Getting data off a dead hard drive

[Ilmater]

Does anyone know of any places that do this? The hard drive doesn't spin up any more. It didn't have a head crash, it just doesn't power up. I would also like to know how much this would cost me.

Thanks for any help.

 

[zephyrprime]

It cost a fortune. Thousands. Try the freezer trick before you do anything else. Also try the "drop trick" if that doesn't work.

 

[bolomite]

here

 

[spanky]

hehe... i am having some problems with a hard drive myself. ur post saved me the trouble of posting about dead hds

 

[Ilmater]

I may very well try the "drop" trick if the freezer trick doesn't work.

 

[DannyBoy]

Originally posted by: Ilmater
I may very well try the "drop" trick if the freezer trick doesn't work.

Whats the "drop trick" ??

 

[thorin]

Originally posted by: MrFiTTy

Originally posted by: Ilmater
I may very well try the "drop" trick if the freezer trick doesn't work.

Whats the "drop trick" ??

More info here:

200 Ways to Revive a Hard Drive
If you don't have a Tech Republic account use:
UID: at2001@my.net
PASS: at2001

Thorin

 

[Ilmater]

Thorin, you're the man. Actually, my HD is in the freezer right now, but I'm having the exact problem they talk about in the "drop" trick. It's an ancient hard drive and won't spin up after being inactive for awhile. It's about 5 years old and I bought this new drive specifically to back up data, but it appears that I've waited too long.

 

[thorin]

No problem dude. I've got alot of information saved up for a Drive/Disaster recovery FAQ that I've been promising Andy Hui (and everyone here) for more then a year, I just can't see to find time to sit down and put it together.

Thorin

 

[Ilmater]

UPDATE - Well, I tried the freezer trick, then I tried the drop trick, but nothing works. It just won't spin up. Any more suggestions? I'll try anything at this point, because it really doesn't matter.

 

[thorin]

Did you read through the different parts of the "200 Ways" article ?

Thorin

 

[DOOPYLOOPY]

the "try anything:, does that including throwing big amounts of money at it to take it to a data recovery specialist...............

 

[tylerhunt]

I had a Computer Science class last Spring and my prof had another job doing forensic data recovery. He had some really interesting stories that he shared with us. I remember him talking one time though about recovering from dead hard drives, and it sounds like you may be able to try this out with some chance of success. What you do is find another hard drive identical to the one that's dead, and swap the controller cards on the drives. You could probably search eBay to find a drive. If the data is important, this would be worth a shot, and it's a whole lot cheaper than professional data recovery which can cost $1000 and up (my friend's dad actually ended up paying around $1200 I think - he had to do it because his drive died and he had all of his home business documents on it).

 

[LeadMagnet]

How about the drop kick trick into a freezer? Then microwave it for 30min on high.

No seriously - It looks like you will be spending some $$$$$$ to get the data back, if it is just a motor issue or chip burnt out issue you may be only looking at a couple of hundred busk. If there is damage to the disk platters that is where the real time and money come into play usualy several thousand.

Good luck, and in the future buy a USB 2.0 drive and back your data up on to it requalrly - I use Window's "My Breifcase" as a easy free utulity, but there are much better. I wouldn't go the CD-RW or the Tape route they would both be more time consuming and expensive

 

[Ilmater]

I have nearly 400GB of hard drive space. How, exactly, do I go about backing that up with a USB 2.0 external drive?

I did e-mail a data recovery place, and they said that it would cost between $350 and $1600. I'm assuming that it's just a dead motor, so it would be closer to the $350 range.

 

[thorin]

Originally posted by: Ilmater
I have nearly 400GB of hard drive space. How, exactly, do I go about backing that up with a USB 2.0 external drive?

I did e-mail a data recovery place, and they said that it would cost between $350 and $1600. I'm assuming that it's just a dead motor, so it would be closer to the $350 range.

Get a 200GB (or 250 or 300) Maxtor and put it in a USB2.0 External Enclosure, turn drive compression on (or get a real backup program that does compression) and make a copy, or Ghost it (I think Ghost even supports compression).

Thorin