[Drjones]

Hi everyone.

My buddy's hard drive crashed and I'm trying to help him find a data recovery service that doesn't cost as much as a small car.

He'd be willing to pay $2-300 or so.

Is there anyone you can recommend?


Thanks and Happy New Year!!!

[Nyper]

I've never used any 3rd-party services.

How exactly did it crash? What all has he tried so far? Has he tried making it slave to another drive?

[fastvfr]

Originally posted by Drjones
Hi everyone.

My buddy's hard drive crashed and I'm trying to help him find a data recovery service that doesn't cost as much as a small car.

He'd be willing to pay $2-300 or so.

Is there anyone you can recommend?


Thanks and Happy New Year!!!

Hoooo boy.

Unless he can swap out the circuit board (as with a fried DC chip) or wants to try the Freezer Trick, I'm afraid your friend is SOL.

Two or three hundred dollars?! Try 2-3 THOUSAND.

That's why a $100 external HDD is indispensable. DR is extremely costly while preventative maintenance, well...isn't.

Whether the DIY DR methods do or don't work, he still needs to protect himself against a recurrence.

Heck, all anyone needs is to prevent such a crisis is one of these and a spare hard drive...**sheesh**.

[Drjones]

Originally posted by Nyper
I've never used any 3rd-party services.

How exactly did it crash? What all has he tried so far? Has he tried making it slave to another drive?

He said he was burning a DVD and suddenly the HD started making an odd noise & then died.

And he doesn't belive in slavery. ;f

Seriously: how do you do that? Is there any chance of recovering the data that way?

[Drjones]

Originally posted by fastvfr
Hoooo boy.

Unless he can swap out the circuit board (as with a fried DC chip) or wants to try the Freezer Trick, I'm afraid your friend is SOL.

Two or three hundred dollars?! Try 2-3 THOUSAND.

That's why a $100 external HDD is indispensable. DR is extremely costly while preventative maintenance, well...isn't.

Whether the DIY DR methods do or don't work, he still needs to protect himself against a recurrence.

Heck, all anyone needs is to prevent such a crisis is one of these and a spare hard drive...**sheesh**.

I'm aware of how expensive data recovery is, which is why I've asked here to see if there are any sanely priced alternatives.

I think I've found at least one reputable-looking place online that will charge around $400 or so.

I've warned my friend before about making backups, but he never got around to it.

This was his wake up call. Fortunately, nothing ultra-critical was lost.

This incident also reminded me that I'm long overdue for a backup, particularly of my digital photos.

BTW, is there anything in particular that will cause a HD to crash & die like that so suddenly?

[David_G17]

Originally posted by Drjones
He said he was burning a DVD and suddenly the HD started making an odd noise & then died.

And he doesn't belive in slavery. ;f

Seriously: how do you do that? Is there any chance of recovering the data that way?

if the problem is software, you can connect two drives (the bad one and a known good one) to the wide cable connecting your motherboard to the hard drive. Put the good drive at the end of the cable to boot from.

then you can just turn it on, open "My Computer", and there will be another drive (i.e. "E:") which you can click on and go through the various folders (dragging and dropping icons to your working hard drive).

VERY simple.

if the drive died from hardware failure, good luck.

[mitchshrader]

i've had hard drives die often enough to associate that with bad power supplies. (either electrical failure, storms, & known 'spikes'.. or power supplies that were older and failing)

the main preventative i've seen actually matter for HD longevity is keep the computer on a UPS. it DOES make a big difference.

the next most relevant thought is always buy 3-5 year warranty drives. there are frequently slight savings for OEM 1 year warranty drives, avoid em. false economy.

the last main thought is, DO spend on a spare, a back up drive, and copy data over. keeping said data on DVD or CD is also very very smart.

warning: External drives are MUCH more likely to die suddenly than internal ones. NEVER trust your only backup to an external drive. better an internal one, on another machine, networked. OR keep full DVD backups at all times.

[fastvfr]

Mitch has a point I will elaborate on:

I do NOT plug in the power brick for my XHDD unless I am about to transfer data.

That little transformer that powers it does not have the protective circuitry that a PC's PSU has, and so a spike or dip in current causes the drive's circuitry much more grief.

And, as with a PC, they should be plugged into an uninterruptible power supply for safety.

[Toyman]

You might want to give SpinRite ($89) a try:

http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm

See also: http://www.grc.com/sr/testimonials.htm

It's highly rated, and written by one of the sharpest guys in the business.

[RaiderRodney]

Originally posted by Toyman
You might want to give SpinRite ($89) a try:

http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm

See also: http://www.grc.com/sr/testimonials.htm

It's highly rated, and written by one of the sharpest guys in the business.

Good call on Gibson Research, I had forgot about that.

Little off-topic (sorry) but has anyone tried the new USB to IDE for external hard drives? It has its own PS for the HD and no case to take drives in and out of. Was thinking about picking one up myself. Here is a link:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812156101

Some great points have been made about why drives fail. Something else that effects drive life is heat. If you have a small crammed case with poor airflow it can be hard on everything.

I have started using only Seagate HD's because far as I know, they have the only 5 year warranty.

[Drjones]

Originally posted by mitchshrader

warning: External drives are MUCH more likely to die suddenly than internal ones. NEVER trust your only backup to an external drive. better an internal one, on another machine, networked. OR keep full DVD backups at all times.

Uh-oh.....why do you say that??