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Recovering data from dead hard drive

post #1 of 25
1/31/07 at 6:43pm
Thread Starter 
So I umm.. dropped my laptop, and killed the hard drive. The thing won't boot up at all. Problem is I have about a years worth of un-backed-up design work on there.

I was curious about the general cost of data recovery. What kind of place should I go to for help? What kind of cost am I looking at? Is it something I can do myself? I hope it's not more than $300.

Anyone have experience on this matter?
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post #2 of 25
1/31/07 at 7:33pm
Generally, it is not cheap to recover data. You might recall the Great Style Forum Crash of almost one year ago. The good news is that data recovery software gets better and better over time. That makes it cost effective to recover some data that would otherwise be too expensive to locate.

There are many services these days in San Diego. Do a Google search for "data recovery" or "hard drive repair". Don't forget to specify San Diego in your parameters. Lots of the tiny shops have the capabilities that only large companies had a year ago. Shop around because there is a huge variation in prices quoted.

It may be as simple as going into your hard drive and turning back the time or . . . it could get really ugly in a hurry.

http://www.datarecoverysandiego.com/ on Eastgate Mall by UTC

http://www.laokay.com/DataRecovery_sa.htm this link lists eight San Diego area shops

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post #3 of 25
1/31/07 at 7:39pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks a lot FC. I'll check that out. It totally sucks because it took about two days for my hard drive to die, during those times it was booting up slower and slower. If only I would have known, I could have thrown it all on a DVD.
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post #4 of 25
1/31/07 at 8:18pm
I think the cheapest way is to post an ad in your local craigslist. I knew someone with a dead hard drive a while back and he was quote some astronomical price to recover his data. He ended up posting an ad in the local craigslist and got a starving college student to do it for cheap.
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post #5 of 25
1/31/07 at 8:30pm
That's fine if the drive was just formatted, or a file or partition was deleted, but if the drive is completely shot and won't even spin-up, it's not exactly something you can fix in your dorm room ;p
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post #6 of 25
1/31/07 at 9:15pm
My laptop HD died last year. I used a program called GetDataBack. You need to take your HD, and connect it via a USB HD dock on another computer. The shareware version of the software will find all the data it can and then you need to register before it will actually recover it. I got back EVERYTHING it saved my life. My HD wasn't even recognized by the other computer from expolrer it was so FUBARed. One thing though, it took about 48 hrs. for the program to scan my entire HD, I thought it was frozen, but it actually takes that long. PM me and I can help you further.
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post #7 of 25
1/31/07 at 11:02pm
Depends if it was damaged at all, which it sounds like it has been since it was dropped. Don't turn it on again, every time it spins, the spindle will scratch the head like a crappy record player. Most likely, it will need to be dismantled and re-assembled in a clean room, this will cost around $1k.

I have read, and tried to put a harddrive into an acetone/dry ice solution while inside a vaccuum sealed bag and then trying to do a slow read with dd in os X. I only got about an extra 28k off the drive this way.

Backups are so important. I don't do it, but I know I need to find a convenient way, thinking about getting a tape drive bot. I think I'll take the time tonite to backup my home folder.

Powerbooks have a motion sensor that will supposedly shut off your harddrive instantly if it gets dropped or bumped too hard. I have yet to put it to the test.
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post #8 of 25
2/1/07 at 12:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tiecollector
Depends if it was damaged at all, which it sounds like it has been since it was dropped. Don't turn it on again, every time it spins, the spindle will scratch the head like a crappy record player. Most likely, it will need to be dismantled and re-assembled in a clean room, this will cost around $1k.

I have read, and tried to put a harddrive into an acetone/dry ice solution while inside a vaccuum sealed bag and then trying to do a slow read with dd in os X. I only got about an extra 28k off the drive this way.

Backups are so important. I don't do it, but I know I need to find a convenient way, thinking about getting a tape drive bot. I think I'll take the time tonite to backup my home folder.

Powerbooks have a motion sensor that will supposedly shut off your harddrive instantly if it gets dropped or bumped too hard. I have yet to put it to the test.

I recently bought a 500gb external hd for like 300 bucks canadian. That's more than enough capacity to keep a couple of full backups + incrementals for a notebook computer. If you've got anything of value on your pc, it's insane not to back it up. Everyone learns after their first data-loss though. Most people don't need nearly that much space for their critical files (as opposed to music) and could fit their backups on to 50 cent DVDs...

It's best to have some sort of automated solution though. That way you can't forget. There's also some online backup services that use your broadband connection. I haven't tried them but know they are getting more popular.
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post #9 of 25
2/1/07 at 12:34am
yeah, I just need to figure out how to automate it. I got hacked a while back from some script kiddy in Romania, lost everything almost, I couldn't really backup because my server had so much space and it was expensive at the time. I have an external that I will use I think and just tarball my home directory. I have lost everything before, I work in a Data Center and I still haven't learned . It is much easier now that I have only been using my powerbook, before I had like 5 computers I would migrate between, which made it cumbersome. I am looking at something like www.mozy.com now, seems they give you 2gb free. Would love to just pay a small fee and not have to worry about it. Be easy too with my OC192 connection at work.
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post #10 of 25
2/1/07 at 3:33am
If it's a mac, message me, I'll tell you how. If it's not, figure out how to turn it into a firewire, and you should be able to just transfer the files.
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post #11 of 25
2/1/07 at 3:43am
Sorry man, that really sucks. Believe me, I know.

Yeah, I first thought maybe it's not the drive itself - you can pull it and buy a USB laptop drive kit that you just plug the drive into and plug in. That would at least tell you if the drive is readable. And if not, you're going to have to have it out to send to anyone anyway. The kits are like $30 bucks.
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post #12 of 25
2/1/07 at 4:12am
Thread Starter 
Im so fucking stoked! This HD has one last leg on it apparently, and for some odd reason, OS X detects it and boots up when I hold it upside down!

I've already finished backing up my entire design portfolio and font directories. I'll be getting a new computer soon anyway with graduation money but shit! I was being quoted $800+ by the data recovery places and that's a HUGE load off my mind.
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post #13 of 25
2/1/07 at 4:16am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian SD
Im so fucking stoked! This HD has one last leg on it apparently, and for some odd reason, OS X detects it and boots up when I hold it upside down!

I've already finished backing up my entire design portfolio and font directories. I'll be getting a new computer soon anyway with graduation money but shit! I was being quoted $800+ by the data recovery places and that's a HUGE load off my mind.

Congratulations!

Guess who will always back-up his data and files in the future?

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post #14 of 25
2/1/07 at 5:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian SD
Im so fucking stoked! This HD has one last leg on it apparently, and for some odd reason, OS X detects it and boots up when I hold it upside down!

I've already finished backing up my entire design portfolio and font directories. I'll be getting a new computer soon anyway with graduation money but shit! I was being quoted $800+ by the data recovery places and that's a HUGE load off my mind.

Great!!!!

For $800 you can get a nice dual core laptop these days
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post #15 of 25
2/1/07 at 6:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by rnoldh
Great!!!!

For $800 you can get a nice dual core laptop these days

And it will almost buy you the low-end macbook with student discount.
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