Dat recovery from damaged external drive shocker

Cavehill Red · 18-03-2009 4:58pm #1

I have an external Iomega 500Mb drive which I suspect was dropped.
Whatever happened, it stopped working overnight, and when turned on makes a disturbing whirring and clicking noise.
I left it in with a data recovery firm in an attempt to retrieve all my photos and thesis notes. But they got back to me today, quoting a figure of over 2000 euro to even attempt to retrieve the data!!!
Now, I know data recovery is a pricey exercise, but this is in the stratosphere. In return for my (non-refundable) three-figure sum, the company told me that the heads are banjaxed and have scratched the platters, meaning that the platters must be reburnished before any attempt at data recovery can take place.
And this costs 2 grand, apparently!
Does anyone have any suggestions as to whether reburnishing is the only way to get data off a disk damaged in this way?
And if it is the only way, is there anyone anywhere in the world can do it cheaper than 2 grand???

Teamhar · 18-03-2009 10:30pm

If the heads have crashed into the plates, then unfortunately the only way to fix is a rebuild in a clean room environment. I'm not sure what kind of guarantee you'd get, but that kind of money seems excessive. There's a company on Johnstown Road in Cabinteely who do data recovery and the deposit to evaluate is about €65. They may be able to recover some data for you with their own tools, but failing that, they can send it off for rebuild for a lot less that what you were quoted- a few hundred I'd say, but they'd tell you exactly before you commit.

Good luck,

T.

Cavehill Red · 18-03-2009 11:15pm

Hi, thanks for that.
I went to a data recovery firm in town which has its own clean room environment.
They reckon that the problem with my drive isn't fixable in Ireland because there are physical grooves in the platters that would need to be reburnished before any attempt at data recovery could take place.
They said no one in Ireland is capable of doing that, and the nearest firm is in England, and that they generally charge around 2,200 quid for the privilege.
They offered to send it over (with a 300 quid assessment charge) for me, or give me back my drive.
They also agreed to put down the problem in writing for me, which is something I can't see a firm doing if they were bs-ing.
So, does what I've been told sound plausible? I'd be concerned about taking the drive to another firm here and paying 65 quid or whatever just to hear again what I've been told already.
If there are physical grooves in the drive done by the heads, can data be retrieved without sending the drive to England at the cost of a used car?

Capt'n Midnight · 18-03-2009 11:20pm

€2K :eek:

Might be worth a call to this crowd in Belfast
http://www.easyrecovery.co.uk/ All Drives one Price £249+vat

Teamhar · 18-03-2009 11:59pm

From what you describe it sounds pretty bad alright and I would personally be worried about putting in the hands of someone else who may inadvertently do even more damage by just attempting to power it up. Best advice is wrap it up, keep it safe and shop around for someone reputable who can rebuild without resorting to extortion. 100% recovery is unlikely- that is something you may just have to face.

Sorry.

Tara

Cavehill Red · 19-03-2009 12:04am

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

€2K :eek:

Might be worth a call to this crowd in Belfast
http://www.easyrecovery.co.uk/ All Drives one Price £249+vat

Will defo give them a call. Thanks.
@Tara. Wise words too. But I might give those lads in Belfast a go, especially since they don't charge for the privilege of just looking at it.

MediaTank · 19-03-2009 2:47pm

These guys did a good job for me on my RAID 5 NAS, undercutting the guys in the North by a factor of 4. So recovery from a single drive should be even cheaper http://www.apextechnology.co.uk/

MT

Cavehill Red · 19-03-2009 3:37pm

MediaTank wrote: »

These guys did a good job for me on my RAID 5 NAS, undercutting the guys in the North by a factor of 4. So recovery from a single drive should be even cheaper http://www.apextechnology.co.uk/

MT

Do you mind me asking what sort of ball park price you ended up paying? I simply cannot afford four figure sums, even though my thesis and photos are on this drive.

MediaTank · 19-03-2009 3:53pm

Cavehill Red wrote: »

Do you mind me asking what sort of ball park price you ended up paying? I simply cannot afford four figure sums, even though my thesis and photos are on this drive.

No problem - £750. But remember that was for a RAID 5 configuration with 4 500GB drives.

Cavehill Red · 19-03-2009 4:00pm

MediaTank wrote: »

No problem - £750. But remember that was for a RAID 5 configuration with 4 500GB drives.

Gotcha.
Do you reckon that I was bs-ed with the explanation I got about the heads gouging the platters and that being a special job costing thousands?
Does that sound plausible (my bad luck) or more like a rip off attempt to you?

MediaTank · 19-03-2009 7:37pm

Cavehill Red wrote: »

Gotcha.
Do you reckon that I was bs-ed with the explanation I got about the heads gouging the platters and that being a special job costing thousands?
Does that sound plausible (my bad luck) or more like a rip off attempt to you?

Could be either. I wasn't impressed by the recovery companies here in Ireland. Try Apex, see what they have to say.

Miccko · 24-03-2009 9:10pm

I have an external hard drive which is making clicking sounds and needs to be sent off for data recovery - it's an Iomega 500Mb drive...dropped it from about 4 inches above the ground and it's gone.

So, would be interested to hear how you find Easy Recovery in the North?

If not, I might go with Apex, unless anyone else can recommend a reliable, reasonably priced, alternative here in Ireland?

CrinkElite · 24-07-2009 4:37am

you have to procure a copy of spinrite from http://www.grc.com
if you can still get the drive hooked up and plugged in i STRONGLY recommend giving this program a go. it has recovered drive information that expert forensic police could not recover. if your drive can be communicated with in any way I am sure this program will retrieve your data.
it's pricey though, $90 to those that can afford it, much less to those who can't;) if it works you can always pay your dues. good luck.

The Lone Ranger · 24-07-2009 2:33pm

just been told that the reader has failed on my 250gb sata drive for my laptop and it would cost 900e to recover same. will this spinrite app recover my stuff. all my photos and other suff on there. not backed up:eek:

CrinkElite · 24-07-2009 4:40pm

i cant say for sure but it's worth a try, one good way to get an indication of weather it will work or not is to go into the bios and check if the drive is listed. if it is i would be very optimistic. its amazing what this little piece of software can do.

Khannie · 26-07-2009 7:52pm

4 month bump. I'm closing this unless there's some very good reason to keep it open (pm me if there is).

Dat recovery from damaged external drive shocker

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