Data recovery after a hard disk crash

Dublin Deluge

Hello,

I was wondering if anybody could recommend a good data recovery company in the Dublin area. Google returns results for many companies but I would be interested of hearing from people who have used them and whether they would recommend them or not.

Also, would anybody have an idea of how much the recovery would cost?

For those who are interested, here's a description of the issue I had with my hard disk:
I have a 1 TB ethernet network hard drive which seems to have crashed today. I was copying some pictures over the network on to the drive when I suddenly got writing errors. I restarted the drive but it never managed to boot up correctly. It made a lot of weird sounds it has never made before and it continued to repeat the sounds. It sounds as if it's powering on then it makes a copule of clicking sounds and then it sounds as if it's powering off, then it sounds again as if it's powering on, makes the same clicking sounds and then makes the powering off sound again, etc., etc. Some times it makes some other weird sounds that sound more like an angry cat. Anyway, it doesn't sound good and the drive never boots properly and it's not accessible though the network or via the USB connection.

Thanks in advance for any pointers or tips you have!
DD

marco_polo

If it is physically damaged, and it sounds like it certrainly is, the cost of recovery could be hundreds of Euro I am afraid. As an example, these guys quote from 495 up for a physical recovery (I am not reccomending them as I have never dealt with them, just as an example.)

http://www.data-recovery.ie/data-recovery-pricing.html

I guess you will have to decide if the data is worth the cost, I suppose.

Also every time you turn on the disk you could be doing more damage and reducing the chances of successful recovery, so do not power it on again.

majiktripp

As mentioned above, data recovery from damaged hard drives is VERY expensive, and generally a route only taken by companies who really need to get the information back. Have you tried removing the hard drive from the NAS casing and using a third party recovery software or even free recovery software to see if anything is retrievable?
From what you say about the noise it sonds like a definite physical error, like the read/write arm is stuck or broken. Things like there are very expensive as seen from the price quoted above. I had dealt with www.cdr.ie and found them to be alright. I believe from memory they do a diagnosis free of charge but , again it will not be cheap.

Dublin Deluge

Thanks for your replies so far guys.

Unfortunately the data is quite valuable so I'm prepared to spend a few hundred euro for it.

Thanks again, I'll read more on CDS in the meantime. But if other people have more recommendations, please do post them here.

Thanks!

majiktripp

Another one for the recommedation for Data Recovery www.fields-data-recovery.co.uk, and just went through old emails as well. Had a very good response and service from CDR in Dublin. Was dealing with a guy called Ciaran about a College Laptop hard drive and it was pretty straight froward dealing with them. They diagnosed the HDD, listed the fault, and can send a list of retrievable files upon which you give the yes or no to recovery.

manfromfinglas

I've used that crowd http://www.data-recovery.ie before and found them pretty good. I lost a folder after they returned the data and they sent it again at no cost. They said they keep data on their servers for 30 days so was lucky there. Origanal cost on a samsung 500GB that was rattling like mad was just under €400 and another firm called computers unlimited qouted me over a grand.

marco_polo wrote: »

If it is physically damaged, and it sounds like it certrainly is, the cost of recovery could be hundreds of Euro I am afraid. As an example, these guys quote from 495 up for a physical recovery (I am not reccomending them as I have never dealt with them, just as an example.)

http://www.data-recovery.ie/data-recovery-pricing.html

I guess you will have to decide if the data is worth the cost, I suppose.

Also every time you turn on the disk you could be doing more damage and reducing the chances of successful recovery, so do not power it on again.

Dublin Deluge

Thanks a lot for your replies and recommendations. I'll contact these companies and see which one offers the best price.

Thanks again!!

DD

Dublin Deluge

Thanks again everybody for their replies. In the end, howerver, I managed to fix the hard drive without using a recovery company.

I continued reading on the Internet about the specific external hard drive I have (a LaCie Ethernet Big Disk), and I found a discussion where someone mentioned they had exactly the same problems I experienced and it turned out to be a power supply fault. I continued researching on this, and yes, apparently LaCie external hard disks suffer a lot from failed power supplies. The LaCie power supply has two outputs: a 5V line and a 12V line. Apparently, the 12V line is the one that fails more often, and that is the line that powers the actual hard disk. The other 5V line seems to power the other electronics in the device. That's why it's difficult to realise the fault is in the power supply: all the LEDs are lit up, but the hard disk movement is either erratic or non existent.

I ordered a new power supply from LaCie (for €33) and it arrived today. I plugged it in and that solved my problem. I can see and open all my files with no issues whatsoever.

I'm currently backing up all my data to a new external USB hard drive I bought during the weekend.

I am so happy and relieved this solved the problem. I've learnt my lesson: always keep backups!

Now I'll try to see if LaCie can refund me the €33 for the new power supply, as the hard disk is just about 1 year old.

Thanks for reading!
DD

RoadKillTs

Thats an interesting one.
Thanks for the update.