Urgent - Stolen laptop

Cavehill Red

Hi, another stolen laptop thread here.

A good pal has had his laptop taken in a burglary in Drumcondra on Monday. Basically, his phd thesis is on it and he has no backup (don't need lectures on this - circumstances are unusual, normally he has backup and he's feeling bad enough already, plus I've already given him the lecture.)

It's a silver Dell Inspiron 1520, a little scuffed at the front, and boots up to a choice of logins - Jim or Marianne.

Service tag/Serial Number is 4JVWB3J.

The thieves cleaned out his house, stole his kid's toys and everything. But the data on the harddrive is irreplaceable. He's prepared to borrow money to get the laptop, harddrive or all the data returned, no questions asked.

He was on the radio last night asking for its return. I thought I'd help spread the word by asking in here.

His entire future is on the line, as he was heading back to college to finish his degree in a month or so after years working to raise his kid. Any help in tracking this down will be rewarded. Let's say at least a couple of hundred euro, but I suspect he'd offer more if he could raise it for the return of the data in whatever form.

Please keep an eye out for it, spread the word and if you hear of anything relating to this computer, feel free to PM me here on boards.

Seriously, any info leading to the return of the computer will be rewarded, no questions asked. The lad got totally cleaned out in the burglary, cash, jewellery, another computer belonging to a housemate, you name it. This is fairly devastating for him. But the return of that data or the harddrive or the whole laptop would at least give him some sort of hope for the future.

Please pass the word around, thanks.

flutered

bastads, i feel your mates pain.

r1scooby

I heard your friend on the radio last night talking about this. What a disgusting act, its bad enough to steal someones possessions but to take away years and years of hard work is inexcusable. I know the thevies wouldn't of know about his work and you friends offer to pay them to return it to him is commendable, I can only hope that he finds it and before its too late. I will certainly be spreading the word on this and keeping my eyes open.

Best of luck!

Port Royale

....makes me rethink if cutting off burglars' fingers and hands really is too harsh a punishment.... :mad:

ricman

IT BE no harm to check the ads on gumtree ,or buynsell ,but the chances are it,ll be sold in a pub .HE could put an ad in buyandsell asking for its return, if the staff allow it, put ads in the local shops,supermarkets , wanted laptop,reward offered.IN EACH AREA theres someone that specializes in fencing,selling certain items, eg cigarettes, jewelery ,electronics ,eg a local might know someone, who sells stolen ipods,laptops etc WITH phones theres an imei ,so the phone company can track them,if they are stolen,,its not so simple with pcs.A hardrive external is 60 euro,even apart from the dangers of being robbed,
i dont understand how students do not backup their work,as drives can fail, or be damaged by virus, malware anytime.OR IT could be sold to a pawnshop in dublin .

Nothingbetter2d

Port Royale wrote: »

....makes me rethink if cutting off burglars' fingers and hands really is too harsh a punishment.... :mad:

tell Enda if he brings in this punishment for theft... i vote for him

Snowbat

A reward notice on the gate has worked on a previous occasion.

Cavehill Red

Quick update on this - as some of you have noticed, the word's been spread on the radio thanks to the kindness of the Adrian Kennedy show and there are notices up in the windows of some local shops.
We're trying hard to get this computer back because the lad's entire future really rests on its return.
The irony here is especially painful - he HAD the thing backed up on an external harddrive until last Saturday when the harddrive was dropped down a flight of stairs and completely destroyed (disk physically damaged - all data irretrievable.) He was only without back up for less than 48 hours.
He also had money in the house that he normally wouldn't have - quite a bit of cash that he couldn't afford to lose. What I don't get is why a scumbag wouldn't be happy enough with sticking that up their loser arm and leave what is obviously an item of personal work use that they could only get 30 or 50 quid for.
Please keep spreading the word around to look out for a Dell Inspiron 1520 silver laptop. If there's any chance of getting this back, it would mean so much to the lad and to his kid.

Jumpy

Cavehill Red wrote: »

Quick update on this - as some of you have noticed, the word's been spread on the radio thanks to the kindness of the Adrian Kennedy show and there are notices up in the windows of some local shops.
We're trying hard to get this computer back because the lad's entire future really rests on its return.
The irony here is especially painful - he HAD the thing backed up on an external harddrive until last Saturday when the harddrive was dropped down a flight of stairs and completely destroyed (disk physically damaged - all data irretrievable.) He was only without back up for less than 48 hours.
He also had money in the house that he normally wouldn't have - quite a bit of cash that he couldn't afford to lose. What I don't get is why a scumbag wouldn't be happy enough with sticking that up their loser arm and leave what is obviously an item of personal work use that they could only get 30 or 50 quid for.
Please keep spreading the word around to look out for a Dell Inspiron 1520 silver laptop. If there's any chance of getting this back, it would mean so much to the lad and to his kid.

There are professional services that can retrieve that data.

dilallio

Jumpy wrote: »

There are professional services that can retrieve that data.

+1 to this.

I'm sure if a local professional service were to do this for free in this instance, the positive PR they would get would offset any cost.

RedXIV

dilallio wrote: »

+1 to this.

I'm sure if a local professional service were to do this for free in this instance, the positive PR they would get would offset any cost.

Wouldn't bet on them doing it for free, but Unless the thing has been microwaved, there's a good chance at receiving SOME if not all that data?

drBill

Cavehill Red wrote: »

Quick update on this - as some of you have noticed, the word's been spread on the radio thanks to the kindness of the Adrian Kennedy show and there are notices up in the windows of some local shops.
We're trying hard to get this computer back because the lad's entire future really rests on its return.
The irony here is especially painful - he HAD the thing backed up on an external harddrive until last Saturday when the harddrive was dropped down a flight of stairs and completely destroyed (disk physically damaged - all data irretrievable.) He was only without back up for less than 48 hours.
He also had money in the house that he normally wouldn't have - quite a bit of cash that he couldn't afford to lose. What I don't get is why a scumbag wouldn't be happy enough with sticking that up their loser arm and leave what is obviously an item of personal work use that they could only get 30 or 50 quid for.
Please keep spreading the word around to look out for a Dell Inspiron 1520 silver laptop. If there's any chance of getting this back, it would mean so much to the lad and to his kid.

As someone already said, there is the chance that the external hard drive can be recovered. There are companies that specialise in this, and it's amazing what they can achieve. Unfortunately these things tend to be priced in thousands rather than hundreds of euro. But if it really is several years of his life then it may be worth considering. The time I used this service, there was an initial charge of one or two hundred euro to assess the disk whereupon you got a report of exactly what was recoverable plus the quote to finish the job. My sympathies to your friend, I can imagine how devastated he must feel. But make sure he minds that broken disk in case he needs.

scotchannie

I would also contact dell give them the service tag of the system and report it to them as stolen that way if anyone should call in with a technical fault it will show up on their system as being stolen etc...

spider guardian

Unbelievable how cruel some people can be. I hope things work out for your friend

Enigma IE

Cavehill Red wrote: »

Quick update on this - as some of you have noticed, the word's been spread on the radio thanks to the kindness of the Adrian Kennedy show and there are notices up in the windows of some local shops.
We're trying hard to get this computer back because the lad's entire future really rests on its return.
The irony here is especially painful - he HAD the thing backed up on an external harddrive until last Saturday when the harddrive was dropped down a flight of stairs and completely destroyed (disk physically damaged - all data irretrievable.) He was only without back up for less than 48 hours.
He also had money in the house that he normally wouldn't have - quite a bit of cash that he couldn't afford to lose. What I don't get is why a scumbag wouldn't be happy enough with sticking that up their loser arm and leave what is obviously an item of personal work use that they could only get 30 or 50 quid for.
Please keep spreading the word around to look out for a Dell Inspiron 1520 silver laptop. If there's any chance of getting this back, it would mean so much to the lad and to his kid.

These guys are EXCELLENT, used them personally. They'll charge a fee to look at the device, but no more if the data can't be retrieved. Simply call in to their shop in Phibsboro, I prefer to deal in person.

[EMAIL="http://www.computersunlimited.ie/"]http://www.computersunlimited.ie/[/EMAIL]

http://www.computersunlimited.ie/

CrinkElite

/Edit

I really should read a bit more carefully before I post.

That's a tragedy.
I hope your friend gets some good luck.

You never know.

Kinetic^

Cavehill Red wrote: »

Quick update on this - as some of you have noticed, the word's been spread on the radio thanks to the kindness of the Adrian Kennedy show and there are notices up in the windows of some local shops.
We're trying hard to get this computer back because the lad's entire future really rests on its return.
The irony here is especially painful - he HAD the thing backed up on an external harddrive until last Saturday when the harddrive was dropped down a flight of stairs and completely destroyed (disk physically damaged - all data irretrievable.) He was only without back up for less than 48 hours.
He also had money in the house that he normally wouldn't have - quite a bit of cash that he couldn't afford to lose. What I don't get is why a scumbag wouldn't be happy enough with sticking that up their loser arm and leave what is obviously an item of personal work use that they could only get 30 or 50 quid for.
Please keep spreading the word around to look out for a Dell Inspiron 1520 silver laptop. If there's any chance of getting this back, it would mean so much to the lad and to his kid.

www.criticaldata.ie

Will look at it and quote for free. No affiliation.

drBill

I used ontrackdatarecovery.com .

And beware of cowboys and chancers. i.e. if someone 'has a go' at recovering the data and doesn't know what they are doing, chances are that they will destroy it permanently. You really only get one chance at recovering the data so make sure the it's done right the first time.

Reminds me of a sign I saw in a local garage:

"Our fees are:
e20 per hour to fix your car.
e40 per hour to fix your car with you watching.
e100 per hour to fix your car if you tried to fix it yourself first and made a balls of it."

ricman

even if the hard disk power supply, and pcb is wrecked it can still be fixed,
whats the external drive model eg western digital elements 300.
its possible to substitute a pcb from an identical model drive,take off the old pcb,by removing the drive from the enclosure.
its not hard to get replacement pcbs,pcb is the electronic circuit on top of the drive ,that connects it to a pc ,for data and power input.
when powered off drives park the drive heads in a safe position .to protect the drive cylinders.
see here http://www.harddrive-repair.com/hard-drive-parts.html

smokiebeverage

If your mate has the HDD I'll take a look at it for him for nothing, I work for a Disklabs partner. Just PM me and I'll have look.

Kinetic^

ricman wrote: »

even if the hard disk power supply, and pcb is wrecked it can still be fixed,
whats the external drive model eg western digital elements 300.
its possible to substitute a pcb from an identical model drive,take off the old pcb,by removing the drive from the enclosure.
its not hard to get replacement pcbs,pcb is the electronic circuit on top of the drive ,that connects it to a pc ,for data and power input.
when powered off drives park the drive heads in a safe position .to protect the drive cylinders.
see here http://www.harddrive-repair.com/hard-drive-parts.html

Given the importance of the data I don't think a DIY attempt is the way to go.

Enigma IE

Kinetic^ wrote: »

Given the importance of the data I don't think a DIY attempt is the way to go.

I'd agree 100%. There's a few places locally to go, I suggest your friend pick one and go straight there himself. I posted earlier in the thread the place I went. They will know quite quickly whether they will be able to retrieve anything. In my case, it wasn't my data but company data, the 90€ inspection fee obviously wasn't an issue.

I sent a friend of mine there too, problems with his laptop hard drive, they managed to retrieve everything he needed.

Leave it to the specialists, forget any DIY jobs.

ricman

The point i,m making is unless the heads, or platters ,critical parts are damaged ,an expert should be able to open say the wd 540 enclosure ,take out the naked hardrive and put it into another wd enclosure with the same ,power supply voltage/ampage ,eg 12v 500ma, with the same pcb .OR even put in a new pcb ,ie its a job for an expert.
AND ITS easy to find an identical enclosure, even its like 5 years old.
Even IF THE DRIVE is ten years old its possible to put on a identical pcb, circuit board.This would need to be done by a professional technician who can source all the parts needed.
each drive pcb has a unique serial no eg lkdf50789jk90c .AND THE pcb drive firmware would need to be the same ,as far as i know.
SO its possible the drive could be fixed by a specialist technician.

Cavehill Red

Enigma IE wrote: »

These guys are EXCELLENT, used them personally. They'll charge a fee to look at the device, but no more if the data can't be retrieved. Simply call in to their shop in Phibsboro, I prefer to deal in person.

[EMAIL="http://www.computersunlimited.ie/"]http://www.computersunlimited.ie/[/EMAIL]

http://www.computersunlimited.ie/

This firm has confirmed that all the data on the external harddrive is irretrievable as the disk itself has been gouged and is physically damaged.
So the situation remains that the only copy of the lad's thesis (and all his other work) is on the missing laptop. Please keep an eye out for it, everyone.

CrinkElite

Before you give up on data recovery I suggest you try running spinrite in the drive at level 2.

you can find it at GRC.COM

Only problem is the software costs around $90

being a poor student and given the circumstances I reckon the gods would forgive him for trying it before he buys it. (I'm not advocating piracy)

If it works I'm sure your friend would be happy to purchase a copy or maybe even 2.

I know it's hard to believe that a software solution could work but you've got nothing to loose.
If you can see the drive in the BIOS it's definitely worth a shot.

Enigma IE

Cavehill Red wrote: »

This firm has confirmed that all the data on the external harddrive is irretrievable as the disk itself has been gouged and is physically damaged.
So the situation remains that the only copy of the lad's thesis (and all his other work) is on the missing laptop. Please keep an eye out for it, everyone.

That's a real shame. I hope the laptop shows up. Good luck.

Capt'n Midnight

Cavehill Red wrote: »

This firm has confirmed that all the data on the external harddrive is irretrievable as the disk itself has been gouged and is physically damaged.
So the situation remains that the only copy of the lad's thesis (and all his other work) is on the missing laptop. Please keep an eye out for it, everyone.

doesn't matter if the drive is physically damaged as long as the platter (disc) inside it is still flat and unscratched

specialist data recovery companies can extract the platter from the drive in a clean room and read with a different head. Most companies in this country won't do this instead contracting a UK company to do this.

partyatmygaff

Specs of the laptop as per the service tag according to Dell's website

INSPIRON 1520 CORE 2 DUO T7250 2.00GHZ
JET BLACK COLOUR WITH MATTE FINISH (NO WEBCAM)
MEMORY DUAL-CHANNEL 2048MB (2X1024) 667M
160GB (5, 400 RPM) SATA HARD DRIVE
INTEL GMA X3100

I'll keep an eye out and see if I find anything matching the description.

Nothingbetter2d

the best way to ensure u dont lose a your thesis in future is to email it to yourself -- setup a gmail account and email it to it. google will kindly store it there until the end of time or they go bust...which ever happens 1st.

Cavehill Red

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Specs of the laptop as per the service tag according to Dell's website

INSPIRON 1520 CORE 2 DUO T7250 2.00GHZ
JET BLACK COLOUR WITH MATTE FINISH (NO WEBCAM)
MEMORY DUAL-CHANNEL 2048MB (2X1024) 667M
160GB (5, 400 RPM) SATA HARD DRIVE
INTEL GMA X3100

I'll keep an eye out and see if I find anything matching the description.

This particular model was silver rather than black, but otherwise as you describe.

@Capt Midnight: I can only tell you again - the disk is PHYSICALLY damaged and experts have insisted (after billing to do so) that no data can be retrieved from it.

This is a salutory lesson indeed in the importance of backing things up. I like storing data on DVDs in a third party location myself (you never know when google might go bust) but I was taught back in the days of the Comp Sci O Level that it is rare for more than two forms of storage to be compromised or damaged at once (hence the grandfather-father-son system of yore.) Therefore, an emailed copy and an external copy in addition to whatever's on a computer is probably the best way forward.
My mate's in shreds about this. His whole life was on that laptop. I'd advise anyone in a similar situation to go and back up NOW. He was only out of the house a few hours and it was well locked up on a main road in full view of hundreds of passers by in the middle of the day.
It does happen and it could happen to you too.
In the meantime, there is a small reward for any info leading to the return of the laptop or the data. If you hear anything, especially in the North Dublin inner city area, please get in touch.

Capt'n Midnight

Cavehill Red wrote: »

@Capt Midnight: I can only tell you again - the disk is PHYSICALLY damaged and experts have insisted (after billing to do so) that no data can be retrieved from it.

I was just asking the stupid question on the off chance that the rectangular box was damaged but that the round disc inside it was OK.
http://www.computersunlimited.ie/datarecovery.htm

The second is recovery through the use of Hardware Engineering to physically “fix” the drive to a point where we can extract the data from it.

To me the third phase is where you remove the platter and read it directly bypassing all the electronics and motors of the original drive. AFAIK no Irish company has the technology to do this. It's bloody expensive as well.

For others reading this
you need at least 3 copies of a backup
having something that valuable with no offsite backup ...
and not backing it up again when the backup was damaged


any chance the data was ever copied anywhere else at any stage , email usb key , cd ?


any printouts that could be OCR'd ?

was it ever given to anyone else to review ?

Cuddlesworth

Cavehill Red wrote: »

@Capt Midnight: I can only tell you again - the disk is PHYSICALLY damaged and experts have insisted (after billing to do so) that no data can be retrieved from it.

I have sent the guts of twenty disks off to be repaired. one was run over by a a car twice and was physically bent. At least 90% of the data was recovered every time. In general the full 100% was recovered and this is with base hard-drive encryption. There are no companies in Ireland that can do this properly or have the correct equipment, most just do a quick check to see if the heads are gone then fire it off to places like on-track recovery.

I think what Captain Midnight was saying and I agree, is you should ship the drive off to the UK and be prepared to pay 1K plus for recovery. And ignore being told the data is unrecoverable by a Irish company.

Cavehill Red

Okay, for the last time - the firm in Phibsboro, who apparently have a clean room of their own, examined the harddrive and it was their opinion that the platter was so badly physically damaged that they did not believe anywhere would be able to retrieve data from it.
That was their expressed opinion. They have referred customers to Britain, America and Switzerland in the past, apparently. They didn't on this occasion because they did not believe it would be worth it.
I know people are only trying to suggest solutions, but trust me, they've all been explored at this point and the missing thesis exists only on that laptop. If anyone hears anything, please let the Gardai know, or you could PM me here. There is a reward for any information leading to its return.

Cavehill Red

Something I just read made me think of this thread - Google just announced that nearly 1% of Gmail account holders just had all their data wiped.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12600179
Something to think about in relation to backing up crucial data. Don't rely on the cloud to do it for you. Back up physically too.
Anyhow, update on the computer issue is no update. Sadly, it hasn't emerged as yet. I hope ye all will keep an eye out for it.

Cuddlesworth

Cavehill Red wrote: »

Something I just read made me think of this thread - Google just announced that nearly 1% of Gmail account holders just had all their data wiped.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12600179
Something to think about in relation to backing up crucial data. Don't rely on the cloud to do it for you. Back up physically too.
Anyhow, update on the computer issue is no update. Sadly, it hasn't emerged as yet. I hope ye all will keep an eye out for it.

How is .08% nearly 1%? Do you write for the daily mail by any chance?

@OP. Nobody in Ireland has a clean room and the tools needed for Platter removal and recovery, there isn't enough business here to justify the absolutely huge setup and maintenance cost involved.

Its next to impossible to damage the platters on a disk turned off. The heads are parked and the platters firmly in place. You could drop it off a three story building and get the data back. From experience. Drop the company in Ireland, deal with the 200 quid assessment from ON-track and get a actual specialist to look at it.

drBill

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

@OP. Nobody in Ireland has a clean room and the tools needed for Platter removal and recovery, there isn't enough business here to justify the absolutely huge setup and maintenance cost involved.

Its next to impossible to damage the platters on a disk turned off. The heads are parked and the platters firmly in place. You could drop it off a three story building and get the data back. From experience. Drop the company in Ireland, deal with the 200 quid assessment from ON-track and get a actual specialist to look at it.

+1 to all of that. And even if the platters are gouged, it should still be possible to retrieve some data from the undamaged parts. I've also dealt with On-track and found them good. Not cheap, but if the data is that important then it may be justified.

Sorry to be labouring the point like this but I think the chances of retrieving the laptop complete with its data are pretty slim at this stage and that damaged disk is probably the last remaining hope.

Cavehill Red

I'd just like to repeat - this thread is about a stolen laptop. It would be great if people could keep an eye out for it. Description as in OP. Thanks again.

Nothingbetter2d

did the guy who was writing the thesis ever email a draft to anyone? it might not be the full thesis but even an earlier draft could still save him alot of work redoing his thesis.

Cuddlesworth

Cavehill Red wrote: »

I'd just like to repeat - this thread is about a stolen laptop. It would be great if people could keep an eye out for it. Description as in OP. Thanks again.

Your choice to ignore good advice. 22 Laptops stolen in four years, asset Tagged with reporting number, monitoring on both Dell and HP side for serial entry in drivers/support pages. Amount recovered.

0

Cavehill Red

I'm going to start reporting posts that don't relate to the stolen laptop mentioned in the OP.
This thread is an appeal for people to keep their eyes out for that laptop.
It's not a free-for-all for people to debate data retrieval services or discuss cloud computing back up methods.
It's about a stolen laptop, that's all. Please keep an eye out for it if you can. If you don't have anything to say about this laptop, don't feel the need to post, thanks.

smokiebeverage

Cavehill Red wrote: »

I'm going to start reporting posts that don't relate to the stolen laptop mentioned in the OP.
This thread is an appeal for people to keep their eyes out for that laptop.
It's not a free-for-all for people to debate data retrieval services or discuss cloud computing back up methods.
It's about a stolen laptop, that's all. Please keep an eye out for it if you can. If you don't have anything to say about this laptop, don't feel the need to post, thanks.

Couple of points

1. You mentioned the damaged external drive which had the backup so you should have expected comments

2. Without the discussion you wouldn't have 2000 ongoing views about the laptop, which must help in spreading the word.

3. The majority of the posts were very valid posts from people genuinely trying to help your mate. I don't think you could call it a free for all.

4. Aside from your mates laptop this could be a helpful tread to many people with damaged backups, which is another good thing about boards, it brings a lot of useful information together from some very talented people.

I think you are being unfair to a lot of people who only tried to help and if I was you I'd be encouraging it to keep the laptop profile high.

Cheers

SB

twowheelsonly

Cavehill Red wrote: »

I'm going to start reporting posts that don't relate to the stolen laptop mentioned in the OP.
This thread is an appeal for people to keep their eyes out for that laptop.
It's not a free-for-all for people to debate data retrieval services or discuss cloud computing back up methods.
It's about a stolen laptop, that's all. Please keep an eye out for it if you can. If you don't have anything to say about this laptop, don't feel the need to post, thanks.

That's absolutely shocking Cavehill.

Practically every post here is in relation to helping your buddy to retrieve his data - the chances of retrieving the laptop are most likely quite slim but there is/was an outside chance of retrieving the data.
The value to your buddy is in the data that the laptop contains - the laptop itself is probably only worth a pittance. The information given by some of the more knowledgeable posters here could be invaluable to yourself, your buddy and loads of others.

Very poor form.

Report me if you want.

Khannie

Cavehill Red wrote: »

I'm going to start reporting posts that don't relate to the stolen laptop mentioned in the OP.

Please don't. Threads are organic. They sometimes move on to discuss things other than the original post. People are just trying to help your friend recover his data (as was pointed out, the laptop itself is not important in the slightest). The fact that this thread is busy makes it more likely that the OP gets read.

I'll certainly keep an eye out. Good luck with it.

Cavehill Red

I would like to repeat - anyone wanting to talk about anything other than this laptop and its retrieval is invited to go and open a thread on it elsewhere.
If you want to discuss data retrieval methods or anything else, this isn't the thread for it.
People don't seem to be reading what I've written - there is a large bunch of us assisting this poor lad, and we have explored all the other options.
I appreciate that boards attracts a higher than usual proportion of IT heads, some of whom might like to show off their knowledge. Again I ask that you refrain from that in this thread.
I have to say that I'm very disappointed that the moderator is refusing to keep this thread on-topic. I know that the laptop's owner has accessed this thread from my computer and from net cafes in the hope of discovering some information that would lead to its recovery, and I can't express how downhearted he becomes when instead he reads a load of stuff that isn't relevant to that subject.

Khannie

Cavehill Red wrote: »

People don't seem to be reading what I've written - there is a large bunch of us assisting this poor lad, and we have explored all the other options.

People on here want to help and they want to be sure that you've properly explored all the available options. People who are posting on here have experience with data retrieval which is, by a stretch, currently your mostly likely option for retrieval of your friends data. Everyone is trying to help you.

Cavehill Red wrote: »

I appreciate that boards attracts a higher than usual proportion of IT heads, some of whom might like to show off their knowledge.

That is condescending in the extreme. Everyone who has posted on here has been trying to help your friend in his hour of need. While I appreciate that you want the physical laptop back, the thread is partly about retrieval of his data and partly about retrieval of the laptop. You're the one who brought up the existence of the broken backup drive. People looked on it as the most likely way to retrieve the data and have tried to help you out there. I don't think you fully understand the level of damage that has to happen to a hard drive for data to be entirely unrecoverable. You're looking to retrieve what makes up probably less than a fraction of 1% of the drives data. It seems incomprehensible to me that you would tell people to stop telling you that this is a possibility given the importance of the data.

Also, nobody has said that they will not help with the recovery of the actual laptop.

Cavehill Red wrote: »

I have to say that I'm very disappointed that the moderator is refusing to keep this thread on-topic. I know that the laptop's owner has accessed this thread from my computer and from net cafes in the hope of discovering some information that would lead to its recovery, and I can't express how downhearted he becomes when instead he reads a load of stuff that isn't relevant to that subject.

It is entirely relevant to the retrieval of your friends data (which, unless I'm mistaken somehow, is the important thing). As I said, the thread being busy also helps ensure that more people read it and increases the likelyhood of retrieval of the laptop.

Finally, you are back seat moderating. Do not do it again.

Cavehill Red

Dear Moderator,
This thread is about a stolen LAPTOP, not about data retrieval. It appears that I can't say that too many times.
This thread is NOT about the retrieval of data. I can't say that too many times either.
If people have any information to offer about retrieving the LAPTOP, I would be very interested in hearing it. There is a modest reward available for any information leading to its return.
If people want to talk about some other topic, including that of data retrieval, I respectfully request that such posts are removed to a thread of their own.

Kinetic^

Wow. You have 0.00001% chance of getting the laptop back. You have a broken HDD which can be sent to the UK to get the data recovered. That is your only option at this point in time. Advice on here is free and showing some respect to those providing that info doesn't cost anything either. Ingrate.

SickBoy

I'm shocked at what I've read from the OP in the last few posts :eek:

I sincerely hope that your friend has a better attitude than you.

Pass on my best wishes to your friend, it's a terrible thing to happen. I will certainly keep an eye out and let your friend know if I find out any information but to be honest, I would rather deal with him directly (through the number that is on the poster near my house) than deal with you.

Your attitude to people who are trying to help (or show off their IT skills as you would put it :rolleyes:) is disgraceful

mordeith

SickBoy wrote: »

I'm shocked at what I've read from the OP in the last few posts :eek:

Seconded. Its absolutely appalling really. As Khannie says the discussion keeps the post at top of the threads which means new viewers will see it. How he can honestly accuse people of 'hi-jacking' the thread is beyond me. Every poster has expressed genuine sympathy for the person who had the laptop stolen. If the thread was confined to information about the laptop there would be no replies and it would be buried about four pages down.

SteelyDanJalapeno

:eek::eek::eek:

How rude