Board logo

HELP
I love speed :-P - 23/10/05 at 09:10 AM

My hard drive has just died, when I tried to power the computer up it made a ticking noise and bios couldn’t find a hdd, I have some files on there which I need to get back what is the best method to get it back or has anyone got some data recovery stuff or who is the best company who will get the information back

Thanks Phil


scoobyis2cool - 23/10/05 at 09:17 AM

You could try putting it into another PC as a second drive and reading the files off it that way. Sometimes even though a drive won't boot you can still get the data off it

Pete


I love speed :-P - 23/10/05 at 09:19 AM

tried that it made lots of noises and then the computer loaded but the old hdd wasnt there


flak monkey - 23/10/05 at 09:22 AM

Send it to a company who will charge you about £300 to get the files off....

If the motor has died in the drive or the bearings have siezed then there is no way of getting the files off, its just life....

Should have kept a backup


I love speed :-P - 23/10/05 at 09:24 AM

bollox


Gav - 23/10/05 at 09:25 AM

Sounds like a mechanical failure then a company used to work for used to use a data recovery company for damaged HD's, unfortunaltly i cannot remember the name of said company.
However i do remember that they took the disk platers out and put them in another of the same model and they wernt cheap, over £100 iirc.
SO it might be worth trying the same thing if you have a spare HD of the same type that you dont mind possibly of being FUBAR'd


Peteff - 23/10/05 at 09:25 AM

If bios can't detect it you are up the swanny for a diy solution. If the data is really valuable to you there are data recovery companies on the net but recovery is expensive, so much per meg usually and would probably buy you several new hard drives. Just google.co.uk " hard drive data recovery " and use the UK search.


ReMan - 23/10/05 at 09:43 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Gav
Sounds like a mechanical failure then a company used to work for used to use a data recovery company for damaged HD's, unfortunaltly i cannot remember the name of said company.
However i do remember that they took the disk platers out and put them in another of the same model and they wernt cheap, over £100 iirc.
SO it might be worth trying the same thing if you have a spare HD of the same type that you dont mind possibly of being FUBAR'd


This can definatly work, i've done this myself more than once. Get a cheap 2nd hand drive the same and swap the bits. . Its good enough to get your data off, not for long term use. A bit like bike engines, they never sound the same when they've been apart!
Sunday is computer fair day


viatron - 23/10/05 at 11:21 AM

you can get any data rcovered its just a matter of how much you want to pay...The replacement drive trick is an option but it needs to be indentical, right down to the ROM Version or it wont work, it is also very difficult to do unless you have done it before and the drive normally only lasts a short while. An old trick is to seal the drive in mucho layers of plastic and then freeze it for an hour or so, sometimes it frees things off enough to get access for maybe 20 minutes or so.

Proffesional Dr is very very expensive:

www.ontrack.co.uk

and

www.vogon.co.uk

are the best known UK companies but be prepared to pay £350 and upwards

Mac
Oh and if you open it up they probably wont even agree to look at it.


[Edited on 23-10-2005 by viatron]


Strolls - 23/10/05 at 12:38 PM

quote:
Originally posted by scoobyis2cool
You could try putting it into another PC as a second drive and reading the files off it that way.

If the data's really important then don't even try this! Send the drive off immediately to a specialist.

I recently used http://www.retrodata.co.uk/ - it's not a big company, just a little guy with a good reputation & he was very helpful. He charged about £100 for his "private individuals and students" standard service and managed to get everything off a completely dead drive - he even found several gigs of deleted files on there.

Stroller.


JoelP - 23/10/05 at 12:43 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Strolls
he even found several gigs of deleted files on there.

Stroller.


enough to get you arrested?


steve_gus - 23/10/05 at 03:25 PM

eons ago when i had my first hdd failure, it was cos the drive didnt spin up. The service co recommended that i give it a sharp tap with the handle end of a screwdriver. It started up fine! Beware whacking drives, cos it can cause a head crash.... but then yours is shagged, so what is there to lose. (unless you want to go the 350 quid route)

Before you try the above, just check that the cables are OK and that the power lead is properly in the drive - check by swapping cables.

atb

steve

[Edited on 23/10/05 by steve_gus]