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Recommend data recovery company?



 
 
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  #1  
Old April 21st 18, 05:09 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,alt.windows7.general,alt.comp.os.windows-10
B00ze
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 67
Default Recommend data recovery company?

Good day.

Got a 15 years old WD IDE hard drive, that was showing ZERO problems in
SMART data, suddenly can no longer calibrate (i.e. it can't read
anymore.) NOW the SMART data is showing something's wrong. Hard drive
"clicks" (heads go back and forth full disk) then quits trying. Have
another of the same model, but hesitant moving the platters myself;
apparently platters are not really "stuck" together and I could
mis-align them (rotate them in relation to each other) rendering the
whole thing un-readable. Was planning to move the data off but kept
delaying since it showed no sign of problems...

Now need a data recovery company; anyone have good experience with one
and can recommend?

I'm also curious about how they recover drives if not by using another
of the same model (where they hell how they going to find one as old as
mine, and can they really keep one of each model of ALL drives?) If you
can enlighten me on that too, would be great.

Thank you.
Best Regards,

--
! _\|/_ Sylvain /
! (o o) Memberavid-Suzuki-Fdn/EFF/Red+Cross/SPCA/Planetary-Society
oO-( )-Oo "Live Long And Suffer" -Ancient Vulcan Curse.

  #2  
Old April 21st 18, 05:47 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,alt.windows7.general,alt.comp.os.windows-10
nospam
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 160
Default Recommend data recovery company?

In article , B00ze
wrote:

Got a 15 years old WD IDE hard drive, that was showing ZERO problems in
SMART data, suddenly can no longer calibrate (i.e. it can't read
anymore.) NOW the SMART data is showing something's wrong.


what specifically is smart showing? do you have more than a pass/fail?

Hard drive
"clicks" (heads go back and forth full disk) then quits trying. Have
another of the same model, but hesitant moving the platters myself;
apparently platters are not really "stuck" together and I could
mis-align them (rotate them in relation to each other) rendering the
whole thing un-readable.


swapping controllers (which is what i assume you mean by moving
platters) won't make a difference and risks making things worse.

Was planning to move the data off but kept
delaying since it showed no sign of problems...


all drives fail. the question is when. 15 years is *much* longer than
normal. consider yourself lucky it lasted that long. you were on
borrowed time. unfortunately, your luck ran out, and without a backup,
you're in the situation you're in.

Now need a data recovery company; anyone have good experience with one
and can recommend?


without question, drive savers:
https://www.drivesaversdatarecovery.com

they aren't cheap (none of the good ones are), but if for some reason
they can't recover the drive (possible, but highly unlikely), you don't
pay anything.

a clicking drive is relatively easy compared to a computer melting in a
fire or being under water for a couple of days:
https://www.drivesaversdatarecovery....-bizarre-disk-
asters/

I'm also curious about how they recover drives if not by using another
of the same model (where they hell how they going to find one as old as
mine, and can they really keep one of each model of ALL drives?) If you
can enlighten me on that too, would be great.


they don't need one for each model drive and the controller isn't what
usually fails.
  #3  
Old April 21st 18, 07:40 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,alt.windows7.general,alt.comp.os.windows-10
Paul[_28_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,467
Default Recommend data recovery company?

B00ze wrote:
Good day.

Got a 15 years old WD IDE hard drive, that was showing ZERO problems in
SMART data, suddenly can no longer calibrate (i.e. it can't read
anymore.) NOW the SMART data is showing something's wrong. Hard drive
"clicks" (heads go back and forth full disk) then quits trying. Have
another of the same model, but hesitant moving the platters myself;
apparently platters are not really "stuck" together and I could
mis-align them (rotate them in relation to each other) rendering the
whole thing un-readable. Was planning to move the data off but kept
delaying since it showed no sign of problems...

Now need a data recovery company; anyone have good experience with one
and can recommend?

I'm also curious about how they recover drives if not by using another
of the same model (where they hell how they going to find one as old as
mine, and can they really keep one of each model of ALL drives?) If you
can enlighten me on that too, would be great.

Thank you.
Best Regards,


The big-name companies are listed here.

https://support.wdc.com/warranty/dat...ericas&lang=en

*******

And you can find sites with chit-chat about recovery.

https://www.data-medics.com/forum/wd...re58-t746.html

And there is gear people hint at, but don't describe in detail.
I even found a site in India, selling things like "head stack
holders" for when you change out a head stack. If you want to
get into the business, there's always someone selling the
bits and pieces needed.

http://www.acelaboratory.com/pc3000.udma.php

One interesting tidbit, is there is a three wire TTL level
serial port on the controller board. Which accepts a cryptic
language of some sort (parameter list, comma separated), There
is at least one web page, which describes temporarily
interrupting some electrical connections on a drive,
issuing a couple commands into that serial port, and actually
recovering a drive where the firmware has damaged a data
structure stored in the Service Area. That was the first hint
I got, that a hard drive has an interface like some home
routers do. And it's not a port that responds to "help" either :-)

*******

An industry practice seems to be "no charge unless I
recover your data". You'd probably have to pay for shipping
in cases where you want the carcass back, if they fail
at the task.

I've never used data recovery myself, so have not gone through
the selection process of picking a repair/recovery facility. My
phone book has three entries, claiming to be local service, but
my guess is they just mail your drive to a larger facility somewhere.
The listing for Florida, had maybe 30-40 providers. That's a lot
of basements, with glove boxes in them...

They should really be using a Class 100 or Class 10 Clean Room or
Air Curtain for this work. But there are also glove boxes with
HEPA air supplies, for doing the work. I think you could only get
away with sloppy cleanliness, on the old drives (the ones with
10u flying height).

And I think it'll be interesting, when someone asks this question,
and he has a Helium drive. Who can handle one of those ? That
will take a rocket scientist, as the HDA has a seal to keep the
Helium in. What a mess that's going to be. Do they use a can
opener on those ? :-) Conventional air-filled drives with breather
holes, are a lot easier to open up (the breather hole has a HEPA
filter underneath the cover). There is no "vacuum" inside
a hard drive, as the heads actually "fly" on a cushion of
some gas, whether it's 1 ATM air, or it's helium.

Paul
  #4  
Old April 21st 18, 11:55 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,alt.windows7.general,alt.comp.os.windows-10
nospam
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 160
Default Recommend data recovery company?

In article , Paul
wrote:

And I think it'll be interesting, when someone asks this question,
and he has a Helium drive. Who can handle one of those ? That
will take a rocket scientist, as the HDA has a seal to keep the
Helium in. What a mess that's going to be.


it won't be a mess at all nor will it take a rocket scientist.

drivesavers has been able to recover helium drives for nearly four
years, only about one year after helium drives were first introduced.

https://www.drivesaversdatarecovery....avers-data-rec
overy-services-now-available-for-helium-hard-disk-drives/
NOVATO, Calif. * August 28, 2014** DriveSavers, the worldwide leader
in*data recovery,*eDiscovery*and*digital forensic solutions,
announced today data recovery services for helium-filled hard disk
drives (HDD) are now available. DriveSavers Data Recovery experts are
available 24/7 to help users recover files from drives should data
loss occur while utilizing this recent technological development.

they also can recover failed ssds, which is a *lot* more difficult than
spinning rust.
  #5  
Old April 21st 18, 12:15 PM posted to alt.windows7.general,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,alt.comp.os.windows-10
Zaidy036[_3_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3
Default Recommend data recovery company?

nospam wrote:
In article , Paul
wrote:

And I think it'll be interesting, when someone asks this question,
and he has a Helium drive. Who can handle one of those ? That
will take a rocket scientist, as the HDA has a seal to keep the
Helium in. What a mess that's going to be.


it won't be a mess at all nor will it take a rocket scientist.

drivesavers has been able to recover helium drives for nearly four
years, only about one year after helium drives were first introduced.

https://www.drivesaversdatarecovery....avers-data-rec
overy-services-now-available-for-helium-hard-disk-drives/
NOVATO, Calif. Â* August 28, 2014Â*Â* DriveSavers, the worldwide leader
inÂ*data recovery,Â*eDiscoveryÂ*andÂ*digital forensic solutions,
announced today data recovery services for helium-filled hard disk
drives (HDD) are now available. DriveSavers Data Recovery experts are
available 24/7 to help users recover files from drives should data
loss occur while utilizing this recent technological development.

they also can recover failed ssds, which is a *lot* more difficult than
spinning rust.


One last effort?
Place drive in zip lock bag overnight in freezer. Quickly attach to PC and
try to transfer files.

--
Zaidy036
  #6  
Old April 21st 18, 12:22 PM posted to alt.windows7.general,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,alt.comp.os.windows-10
nospam
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 160
Default Recommend data recovery company?

In article , Zaidy036
wrote:

One last effort?
Place drive in zip lock bag overnight in freezer. Quickly attach to PC and
try to transfer files.


do *not* even think about doing that if the data is at all valuable.
  #7  
Old April 21st 18, 01:15 PM posted to alt.windows7.general,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,alt.comp.os.windows-10
Jonathan N. Little
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 38
Default Recommend data recovery company?

Zaidy036 wrote:
One last effort?
Place drive in zip lock bag overnight in freezer. Quickly attach to PC and
try to transfer files.


Believe or not I have done that and is sometimes works.

--
Take care,

Jonathan
-------------------
LITTLE WORKS STUDIO
http://www.LittleWorksStudio.com
  #8  
Old April 21st 18, 01:23 PM posted to alt.windows7.general,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,alt.comp.os.windows-10
Art Todesco
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2
Default Recommend data recovery company?

On 4/21/2018 8:15 AM, Jonathan N. Little wrote:
Zaidy036 wrote:
One last effort?
Place drive in zip lock bag overnight in freezer. Quickly attach to PC
and
try to transfer files.


Believe or not I have done that and is sometimes works.

I too have had luck doing that. And, I told a friend who told some
other clients and they all seemed to have success. I think I might try
a USB to IDE adapter and put the whole thing in a plastic bag in the
fridge to see if that works. Then graduate to the freezer if necessary.
  #9  
Old April 21st 18, 02:02 PM posted to alt.windows7.general,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,alt.comp.os.windows-10
nospam
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 160
Default Recommend data recovery company?

In article , Jonathan N. Little
wrote:

Place drive in zip lock bag overnight in freezer. Quickly attach to PC and
try to transfer files.


Believe or not I have done that and is sometimes works.


more often, it makes it worse. you were lucky.

it's a *very* bad idea for all sorts of reasons. ask the drive recovery
companies how many drives they get from people who thought they could
do it themselves by freezing them.

https://www.gillware.com/blog/data-r...eezer-data-rec
overy-myth/
Just like pseudoscience in the world of medicine, the freezer trick
³works² just barely often enough to encourage people to spread the
idea to friends and neighbors. And when it ³works² it is only because
the drive exhibits intermittent behavior. There¹s a 99.9% chance that
not putting it in the freezer also would have resulted in the same
data recovery outcome.
....
When a failed drive comes out of the freezer and works again, it¹s
only a matter of luck. Exposure to cold will not restore a dead
sector¹s magnetic field or fix a corrupted partition table. It won¹t
make blind read/write heads suddenly see, nor will it salve the burn
on a fried control board. Quite frankly, people with freezer trick
³success stories² are just lucky they did not make their hard drives¹
problems worse.
  #10  
Old April 21st 18, 03:26 PM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,alt.windows7.general,alt.comp.os.windows-10
VanguardLH[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,453
Default Recommend data recovery company?

B00ze wrote:

Got a 15 years old WD IDE hard drive, that was showing ZERO problems in
SMART data, suddenly can no longer calibrate (i.e. it can't read
anymore.) NOW the SMART data is showing something's wrong. Hard drive
"clicks" (heads go back and forth full disk) then quits trying. Have
another of the same model, but hesitant moving the platters myself;
apparently platters are not really "stuck" together and I could
mis-align them (rotate them in relation to each other) rendering the
whole thing un-readable. Was planning to move the data off but kept
delaying since it showed no sign of problems...

Now need a data recovery company; anyone have good experience with one
and can recommend?


How much are you willing to spend? Could be a few hundred dollars or a
couple thousand depending on whether advanced (expensive) software could
be used or they have to disassemble the drive in a clean room and use
special equipment to read the magnetic dipoles from the platters.

When my aunt found out it would cost $1500 to recover old data files
from her defective HDD, she decided that old data wasn't really worth
that much. Also, it is highly unlikely that they can recover 100% of
the data from the platters. With luck being against you, likely the
majority of the files you want to recover will be unrecoverable.

nospam mentioned DriveSavers. They seem to be about what was estimated
to rescue data from my aunt's HDD and the company name sounds familiar.

https://www.geek.com/chips/drivesave...-drive-574764/
"Pricing is determined by the drive capacity, complexity and
completeness of the data recovery. The cost for recovering data from a
drive with severe media damage, like mine, is about $1900. An average
single drive data recovery costs about $1500."

https://acsdata.com/drivesavers-data-recovery/

That has ACS extolling DriveSavers, a competitor.

Considering the how expensive it is to use physical recovery services, I
find regular scheduled backups (which eliminates user intervention since
humans are unreliable in saving backups at critical moments in change of
state to their drives) to other internal media (for fast restores) and a
2nd copy of offline media to be far cheaper and the shortest time to
recover.

Can you find a seller of the same type (IDE) of drive at the same
capacity (or a minimum size that would encompass the data files you
think are on the failed drive)? The rescue service provider might get
some of the data files off the failed drive but they may not be able to
put them back on the same type and size of drive you had. How accurate
is your measure of 15 years old for the failed drive? Up until
somewhere to the 80's, MFM was used. That got replaced by RLL by the
early 90's. Then came PATA and SATA (and some others). Since you
mentioned IDE, yours is using PATA which was called ATA or [E]IDE before
SATA came out.

I did a search at Newegg on IDE, new, sold by Newegg and they don't
carry any of those. If I removed "sold by Newegg" then a few were
found; however, since they are sold by others using Newegg as their
storefront, any delivery, condition, or warranty problems will have you
dealing with the 3rd party seller, not with Newegg. There needs to be a
drive available for purchase now (no, DriveSavers isn't going to
computer swap meets) onto which your recovered data files can be stored.
You have to determine if the new drive will be usable in your ancient
computer.
 




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