I've had good luck hauling a laptop around on my bike, until last fall. Got overconfident and just stuffed it into a tailpack without wrapping anything around it like I usually do. I think the computer was touching the tailpack case and the vibration was too much for it. The HD now does nothing. When I put it in an external enclosure and try to read it, the usual spinning disk noise isn't there. Nothing. When I put my backup drive in the laptop, it works perfectly, so the problem is definitely in the HD.
It could be worse but I recently backed it up, except for some trip pictures that were recently downloaded from a camera. I'd like to recover the pictures. To complicate the issue I also managed to lose the camera memory chip with the same pictures on it. If the pictures weren't important I'd go ahead and foolishly tear into the drive myself, but I think I'd better find a pro, partly because of what I've read about the necessity of a clean room. Googling for data recovery I see lots of places offering flat rates of about $300 if successful and nothing if they fail. Not at all excited about paying $300 but the pictures are pretty much irreplaceable.
I've also read that sometimes the problem is in the electronic board, and it can be easily replaced with an identical board. I do have an identical drive so I could try it.
Appreciate any comments or recommendations anyone might have on what to do with this drive, or who to send it to to see if the pictures can be recovered.
Thanks,
Bob
$300 is actually pretty cheap for what you're asking.
if the drive isn't spinning up at all, it's definitely a hardware failure. you might have luck putting the platters in another drive, but it's something i've never had to resort to.
are you sure the drive isn't spinning up? if you see signs of life in the drive, you can try ontrack easy recovery (software)...
if not, pony up the $300.
if the pics aren't that important to you, you can try the hardware swap.
edit: i just re-read your post. if the drive is spinning up in the laptop, try the ontrack software... it's worked wonders for me before.
Thanks Derby, I'll check out the Ontrack software, it's something I've never heard of. But, I'm almost completely sure the drive is not spinning up at all, at least it's completely silent. I have several other working drives and I can hear and feel the spinning when they are in an external enclosure, but this one is completely silent.
if you're lucky, the problem is broken electrical connectors on the controller board. doing the swap is pretty easy, but you do need to make sure that the boards are exactly the same (same model number, same revision, same firmware, etc), basically the only thing that can be different is the serial number. If it spins up with the new board you should be able to pull your data off of it.
If that fails, $300 for a clean room is really cheap.
You could try putting the drive in the freezer for a bit. Then plug it in. I've had approx 20% of crapped out drives come to life with this procedure. Long enough to get information off of them. Its a long shot.
good call on the freezer! [thumbsup] been a while since I've thought about that one...put a towel around the drive before you put it in though, just to make sure any moisture is absorbed away from the drive instead of condensing in it
The circuit board swap isn't a cleanroom operation, so if you're positive that both drives are exactly identical, that might be worth a shot. Also, as odd as it sounds, the freezer trick does sometimes help.
That said, if the data is that important, $300 to recover it is pretty reasonable. I'd always heard that DriveSavers charged a lot more than that.
Thanks everyone for your input. I tried the freezer trick with no response from the HD. I may try swapping the electronics board after I check to make sure it is indeed exactly the same board, but I have a hunch that the problem is internal since it was caused by vibration. Thanks also for the re-assurance that $300 is a reasonable price pay for a clean room service :)
Be very careful with HD recovery services. The $300 sounds fine, there are a TON out there that will quote some super cheap price then when they get the drive the bill suddenly hits $2k-$3k and there will be no guaranty you will get anything back. It's a great business for scammers and they abound.
get an external kit. plug it into the bay, plug that into another computer. if it doesnt work. HDD is toast.
thats why i have 2 back ups that get backed up once a month. just makes life easier.
Quoteget an external kit. plug it into the bay, plug that into another computer. if it doesnt work. HDD is toast.
If you read my original post, that's what I did and the HD does not work in the external enclosure. The drive may be "toast" but there are numerous ways to possibly recover the lost data, and that is what my original post was asking about.
Quotethats why i have 2 back ups that get backed up once a month. just makes life easier.
Again, if you read my original post, I had just finished backing it up but uploaded some photo's since the backup. I back my computers up a lot more frequently than once a month.
Quote from: Mad Duc on July 09, 2009, 08:21:58 AM
Be very careful with HD recovery services. The $300 sounds fine, there are a TON out there that will quote some super cheap price then when they get the drive the bill suddenly hits $2k-$3k and there will be no guaranty you will get anything back. It's a great business for scammers and they abound.
Yes, thanks for this input. That was one of the motivations for starting this thread as there are so many services advertised on teh interwebs.
The company that produces the Ontrack software that Derby suggested also has a recovery service and I think I will call them.
apparenty i didnt read it at all! sorry!
i have no useful information to help then, but if i had to tell you something, id try to find someone local. and dont try bestbuy, not unless the techs working in your local one are known to do good work.
Quote from: He Man on July 09, 2009, 11:20:03 AM
apparenty i didnt read it at all! sorry!
i have no useful information to help then, but if i had to tell you something, id try to find someone local. and dont try bestbuy, not unless the techs working in your local one are known to do good work.
i wouldn't even take a computer to bestbuy for a simple software install, let alone a hardware data recovery.
Quote...but if i had to tell you something, id try to find someone local.
Yes, there is a local data recovery company here in Reno, called Great Basin Data Recovery and they were actually my first choice but I'm trying to find some references from previous customers. My experience in general with local businesses (car repair, bicycle shops, motorcycle dealers, etc.) hasn't been good so I'm a little bit leery. It may be a local phenomenon but seems like many people start businesses because they can start a business with less skill and experience than it takes to get a job in the same field :) But I have no evidence that the local data recovery service isn't top notch.