Question My HDD died... lots of good stuff on it.

[Zeze]

My Seagate HDD died - it's clicking upon boot-up. And I know that's a really bad thing.

I'm willing to pay $ for data recovery. What's the best option than just going to a local shop? Is there an online service I can ship to?

 

[MalVeauX]

Is that data worth a few hundred dollars to you? A local shop probably can't do anything other than send it out, pay, and then charge you more. To truly get to that data if your controller is dying or if the actuator is just resetting itself, it's not so simple to just plug it in and try elsewhere; it will involve taking the platters out or replacing the hardware on the drive that is failing (likely controller, or actuator, etc). Maybe give these guys a call: https://drivesaversdatarecovery.com/

I sympathize with you, I hope after this you start exploring redundancy and backups. Lotta folk unfortunately learn the hard way like this.

Very best,

 

[VirtualLarry]

A lesson in "I told you so" with not backing up data you can't afford to lose

So over the years here, anytime someone has posted in the storage subforum asking for help in getting back data "they can't afford to lose" on a dead drive, I usually say if they didn't have a backup, they are in big "doo doo". It sounds kind of cold to say that, but my hope was more people...

forums.anandtech.com

 

[ArisVer]

There is someone in Canada who specializes in data recovery. He has a YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsojCyeOSuw4Odm6MyBXLmg). Watch one of his videos and find links to his website in that video.

Quoting:
if you want to ship your failed device to us for data recovery and free evaluation, simply fill out this form: http://www.hddrecovery.ca/contact-us/

 

[EXCellR8]

The real irony is that paying for data recovery on a failed drive is MUCH more expensive than backup software.

Food for thought. Doesn't make it suck any less though, I'm afraid.