Choosing for data recovery?

[Easterette]

How does a person go about choosing a place for data recovery?

I'm trying to find a place to revive my very old hard drive, and there's nothing to help make a choice. I don't see recommendations in various forums, I don't see articles recommending the better companies, there's no such thing as a BBB for data recovery. Every company tells you, naturally, how great they are. Even after you choose, there's no way to judge the work - it either succeeded or failed, but there's no way to assess the place's competence.

 

[Harvey]

The first step in problem solving is to define the problem. Have you tried to connect your old drive as a slave on a working machine to see if you can read it? If you can, you can transfer the data to the main drive or any external storage, which would avoid needing a data recovery service, which can be very expensive.

If you think there is any chance the old drive is infected, make sure any machine you use for this has all its defenses in place before booting it up or connecting it through a USB port.

 

[redbeard1]

We have sent about 10 drives to these folks over the years and we have been satisfied with what they recovered each time.

The fee has averaged $2000, so it is not for the faint of heart.

DriveSavers

 

[Easterette]

Thank you both. The repair guy has tried a half-dozen things, to no avail. (And for some reason, my HD refuses to be a slave.)

I appreciate the referral, Red Beard. I talked to three other places, so am glad of any suggestions. Drive Savers spooked me, because their website was so grandiose, but they were very nice on the telephone, and said mine should run $600-$900. The way my thinking is going at the moment, I think I may try a local place with what seems to be a good rep, Amnet, at least for an estimate/diagnosis, and keep Drive Savers in mind as a last resort.

 

[MadAmos]

I have used Dave with very good results a smaller operation and was easy to talk to and much less than the better known recovery operations. YMMV

Amos

 

[Laputa]

Any of the companies that can do exchange, SQL and tapes are good. The rest usually runs software recoveries which you can do it yourself. If you can find the place that can also do remote backup, they are the best.