Which Data Recovery company? Dead SATA drive :(

[ben604]

I said to a friend I'd take a look at his portable HDD as it had stopped showing up on his computer, hoping it might be the usb interface, but the drive is making that rhythmic "I'm dead" clicking noise...

 

Has anyone used a data recovery company with any success for a hardware failure? Could/would you recommend anyone?!

 

Thanks,

Ben

[synaesthesia]

First and foremost, unless it's a drive with a "native" USB interface like the ones that are just a drive wrapped in rubber, take the drive out the enclosure and pop it into a computer via SATA and check it with the manufacturer's diagnostic utility.

[ben604]

Thanks for the reply, it was just a SATA in an enclosure, I've had it out and connected directly via SATA, but it doesn't even show in Computer Management

[difinity]

Kroll Ontrack Data recovery services, software and solutions | Kroll Ontrack UK

They have personally recovered data from a totally dead hard drive for me. excellent service, but not the cheapest. Just shy of a grand for 40Gb.

They send you a link in an email and you can check to see if the files you need can be recovered.

[ben604]

Kroll Ontrack Data recovery services, software and solutions | Kroll Ontrack UK

They have personally recovered data from a totally dead hard drive for me. excellent service, but not the cheapest. Just shy of a grand for 40Gb.

They send you a link in an email and you can check to see if the files you need can be recovered.

 

Crikey!

 

This is a 500GB drive :/

[markcuk]

You could try switching the PCB PCB Swapping HDD PCB, Hard Drive PCB For Data Recovery Needs! - HDDZone.com

[Flakes]

honestly its dead. just tell him to buy a new one and leave it at that.

 

if thats not an option heres a few ideas (most extreme to least, all known to have worked for someone):

 

1. Put HDD in bag and freeze over night, try it again in the morning.

2. Drop it (seriously!)

3. replace PCB

4. Try linux

5. use the tools provided by the HDD Manufacturer (may still be able to pick it up even though it doesn't show in disk management)

 

P.S

 

Data recovery is mega expensive, and generally not worth the cost, and if it was worth the cost it would of been backed up anyway.

[Achandler]

Use the trial Winhex to see if it opens, open it as a physical drive and not a normal drive, when you use WinHex you'll see what I mean.

 

If it opens it ask ti to recover files (trial can only do small files, upto 256k) and see if it gets anything. if it does then buy WinHex for about £60, if it doesnt you haven't lost anything but now know about a wicked tool, it scans the drives at hex level, basically if it spins at all, you can get info off it.

[nadeem]

If you need it recovered ,then I've used Retrodata a numberof times in the past RAID Recovery and Data Recovery From all Devices. We Recover From Any Storage Device, With Any File System, and From Any Operating System.