Forensic hard drive tech/service needed...

[alkemyst]

MODS: move this if it's in the wrong section...don't really know where this falls.

One of the VP's here just brought me a 10 year old drive that's in the clicks of death. I tried to slave it but it's no-go.

The problem is all his daughter's wedding pictures are on this thing along with tons of other irreplaceable photos/data. He knows it's going to cost...he's in deep crap as his wife has been bugging him to 'get a new dell' for a while.

Let me know if you know any good services that can be trusted.

 

[olds]

Freezer.

 

[vshah]

^ try the freezer first.

 

[highland145]

Freezer.

Put the wife in the freezer?

 

[MiniDoom]

if the freezer trick doesn't work, i hope he's prepared to shell out some cash.

 

[olds]

Put the wife in the freezer?

I like my wives like I like my coffee. Ground up and in the freezer.

 

[vshah]

I like my wives like I like my coffee. Ground up and in the freezer.

i like my women like I like my coffee...Hot, Smooth, and with a spoon in them

 

[Juddog]

Word of advice for the freezer trick. Put it in a static proof bag with one of those anti-moisture packets inside to avoid condensation. Leave it in overnight before attempting to use it again.

 

[Gunbuster]

A VP can pay for some real data recovery. Send it to: http://www.ontrackdatarecovery.com/

 

[Modelworks]

Freezer is a VERY bad idea and can do more harm than good. You place the drive in the freezer, the platters get cold and you bring it out into warm air and now moisture can form on the platters making the heads stick to the platter spinning at 7200RPM . Skip the freezer and remove the pc board from the drive , blow off any dust or dirt and screw it back down, that is all the freezer 'trick' does, contract connections making them more likely to connect.

Don't bother with swapping boards with identical drives to try to get data back, that will not work for current shipping drives.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Freezer is a VERY bad idea and can do more harm than good. You place the drive in the freezer, the platters get cold and you bring it out into warm air and now moisture can form on the platters making the heads stick to the platter spinning at 7200RPM . Skip the freezer and remove the pc board from the drive , blow off any dust or dirt and screw it back down, that is all the freezer 'trick' does, contract connections making them more likely to connect.

Don't bother with swapping boards with identical drives to try to get data back, that will not work for current shipping drives.

The freezer trick has worked for me. The key is to leave it in the freezer and plug it in with a USB to IDE adaptor, and a long USB extension cable.

Tell the VP he should pay for it to be professionally salvaged to avoid any further issues with the Mrs. lol, execs make me chuckle when it comes to tech stuff..

 

[Raduque]

Don't bother with swapping boards with identical drives to try to get data back, that will not work for current shipping drives.

'Splain. I don't see any reason why this WOULDN'T work. HDs are a mass-produced consumer product, they're not hand-built, unique snowflake, one-of-a-kind pieces of art.

 

[ViviTheMage]

ontrack is good, but not cheap.

 

[Crucial]

Why even bother with trying the freezer trick. He's more interested in getting the pictures so just send it off to a professional before you do more damage.

Every data recovery place will tell you to not even power the drive up if you suspect problems so you don't further harm the contents.

 

[Gunbuster]

'Splain. I don't see any reason why this WOULDN'T work. HDs are a mass-produced consumer product, they're not hand-built, unique snowflake, one-of-a-kind pieces of art.

Oh but they are. Current drives have unique calibration data flashed to the PCB during manufacturing. Thats the price we pay for insane data density using analog/digital hocus pocus.

 

[Alone]

Oh but they are. Current drives have unique calibration data flashed to the PCB during manufacturing. Thats the price we pay for insane data density using analog/digital hocus pocus.

It's a 10 year old drive. Far from "current" if you ask me.

 

[Kalmah]

I know somebody first hand who used the freezer trick and it worked. It only gave it about 10 minutes of life though.

 

[dquan97]

If it's clicking, then it sounds like a hardware malfunction. I'd take it to a harddrive recovery company.

 

[alkemyst]

Word of advice for the freezer trick. Put it in a static proof bag with one of those anti-moisture packets inside to avoid condensation. Leave it in overnight before attempting to use it again.

yeah...I am not recommending it. I know the freezer trick but I don't want to be on the hook for any issues.

 

[Juddog]

I know somebody first hand who used the freezer trick and it worked. It only gave it about 10 minutes of life though.

I use the freezer trick all the time; it has allowed me to recover at least 20 drives over several years that were otherwise inoperable. As mentioned above I use a USB to IDE / SATA adapter that I bought off of newegg.

 

[Phoenix86]

Why even bother with trying the freezer trick. He's more interested in getting the pictures so just send it off to a professional before you do more damage.

Every data recovery place will tell you to not even power the drive up if you suspect problems so you don't further harm the contents.

Every barber will say you need a haircut too.

Why try the freezer trick? Because it works and showing a VP your technical abilities could be a VERY good thing. Depends on their pull.

If the freezer trick doesn't work, send the drive to on track. It'll cost $$$.

 

[Platypus]

Send it to a professional service.

The freezer trick definitely works but only in certain circumstances. You do not want to get blamed if it's unrecoverable and HE somehow believes you caused it by putting it in a freezer.

 

[kranky]

I would send it to OnTrack.

 

[Crucial]

Every barber will say you need a haircut too.

Why try the freezer trick? Because it works and showing a VP your technical abilities could be a VERY good thing. Depends on their pull.

If the freezer trick doesn't work, send the drive to on track. It'll cost $$$.

Or you put the drive in the freezer and ruin it and all chances of recovering someone elses data.

 

[GlacierFreeze]

Send it to a professional service.

The freezer trick definitely works but only in certain circumstances. You do not want to get blamed if it's unrecoverable and HE somehow believes you caused it by putting it in a freezer.

+11111

Something that important to him, I'd definitely make him send it to a professional company. Even if the freezer trick works, it sounds too important for me to put my neck on the chopping block. After he gets the bill from the data recovery place, he'll learn a lesson in having multiple backups of important stuff. No need to risk your own job for someone else's lack of basic technical sense.

Freezer trick would be good for recovering saved game files or that favorite porn video of yours.