Hard Drive Recovery Services
"My hard drive was making a clicking sound, and now it won't start up at all. Should I try to fix it myself, or send it to a hard drive repair service?"
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Time For a Hard Drive Recovery Service?
We always assume that our computers are infallible, but sooner or later every one of us will crash. As much as we know we should back up all our important files, how many of us do that on a regular basis? There are many ways to recover a hard drive.
Of course, if your computer is still under warranty, it's best to contact the manufacturer or, if you have a Mac, take it to one of their Apple Stores. No warranty? There are some common hard disk problems that you can fix yourself, with a bit of self-education. See my article Hard Drive Recovery if you want to try the do-it-yourself route. But unless you're fairly geeky, trying to save the hard drive yourself may cripple it even further, so the best choice would be to engage your local expert, if you have one.
Large electronic or office stores such as Best Buy or Staples can also do the chore for you, but their service is not inexpensive. At Best Buy, diagnosis is $59.99 and recovery starts at $259.99. They will even send out a member of their Geek Squad if you need service in your home or office.
YouTube has instructional videos for specific brands and models. It can be very helpful to get step-by-step instructions, but if your computer has crashed to the point that you cannot get online, this is not a particularly useful solution.
Send Your Hard Drive To a Recovery Service
There are also specialized data recovery services such as Salvage Data, which offer multiple solutions. Whether your problem is human or electrical, personal or business oriented in origin, they work on any system, including the earliest Bigfoot ATA hard drives. The company is authorized by major computer companies giving you that extra security that you may not get from a local IT expert. You can contact them by phone, online or download software for $100 -$200, depending on your operating system.
DTI is another company that can service your hard drive in a clean room environment, and they are authorized by all major hard drive manufacturers. They even go so far as to answer the question of why you should trust them. "Quote From NASA: 'Lockhead Martin referred us' end quote." Their remote data recovery service usually costs less than $100.00 and if there is no data, there is no charge.
HDRG has technicians that have been trained by manufacturers and have a recovery rate of 98%. They will put you in touch with a rep who will talk with you about the problem over the phone and may often be able to repair the damage. Again if there is no recovery, there is no charge.
After your PC is repaired, I recommend that you purchase an external hard drive and begin a daily/weekly regimen of backing up all your important files. The expense will be well worth the security and the costly repairs at another date and time. See my related articles Backing Up Your Files and Free Backup Solutions for more information on free or low-cost backup strategies.
Do you have experience or questions about hard drive recovery? Post your comments below...
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Posted by Bob Rankin on July 30, 2009 09:29 PM
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Article information: AskBobRankin -- Hard Drive Recovery Services (Posted: July 30, 2009 09:29 PM)
Printed from: http://askbobrankin.com/hard_drive_recovery_services.html
Copyright © 2005 - Bob Rankin - All Rights Reserved
Most recent comments on "Hard Drive Recovery Services"
Posted by:
Jay S. Zeltzer
03 Aug 2009
In the alternative, one could purchase SpinRite from Gibson Research [http://www.grc.com/spinrite.htm] as I have. It has saved me several times, making it a great bang for the buck, by getting my drive running so I could save its' data.
Thank you for your great newsletter!
Jay
Posted by:
Smiling Carcass
03 Aug 2009
Ok, this depends entirely on how important your data is. But freezing a mechanically failed hard drive can allow you enough time to recover the data- if you’re prepared and quick!
Rather than put all the information here, I have put three links at the end to try. I suggest reading them all because one of them claims to have left the hard drive to warm again before running it. Also, search for yourself; see what other tips are around for successfully recovering data this way. I googled ‘freeze dead hard drive’.
I have read in the past this is a one-time solution and cannot be repeated. Once it’s frozen and warmed back up, it is done- no more, deceased as Monty Python’s parrot. However, the article that claims the hard drive was allowed to warm before recovery suggests under certain circumstances repeated attempts could be successful.
I have never had the need to try this, so cannot vouch for its effectiveness- or its destructiveness.
As I said before, is your data worth a few hundred dollars? Take it to the professionals. If you’d like it back but not at that price, you have little to lose.
http://geeksaresexy.blogspot.com/2006/01/freeze-your-hard-drive-to-recover-data.html
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=2006110111270170
http://www.datarecoverypros.com/hard-drive-recovery-freeze.html
Posted by:
Desi
03 Aug 2009
I live in NYC and have recovered data from a dozen hard drives for people in my building. The key is to backup!
Posted by:
Adolph Lopez
03 Aug 2009
The hard drive that crashed was my external Western Digital BOOK. Lucky most of the data on this drive was my music and I am such a worry wart that I have my music backed up in several places. This was not the case with certain old archived business files. So I will try one of the experts and see what they can do. I gues the lesson learned is have redundant back up files of everything.
Posted by:
rHughes
03 Aug 2009
This is the caveman solution. After replacing the hard drive, gently tap the non-functioning drive against a hard surface a few times on either side. Then reinstall the drive as a slave.
I've done this, and have been able to recover all of the important files before permanently removing the drive from the box.
Obviously, this won't work with burned out circuits, or other electronic issues, but if it's a mechanical problem (such as worn bearings) it might loosen things up, and give you just enough spin to get the job done.
Posted by:
Vidur Sing
04 Aug 2009
Dear Sir, Please tell me the process, how can I make my Back up file for Harddisk data, because I have several Music files saved in Hard disk, If it crashed unfortunately, I should have the back up of those files. Please suggest me the best and easy way.
EDITOR'S NOTE: See http://askbobrankin.com/free_backup_solutions.html
Posted by:
Fun Anku
25 Aug 2009
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice info. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
I will apologize, if you track my blog too
http://www.few-tips-regarding-data-recovery.blogspot.com/
Posted by:
watson
03 Oct 2009
Hard drive recovery is a very interesting field to have discussion upon. I have tried and researched on Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Software and found it very advanced than others.
Posted by:
Phil Wheatley
08 Oct 2009
wish I had read this about a year ago...my hard drive on my old Dell froze and I called Dell who sent a couple of tech-reps to fix it. They replaced the drive...sad part is that I lost alot of stuff...especially the dozens of pictures of my time in Vietnam...Jan '69 - Jan '70...all gone!
...wish I had kept that drive...perhaps someone could have saved some of those things...oh, well.