replacing the controller board on the drive (provided a donor card can be located) to removing the platters and building a temporary drive.

[photolady95]

There is also a free program used by data recovery services that my fellow tech co workers use. It's called Testdisk.

[Tom S.]

If you can still access the drive, one of the programs Photolady95 cites might work. If you can't access the drive, then it's going to have to be sent out for recovery. In that case, prices start at around $500 and go up, depending on the methods needed, with $500 representing a simple controller card replacement.

May I ask what brand drive it is? I (and many others) has trouble with WD drives a few years back. In those cases, it was a design failure that caused overheating on the controller, which eventually burned the control chip and left the drive dead. It was a relatively easy recovery, requiring the replacement of the either the chip itself or the whole board, and was in the $500 range mentioned above.

[Not a Number]

I tend to avoid Western Digital. My customers (I do custom programming and support for some database packages) experience about a three to one failure rate of WD vs Seagate. I know Seagate had a bad run but if you avoid those models then usually they are more reliable than WD.

As I recall some of these data recovery places will give a discount if you can supply a donor drive of the same model and board/chipset revision.

[ismaelg]

Thank you all for the replies. Kroll Ontrack has surfaced more than once as a reputable company for this. I appreciate the link to the reviews. That is really helpful!
The disk is Western Digital and I am fed up with them. I work a lot with computer equipment in my job and Western Digital is my worst nightmare at work and now at home.
At work, most of our customers (I work for a communications company) have strict backup/images/RAID procedures. Now I know why. While I do backup most of my stuff, I do it manually. I just realized a few particularly important files are missing from my backups. This will cost me a lot of money but I'm sure I will learn my lesson.

Thanks!

[Tom S.]

Going forward, consider a backup service like Carbonite. They saved me when my WD's started puking. It's automatic relatively inexpensive and has the advantage of being off site, so if someone steals your computer or you have a fire/flood, your data is still safe.