*URGENT* anyone have experience with a data recovery company?

[ChrisCramer247]

Just got a RAID 5 server this evening from a company that had a brown out and a tripplite UPS fried 2 of the 4 hard drives because it obviously mismanaged the power.

The kicker? Their backups only go until 1/30/04!

I tried everything. everything software related for OS repair/recovery does not work, 3 HD + 1 new didn't work, rebuilding array, repositioning physical drives, new RAID / SCSI manager, Dell utility, SCSI utility, Using onboard RAID with same array numbering.

Has anyone used a service to recover data that would be familiar with a RAID5 array?

TIA!

 

[RebateMonger]

I've never actually USED a data recovery company. However, it's pretty clear that ONTRACK has been around forever and has an excellent reputation. They certainly understand RAID 5 recovery.

Tell them to fire their IT guy. I TEST my client's backups once or twice a month to ensure they're good.

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: ChrisCramer247
I tried everything. everything software related for OS repair/recovery does not work, 3 HD + 1 new didn't work, rebuilding array, repositioning physical drives, new RAID / SCSI manager, Dell utility, SCSI utility, Using onboard RAID with same array numbering.

I believe after the steps you took above the chances of recovery have greatly diminished. Give Ontrack a call. It's going to be expensive though. Usually several thousand dollars just to take a look for you

 

[Fraggable]

I have had excelletn experience dealing with Vogon data recoery services. They're very professional and aren't any higher priced than anyone else. In my case, the HDD motor failed, dragging the heads across the surface of the plates. They were able to recover 99% of the data to DVDs and repaired the drive without voiding warranty. The drive is up and running still, nearly a year later.

Don't touch the drives! The more you mess with it the less chance you're going to get it back.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: Smilin
I believe after the steps you took above the chances of recovery have greatly diminished. Give Ontrack a call. It's going to be expensive though. Usually several thousand dollars just to take a look for you.

Years ago, the husband of a business partner accidentally ran FDISK on her business computer. He was embarrased, so, instead of telling me, he played with it and then took it to a local "DataDocters" store. They played with it, gave up, and then did another FDISK and reformatted it!

If they hadn't played with it, we could have painlessly recovered from that first FDISK. Fortunately, we were using doing daily backups to a 250MB Travan tape drive, so we got all her data back.

 

[shoRunner]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger

Originally posted by: Smilin
I believe after the steps you took above the chances of recovery have greatly diminished. Give Ontrack a call. It's going to be expensive though. Usually several thousand dollars just to take a look for you.

Years ago, the husband of a business partner accidentally ran FDISK on her business computer. He was embarrased, so, instead of telling me, he played with it and then took it to a local "DataDocters" store. They played with it, gave up, and then did another FDISK and reformatted it!

If they hadn't played with it, we could have painlessly recovered from that first FDISK. Fortunately, we were using doing daily backups to a 250MB Travan tape drive, so we got all her data back.

even if they fdisk and reformated it again using a simple program like getdataback from runtime software would work.

 

[redbeard1]

I've used this place 5 times and have been pleased with the results everytime.

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