Hard drive won't show up on my computer. Is paying for data recovery worth it?

[decrescendo]

I had a 5 year old Seagate harddrive make a few odd noises and then disappear from My Computer and Device Manager a week or two ago. It was 750 GB drive and I did not have several GB of personal pictures backed up.

Is it worth paying a local computer repair place $100 for an initial diagnostics test and then $100 per hour for recovery?

What exactly would they do? Is it something so cosmic that I would never be able to pull it off myself?

 

[Dulanic]

The odds they can recover it are about even with what you can try. Follow these steps....

http://www.wikihow.com/Recover-a-Dead-Hard-Disk

Local store isn't going to be able to recover a truly dead hard drive. If it is truly dead the platers need to be removed and the data recovered which costs thousands typically.

 

[decrescendo]

The odds they can recover it are about even with what you can try. Follow these steps....

http://www.wikihow.com/Recover-a-Dead-Hard-Disk

Local store isn't going to be able to recover a truly dead hard drive. If it is truly dead the platers need to be removed and the data recovered which costs thousands typically.

Yeah, I was just curious how much magic they can pull. I did hear a sort of beeping noise that was at a constant interval before the drive completely disappeared from "view". That obviously sounds like a hardware issue with the drive itself, not an issue with the SATA cable or motherboard.

 

[Mackowitz]

Does the drive show up in BIOS? Not showing up in My Computer doesn't mean it's dead. Something wrong, for sure, but if the drive shows up in BIOS there is a better chance recovery software would do the trick.

I have used Active File Recovery and Active Partition Recovery on my drives to pull off data:

http://www.partition-recovery.com/
http://www.file-recovery.net/

It's $50 for the Professional Version of File Recovery and that includes the partition recovery. If somethings goofed up with the partitions, it will fix those and you can copy off your data. If partitions can't be fixed (my case last time I used this) the file recovery will do a deep scan of everything on the drive and index all the individual files and then you can copy them to another drive. I was able to move all my stuff onto an external drive using this. The scanning takes a long time.

I wouldn't pay a local shop because, personally, I think Me + Google + Forums are smarter than any local shop.

 

[decrescendo]

Does the drive show up in BIOS? Not showing up in My Computer doesn't mean it's dead. Something wrong, for sure, but if the drive shows up in BIOS there is a better chance recovery software would do the trick.

I have used Active File Recovery and Active Partition Recovery on my drives to pull off data:

http://www.partition-recovery.com/
http://www.file-recovery.net/

It's $50 for the Professional Version of File Recovery and that includes the partition recovery. If somethings goofed up with the partitions, it will fix those and you can copy off your data. If partitions can't be fixed (my case last time I used this) the file recovery will do a deep scan of everything on the drive and index all the individual files and then you can copy them to another drive. I was able to move all my stuff onto an external drive using this. The scanning takes a long time.

I wouldn't pay a local shop because, personally, I think Me + Google + Forums are smarter than any local shop.

I'm 90% sure I didn't see it in BIOS either. I'll have to doublecheck.

 

[Soundmanred]

I wouldn't bother with a local shop either, you ca do the same things they can. (Unless they have a cleanroom, specialized equipment and parts to do true data recovery.)

 

[decrescendo]

I wouldn't bother with a local shop either, you ca do the same things they can. (Unless they have a cleanroom, specialized equipment and parts to do true data recovery.)

I would doubt they have a cleanroom but the specialized equipment is what I was really curious about. I wasn't sure if most little computer places had anything special on hand.

 

[exdeath]

If the drive doesn't initialize and show up in BIOS / device manager, you're out of luck, it's entirely a physical data recovery at that point.

You can't even begin sector level recover with software unless you have drive to work with in the host environment.

 

[Zap]

The odds they can recover it are about even with what you can try.

Since it is a local shop, this is what I think as well. Either do it yourself (knowing you risk the data) or pay a "real" place like Ontrack (or many others) that has the facilities to recover data past what random diagnostics software can do.

Just understand that there exists the possibility that whatever data recovery you try to perform on it has the possibility to make it more difficult to recover that data.

 

[decrescendo]

Since it is a local shop, this is what I think as well. Either do it yourself (knowing you risk the data) or pay a "real" place like Ontrack (or many others) that has the facilities to recover data past what random diagnostics software can do.

Just understand that there exists the possibility that whatever data recovery you try to perform on it has the possibility to make it more difficult to recover that data.

How much do you think a place like Ontrack costs? Is it outrageously expensive?

 

[stevech]

I've had successes by putting the drive into the freezer for a few hours. Then rush out, connect it to a SATA/IDE to USB adapter, plug in a power connector, and hurry-up to try to get data copied off. May take several cycles. Also, a firm knock or two with a rubber/plastic hammer; unstick bearings or head actuator.

those clean-room shops probably will wind up costing $2-3K.

 

[decrescendo]

I've had successes by putting the drive into the freezer for a few hours. Then rush out, connect it to a SATA/IDE to USB adapter, plug in a power connector, and hurry-up to try to get data copied off. May take several cycles. Also, a firm knock or two with a rubber/plastic hammer; unstick bearings or head actuator.

those clean-room shops probably will wind up costing $2-3K.

Good Lord that's expensive. I'll probably take the data loss hit in that case.

I might give those suggestions a try. Thanks!

 

[DarkRogue]

I've had successes by putting the drive into the freezer for a few hours. Then rush out, connect it to a SATA/IDE to USB adapter, plug in a power connector, and hurry-up to try to get data copied off. May take several cycles. Also, a firm knock or two with a rubber/plastic hammer; unstick bearings or head actuator.

those clean-room shops probably will wind up costing $2-3K.

Good Lord that's expensive. I'll probably take the data loss hit in that case.

I might give those suggestions a try. Thanks!

I would actually advise you NOT to do that.
The freezer trick, if it works, is great, but more often than not, it doesn't work and will make it harder to do data recovery on, which means you end up paying even more for those services because you've made it more annoying for the pros to work on it.
Knocking the hard drive with a rubber hammer is a new one to me, and I'd imagine it could cause the heads to smash into the platters than anything, if they were stuck.

If you truly want your data back, only you can decide if it's worth the cost of recovery. I would advise posting at http://forum.hddguru.com/ and see if anyone is willing to help you out. I have had to recover my data before because I didn't back up the hundreds of gigabytes of data I had on my drive, but I managed to negotiate a "reasonable" price (under 500) for the service. Don't get me wrong, it's still crazy expensive, but again, you decide if it's worth the cost. Let me know if you want me to recommend you the guy I used.

 

[Blain]

Freezing a HD has worked for me in the past.
But it should only be attempted if you aren't willing to pay for data recovery.

 

[Zap]

Freezing a HD has worked for me in the past.
But it should only be attempted if you aren't willing to pay for data recovery.

This. I've done the freezing trick and it worked great on ONE drive, but not on two others. It probably depends on the nature of the failure.

 

[decrescendo]

This. I've done the freezing trick and it worked great on ONE drive, but not on two others. It probably depends on the nature of the failure.

I've never heard of that before but I'm willing to pull out some stops given the nature of my problem.

 

[BTA]

Freeze trick usually works for a drive with mechanical issues, or you can take it and hold the drive sideways, with the longest thin side (where the screwholes are) flat against a tabletop, and tap it firmly on the table.

If it's an issue with the PCB and just not detecting (spins up fine) you can buy another of the exact model of your drive and swap the boards.

I wouldn't bother with a local shop.

 

[docker]

The freezer trick risks condensation forming on the platters. You're taking a major gamble with your data doing it. If the drive is making noise you should send it to a data recovery lab. Most of the top labs (OnTrack, DriveSavers, Gillware) will not charge you for an evaluation.

Here's a video that Gillware did on the 'freezer trick': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad1uVAB5bNA

In the end it just depends on how important the data is to you.

We've had luck with all of these labs. Gillware is generally the most affordable though.
http://ontrack.com
http://gillware.com
http://drivesavers.com

 

[stevech]

It's so much less painful to just backup by discipline.

 

[decrescendo]

It's so much less painful to just backup by discipline.

Sigh. I know.

There was some data on there I didn't backup due to the lack of space on the backup drives.

 

[Modelworks]

If the drive is not showing up in the bios and you are sure all the cabling and power connections are fine then chances are the electronics have failed. If the drive is detected in some way , like the bios hangs as detecting it, then it could be a mechanical problem. Drives over 250GB were about the time that manufacturers moved the firmware the drive uses onto the platters. So if a drive has a mechanical problem it can't load the firmware and may appear dead. Swapping out boards doesn't work anymore for this reason.

The freezer trick often will destroy heads. Moisture condenses on the platters and when you power up the drive that moisture can cause a head to stick to a platter, and at 5000 rpm+ you don't want that.

Examine the board for anything discolored or blown. Often that is the case with dead drives and those parts can be replaced to make the drive functional again without messing with the platters or internals.

 

[alizee]

Just be certain that you do not want to pursue professional data recovery before you try any trick posted here, but I know Drive Savers (and I imagine OnTrack as well) can get just about anything off, it seems like. But, the more you try the harder it gets (including software fixes, freezer, mallet, etc.).

But, here's what has worked for me:
The freezer trick, pretty much as posted here. If you have a dehumidifier, use it because condensation can build up on the drive because of the extreme temperature differences it will see. Also, running it outside the computer/enclosure might keep it a little cooler, so it may work just fine without the freezer part.

The bump/mallet trick. On iPods that give you the weird hard drive beep every second or two, knock them against the table pretty hard. This may work for larger hard drives than the 1.8 inch drives, iPods, and I'm assuming that's what the rubber mallet is doing. It only works if the hard drive head is stuck in park and not against the platters.

But, as you know and as others have posted, a backup saves so much head and heart ache. I think a good rule of thumb is "Is that stuff worth $2000?" If yes, send it and forget any of the advice you see here, if not, try every trick mentioned (I'd say start with the freezer).