For some completely random reason, my hard drive bit it a couple of weeks ago. My laptop was fortunately still under warranty, so I got a new one, but I wanted to try to recover the data that I hadn't gotten a chance to back up.

So I looked online, but I can't find anywhere that will recover my lost data for less than $200. All I wanted recovered were a couple months worth of pictures and music and a few other things, and I didn't think it was worth that ridiculous price, but I don't have the equipment and/or skill to try to do it myself.

Does anyone know where I could find a thriftier alternative?

2/9/2007 1:59:29 PM

Actually $200 is the cheapest I've ever heard for data recovery. i think $800-$1000+ is more the norm.

you might be able to find someone on this board willing to take a look at it...depending on what you're willing to pay.

2/9/2007 2:11:39 PM

Mitsuba Intl (no price quote) 829-0294. Ask for Mr Yang. depends on how fubared that drive is.

2/9/2007 2:22:44 PM

i'll do it for $35...if i can't recover it, you don't pay for it

2/9/2007 4:06:02 PM

I think the geek squad is partnering with some sort of data recovery agency. It might be worth a call.

2/9/2007 4:07:00 PM

last i checked the geek squad wont even talk to you for <100

2/9/2007 4:12:20 PM

quaqmire's offer is a pretty good one. I know what I would try first, myself, but that's just me, muhahahahahaha

2/10/2007 12:45:02 AM

First I've always tried to do to recover data when I worked at a computer store in high school was to swap out the drive's circuit boards with a known good board from the same model of drive. If the platters and heads of the drive are OK and there was a problem on the circuit board, problem solved.

-- Dave

2/12/2007 9:54:38 AM

It really depends on how the hard disk failed as to how hard it will be to get the data off. If the problem is data related (corrupt partition table, MFT problems, corrupt NTFS metadata, inadvertently modified partition table, what have you), then there are tons of applications out there that can recover most (if not all) of the data on your drive. (Check out Hiren's Boot CD -- it's a bootable CD with data recovery and other tools on it).

If the drive was shocked (dropped or shaked) while it was reading or writing, the heads may have physically damaged the platters, the heads may have become damaged themselves, or the bearings may have gone bad just from normal wear. If anything internal like that is the problem, the drive will need to be disassembled in a clean room, the platters would be moved to another similar drive, and much of your data would be recoverable again. However, the problem here is repairing the drive in a clean environment. Having this done WILL cost several hundred dollars. Do not try to do this yourself because you will just end up fux0ring your old drive and the new one.

If the drive's circuit board was damaged, then see dmann's post. If that's the case, your data is probably 100% intact.

2/12/2007 3:20:24 PM