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Recommend data recovery company?



 
 
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  #21  
Old April 22nd 18, 04:20 PM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,alt.windows7.general,alt.comp.os.windows-10
VanguardLH[_2_]
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Posts: 1,453
Default Recommend data recovery company?

Paul wrote:

VanguardLH wrote:

https://www.hddzone.com/fix_hard_drive_pcb_board.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn2eL4o-6Eo
Timemark 5:40 - Swap doesn't work.
Timemark 7:12 - Gotta swap the ROM chip.

You'll end up having to move the ROM chip, if still usabled, from the
failed drive's PCB to the identical replacement PCB. ...


According to this, the main chip has firmware.


Yes, some microcontrollers chips have a ROM section. The Youtube guy
mentioned that. Instead of transplanting a ROM chip, you have to
transplant the microcontroller chip assuming the PCBs are clones so the
surrounding logic is the same.

Knowing all the architectures used in different brands, models, and
submodels, especially since some same-brand drives come from different
factories can make you go crazy. Some have separate ROM chips. Some
have ROM inside the microcontroller chip. The point was that the drive
data on one PCB may not be usable or be incorrect for another drive.
  #22  
Old April 23rd 18, 12:33 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
Loren Pechtel[_2_]
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Posts: 427
Default Recommend data recovery company?

On Sat, 21 Apr 2018 08:15:54 -0400, "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.


The thing is, playing with it can do damage. If you're thinking of
data recovery you don't try home remedies first.

I've seen someone play with home remedies first--and then have the
pros return the data minus one platter that had been destroyed by
their attempts.
  #23  
Old April 23rd 18, 01:44 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,alt.windows7.general,alt.comp.os.windows-10
Peter Jason
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Posts: 160
Default Recommend data recovery company?

On Sat, 21 Apr 2018 00:09:33 -0400, 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,



I had such a damaged HDD a long time ago.

It was the attached HDD control card that was faulty.

I found another identical HDD and swapped over the control card using
a small star-screw driver.

This worked.

This might be the cheapest way out.
  #24  
Old April 23rd 18, 02:14 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,alt.windows7.general,alt.comp.os.windows-10
Diesel[_2_]
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Posts: 58
Default Recommend data recovery company?

B00ze news Apr 2018 04:09:33 GMT in alt.windows7.general, 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...


Hmm. If you have two identical drives, you can try temporarily swapping
the logic board. Sometimes, the board itself is the culprit and your
drives internals are actually okay; along with your data.



--
To prevent yourself from being a victim of cyber
stalking, it's highly recommended you visit he
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================================================== =
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  #25  
Old April 23rd 18, 02:14 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,alt.windows7.general,alt.comp.os.windows-10
Diesel[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 58
Default Recommend data recovery company?

Peter Jason
Mon, 23 Apr 2018
00:44:35 GMT in alt.windows7.general, wrote:

On Sat, 21 Apr 2018 00:09:33 -0400, 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,



I had such a damaged HDD a long time ago.

It was the attached HDD control card that was faulty.

I found another identical HDD and swapped over the control card
using a small star-screw driver.

This worked.

This might be the cheapest way out.


It's one of the tricks of the trade, actually. Works quite nicely
in some cases. I tend not to write to the drive while I'm doing this
mind you, it's ONLY for read only data recovery. As by doing the PCB
swap, the drive has the wrong manufacturer mappings now for those
platters.



--
To prevent yourself from being a victim of cyber
stalking, it's highly recommended you visit he
https://tekrider.net/pages/david-brooks-stalker.php
================================================== =
'I love you, you love me, I will eat your family.' --Barney
  #26  
Old April 23rd 18, 02:14 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,alt.windows7.general,alt.comp.os.windows-10
Diesel[_2_]
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Posts: 58
Default Recommend data recovery company?

nospam
Sat, 21 Apr 2018
04:47:28 GMT in alt.windows7.general, wrote:

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.


First hand experience tells me otherwise. Swapping the controllers if
they're identical and the controller is at fault can result in
regaining access to his data. I wouldn't perform any writes on a
drive using a 'borrowed' controller, but I'd certainly take full
advantage if it regains access to the drive and copy data over.

Taking the drive apart physically to gain access to the platters
though would be a very bad idea and will almost certainly result in
further damaging the drive.

It's pretty clear by his descriptive theory that he was thinking of
physically opening the drive and moving things around. Not swapping
out the controller.

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.


Your actual experience with the company is?



--
To prevent yourself from being a victim of cyber
stalking, it's highly recommended you visit he
https://tekrider.net/pages/david-brooks-stalker.php
================================================== =
It's not that they die, but that they die like sheep.
  #27  
Old April 23rd 18, 08:17 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,alt.windows7.general,alt.comp.os.windows-10
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 36
Default Recommend data recovery company?

On Mon, 23 Apr 2018 10:44:35 +1000, Peter Jason wrote:

On Sat, 21 Apr 2018 00:09:33 -0400, 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,



I had such a damaged HDD a long time ago.

It was the attached HDD control card that was faulty.

I found another identical HDD and swapped over the control card using
a small star-screw driver.

This worked.

This might be the cheapest way out.


I had a drive that did spin but somehow the data got lost. Something
about the boot record. I could access some, but not all of tha data. I
plugged the drive into an IDE to USB adaptor. Booted up a different
computer using a Puppy Linux Flash drive. Then plugged that IDE hard
drive into the USB port. I was able to access a lot more of the data,
which I quickly copied to a 64gb flash drive (the Bad drive was only
40gb).

Aside from buying one of them IDE to USB adapters (under $10 on ebay),
you can download Puppy Linux for free. Thnn just have e small falsh
drive to make your Puppy boot and another flash drive big enough to copy
your data to.

Note: The bad drive was from a Windows 98 computer and had Fat32 format.
The computer I used to do the linux boot and transfer was a much newer
one, which would boot XP, Viata or Windows 7. (whether that matters).


  #28  
Old April 23rd 18, 12:03 PM 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
5n4tY76H10y83Lr618DRo,
Diesel wrote:

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.


First hand experience tells me otherwise. Swapping the controllers if
they're identical and the controller is at fault can result in
regaining access to his data. I wouldn't perform any writes on a
drive using a 'borrowed' controller, but I'd certainly take full
advantage if it regains access to the drive and copy data over.


swapping a controller isn't going to fix a clicking sound. that's a
mechanical issue internal to the drive.

the chances of a home remedy working are very low, and with a
significant risk of making it worse.

Taking the drive apart physically to gain access to the platters
though would be a very bad idea and will almost certainly result in
further damaging the drive.


incredibly stupid.

It's pretty clear by his descriptive theory that he was thinking of
physically opening the drive and moving things around. Not swapping
out the controller.


it may have sounded that way, but it's hard to believe anyone would be
foolish enough to even consider physically opening a hard drive
mechanism outside of a clean room, let alone actually try it.

unless of course, the goal was to destroy the platters or use them for
clocks or something, and/or repurpose the magnets, but that's not the
case here.

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.


Your actual experience with the company is?


extensive. i've known about the company for more than 20 years, i've
met several of their techs at trade shows over the years and talked
with them at length* and i also know several people who have had the
unfortunate need to use their services. recovery was 100% (and $$$).

backups are *much* cheaper and also much faster to restore. turnaround
time can be as short as a minute or so.

* it was quite interesting to learn how they can handle recovery from
multiple drives in a raid array as well as from ssds, skipping the ssd
controller entirely.
  #29  
Old April 28th 18, 04:46 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?

On 2018-04-23 07:03, nospam wrote:

In article
5n4tY76H10y83Lr618DRo,
Diesel wrote:

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.


I don't think it's a controller issue, but I could try that first. It's
the exact same model, it won't make things worse.

First hand experience tells me otherwise. Swapping the controllers if
they're identical and the controller is at fault can result in
regaining access to his data. I wouldn't perform any writes on a
drive using a 'borrowed' controller, but I'd certainly take full
advantage if it regains access to the drive and copy data over.


swapping a controller isn't going to fix a clicking sound. that's a
mechanical issue internal to the drive.


Clicking means the drive is moving the heads the full width of the
platters in an attempt to find what it needs to start reading (embbeded
servo information I presume). It could be the controller board, I don't
know, but I do think this is the first thing I should try if I do this
myself...

the chances of a home remedy working are very low, and with a
significant risk of making it worse.

Taking the drive apart physically to gain access to the platters
though would be a very bad idea and will almost certainly result in
further damaging the drive.


incredibly stupid.


First of all, this is a 15 year old drive, things were bigger then
(bigger heads, bigger area for each bit on the platter, etc.) so it is
not as fragile as more recent drives (still pretty fragile however.) I
have opened and played around inside hard drives before, and did not
loose the drive. A clean room is nice, but not necessary if all I want
to do is read whatever I can ONCE from the drive.

Here's a little video that will help you see how easy it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZx-tU1_gOw

It's pretty clear by his descriptive theory that he was thinking of
physically opening the drive and moving things around. Not swapping
out the controller.


Indeed.

it may have sounded that way, but it's hard to believe anyone would be
foolish enough to even consider physically opening a hard drive
mechanism outside of a clean room, let alone actually try it.


Done it before, no issues.

unless of course, the goal was to destroy the platters or use them for
clocks or something, and/or repurpose the magnets, but that's not the
case here.

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

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


Thanks, will see if perhaps they have an outlet in Canada...

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.


Yeah, I don't really care for that - i.e. If we break it beyond repair
you won't pay anything is not an important consideration as far as I'm
concerned, since they will have rendered the thing unrecoverable.

Your actual experience with the company is?


extensive. i've known about the company for more than 20 years, i've
met several of their techs at trade shows over the years and talked
with them at length* and i also know several people who have had the
unfortunate need to use their services. recovery was 100% (and $$$).

backups are *much* cheaper and also much faster to restore. turnaround
time can be as short as a minute or so.

* it was quite interesting to learn how they can handle recovery from
multiple drives in a raid array as well as from ssds, skipping the ssd
controller entirely.


I'm skeptic about this, but feel free not to doubt, you're the one who
heard them explain. I need more data.

Best Regards,

--
! _\|/_ Sylvain /
! (o o) Memberavid-Suzuki-Fdn/EFF/Red+Cross/SPCA/Planetary-Society
oO-( )-Oo JUST DISCOVERED - Research causes cancer in rats!

  #30  
Old April 28th 18, 05:08 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?

On 2018-04-21 02:40, Paul wrote:

The big-name companies are listed here.
https://support.wdc.com/warranty/dat...ericas&lang=en


Thanks, I will look into those "official" recovery centres.

And you can find sites with chit-chat about recovery.
https://www.data-medics.com/forum/wd...re58-t746.html


Interesting, he's accessing the drive RAM and fiddling with reading only
from 1 head at a time etc. The things you can do :-)

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.


Yeah, I know there are things like head "spreaders" etc making it easier
to rebuild drives, but of course I don't have any of that here ;-)

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 :-)


Lol, yeah I'm not going there. Either I fix it physically or I have it
recovered; not learning hard drive controller language.

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.


Yeah but like I said to the other dude, that doesn't impress me as much
as people telling me they are a good experience with so and so. All it
means is: if I break it, so that you can not EVER recover from it, then
I won't charge you. It is better than nothing, it is an incentive to the
vendor to recover, but it doesn't make me all warm and fuzzy inside as
much as you'd think.

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...


I got a few in my city here, but don't know how reputable they are which
is why I asked around here.

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).


If I do it myself dusty air is going to have to do. It is quite an old
drive, I think it could survive colliding with a few particles, all I
need is to read it once...

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.


Well the helium is to make sure it's easier to spin the platters and the
temp doesn't go up. Maybe they can just run the drive in an
appropriately cold room, provided the rotor can take the extra drag...

Regards,

--
! _\|/_ Sylvain /
! (o o) Memberavid-Suzuki-Fdn/EFF/Red+Cross/SPCA/Planetary-Society
oO-( )-Oo Friends don't let friends use Windoze.

 




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