PC vendor lost my drives!

[greymann]

I handed my Athlon rig (2100 on a Gigabyte board) over to a local vendor because my video was running too hot. They told me it was probably the motherboard so I handed it over to them test. First they tried swapping out my 9800 Pro card with different ones to make sure it wasn't just my card. When they determined it was the board I asked them specifically if I need to back up the hard drives before they installed a new board. They said "no" because the info is mirrored on both drives, blah. blah, blah. Somewhere in the process they tampered with the hard drives. As far as I know they only disconnected them from my board. When I checked back with them they said they ordered the wrong board for those drives--serial instead of IDE I think it was. I don't know how far they got installing the new board before they found that out. Now when they try starting up with the old board they do not mount. I can see the promise drives loading but that's as far as it gets. When he tried recovering the drives with his recovery software he gets all kinds of strange data but none of my files. Now they've sent them to a professional drive recovery outfit. I just wanted to see some other opinions on what this could be--how it could have happened. It's frustrating trying to stay informed with these guys. I wish I'd never taken it to them but now that they owe me big time I feel like I need to let them follow through.

Thanks.

 

[jbritt1234]

Man, that sux....

Are you using RAID 0 or 1? You stated 0 in the titled, but then you mentioned mirrored. 0 is striped, it basically puts 1/2 the info on each drive. 0 is morrored, the same info on both drive.

A few things to check...
Check the BIOS settings for IDE/RAID, most boards with onboard RAID have a switch that makes it function as RAID or as a normal IDE/SATA drives. That way, if you don't want ot actually use RAID, you can still use the traditional HD setup.

Go into the RAID BIOS and tell it that its supposed to be a RAID 0 (or 1) setup. (whichever you are using)

If it IS set up to run as RAID, try swapping the cables. label the HD's 1 and 2. Plug HD 1 into the primary and 2 into the secondary spots. If that does not work, swap them the other way.

Hope this helps...

 

[greymann]

Thanks. It's Raid 0. They told me Raid 0 is mirrored which is I guess is more evidence of their ignorance. Right now it may be too late to try your suggestions since the drives are at another place. I guess if they can't recover the drives we'll give it a try but at that point it may be too late. I just don't see how the data could have been lost.

Thanks again.

 

[jbritt1234]

Eh, that really bites man.

Are you having to pay for this?

 

[greymann]

I'm not having to pay for anything related to the drives problem. But basically I'll end up with lost data and still have to pay for the original work I took it in for. I'll be on his ass to cut me a deal though. He insists he did nothing wrong. He said all he did was swap out some cards and when he booted up it couldn't find the drives. The rest you know. We'll see.

 

[Need4Speed]

It's your responsibility to back up your data as far as I'm concerned. Though I can understand your loss, I have no sympathy for those that live without a good backup solution. Drives WILL fail, and data WILL get lost...both of those are inevitable. Unfortunately most people learn that lesson after the fact.

I hope in the future, you will implement some sort of backup system.

 

[greymann]

Ha, I wondered why it was taking so long for someone to come along to rub in the salt. Pointless. Sure, a lot could have been done to avoid this problem, but I was taking the advice of a professional that there was no chance of data being lost in the transfer. This was not your occasional drive crash. It's something they did or are not doing to get the drives mounted. This is his responsiblity. I've got backups but it will still be a pain since most people unlike Mr. Perfect here don't backup every single day. This thread wasn't a search for sympathy but for some expertise on the issue which you apparantly have none to give.

 

[Need4Speed]

It doesn't matter what they say, you should always be prepared for the worst..again most people don't take that advice,whether it means backing up before using PQmagic or when converting from FAT32 to NTFS...

...and, I don't know of one PC repair shop/vendor that assumed the responsibility of lost data. can you imagine the liability they assumne? it's all in the fine print.

"This thread wasn't a search for sympathy but for some expertise on the issue which you apparantly have none to give."
I am giving you adivce, its just adive that you don't want to hear.

 

[jbritt1234]

Sounds to me like greymann specifically asked if he needed to back up his data BEFORE they worked on it. They told him "No". If at that point they lost data, they should be responsible for attempting to retrieve it. Sounds like the PC shop is just suffering from in inexpirenced tech.

PC shops can't all me held responsible, that's why many make people sigh disclaimers stating they are not responsible for lost data. But, sounds like his shop just dropped the ball.

 

[greymann]

You aren't advising, you're berating. Everyone knows they should have backed up right before a hard drive crash. This topic is more about "what can I do now?" not "what should I have done?". I think you know that but you're just trying to be a nag. I hope you aren't in business because at least these guys ARE assuming some responsibility and taking care of the recovery attempt. If it didn't matter what they say then they shouldn't be in business. Incredible.

 

[imported_Phil]

They're assuming responsibility for the loss of data by organising to have it recovered for you. At the place I work at, data is not our responsibility and we make that 100% clear when booking machines in to be worked on.

The only time we'll do anything about lost data is if it was our fault that it got destroyed. Then we'll do whatever it takes to get it back. Other than that, the customer's out in the cold, especially if they've signed the paperwork saying that they've read & understood the terms & conditions.

I would hold fire, let them sweat it out a bit and see if they can get that data back for you. If they said not to back it up and they lost the data, then technically they're at fault, but they might also have something in their terms & conditions that exempts them from blame.

[Edit] With the pricing of specialised data recovery services, you can bet that they're going to be out-of-pocket to the tune of more than a few bucks here