Hard-drive data recovery

I know this is a mac thread but thread economics and that.

Well have a 2.5 inch ide pc hard drive that has data on and now no longer is seen by the bios on the laptop and on my pc. All the drive does is click, and the bios doesn't sense anything.

Is there anything I can easily do to copy the data off the hard drive or a trick to get it to run. Have tried keeping it in the freezer but just does the same.

Popping it into a USB harddrive case may allow you to access data.

if the caddy doesn't work try this - its what most data recovery places try first, buy an identical drive and swap the green pcb on the back of the drive

http://www.harddrive-repair.com/hard-drive-parts.html

expensive option but cheaper than paying £200+ to have a company do it for you.
depends how important the data is - good luck

It cost me €450 to recover data from a 4GB pen in 2005.... Vacuum something(!?), had to fly to Portugal cause couldn't find quick assistance here.

Well sticking the drive in to a caddy makes the drive click and nothing else.

Arrrghhhhh.

Well unscrewed the motherboard, cleaned the contacts and its still clicking.

So is it the motherboard or the actual hard drive?

It's the drive. It's dead... likely to recover nothing.

It's the drive. It's dead... likely to recover nothing.

Thats my fear. Well the western digital diagnostic does not see the drive.

It's the drive, nothing to do with the Mobo.
If your computer can't see the HDD, like in an M$ OS - Disk Management. Then software is not an option.
But you're using a Mac, so I've no idea what Utlities you could use to check.

If your data is that important, and worth £200+. Send it to a specialist.

Reason why it costs so much, is because they open it up, and realign some shit etc. It's a very delicate process, and takes time.

This one is a PC not a mac.

Tempted to try the motherboard is the grabbing at straw hopes that it'll work.

Well unscrewed the motherboard, cleaned the contacts and its still clicking.

So is it the motherboard or the actual hard drive?

You dont need to be a computer technician to know thats the ol' clock of death, although I am a computer techy..... its definatly the HDD, youll need to send it to specialist for any data off it.

recovering all data stuff like that is all laborotory specialist work kinda stuff, its darn expensive. I think segate charge per MB recovered or something silly, your talking hundreds for a single drive.

You dont need to be a computer technician to know thats the ol' clock of death, although I am a computer techy..... its definatly the HDD, youll need to send it to specialist for any data off it.

recovering all data stuff like that is all laborotory specialist work kinda stuff, its darn expensive. I think segate charge per MB recovered or something silly, your talking hundreds for a single drive.

It has a whizz clunk sound, is that the clock of death?

Well what would cause a hard drive to do that?

The drive is a 60gbIDE hard drive still in waranty so a repacement drive may appear but does hlp mee with the data on this one. Recently the back up drive got fried too as it got a flying lesson from an ex.

just recovered a whole compact flash card with PhotoRec on a mac. No GUI, but easy enough to understand and worked well

Can anyone recommend a data recovery place based in London? I've had a wee Google but thought I'd check on here too to see if anyone has had good or bad experiences with any particular companies.

Thanks! x

I was recommended ontrackdatarecovery by the IT guys at work, no personal experience of them yet though.

Cheers, dude. I'll check them out. Appreciated!

Hi there. I've checked out the other thread but it dates from 2009 and I wondered if anyone here has recently had to get data from a hard drive recovered?

I've got a 150gig LaCie drive that has a slightly fried PCB, so no clicking or spinning. Any recommendations for who's reasonably priced and good would be great.

Can't you just remove the actual drive and hoot that up to the computer with a sata/pata cable?

If the PCB is fried, no.

What makes you think the PCB is fried Uber?

Get a hold of a few recovery programmes first though and see if you can recover things using software alone.

If it's the PCB, just replace it and try yourself.

If it's the platter / heads - I've used Kingdom Data Recovery. They're not London based, but you can always use the post office.

If its the pcb for the actual enclosure then the drive is probably fine - that's what I meant above...

If the PCB is fried, no.

What makes you think the PCB is fried Uber?

Because I fried it putting the drive in a new box which turned out to have next to no internal clearance. It promptly shorted out when I powered it up and I'm looking at a little carbon starburst right now...

I think the platter & other mechanicals are ok but I don't have the expertise, equipment or time to attempt fitting a new board.

It takes a screwdriver and 5 minutes.

That's quite enough about your love life on here, thank you very much!

I've being doing data recoveries for 10+ years. From lost chapters of books to dissertations and a PHD thesis the night before submission.

Getting a third party to do it will cost ££££ as they know you are over a barrel.

As TW2 says, its actually quite easy to swap out the board if you buy an identical disk and just do the switch.