Hard disk kaput

[RETIRED]

The hard disk in my laptop has ceased working.

This would not be a problem except that all my data is on that disk.

Now before I get lectures on back ups etc, YEAH I KNOW, dumb.

My question is : Does any one know of a service that can recover the data, emails etc from this disc?

[Honorary Bloke]

Yes, but they're not in OZ, dammit. Sorry . That's a bummer.

[bitingmidge]

,

Bummer!

Just about any computer repairer should be able to point you in the right direction!


An ad in the latest Macworld from a company called Payam Data Recovery says they are Australia's #1 Data Recovery Company, so they must be!

www.payam.com.au Ph Melbourne 9510 5753

They also have Australia's only Class-100 data recovery clean room open to public viewing! WOW!!! Must have to keep the place really clean so if they drop any data on the floor they can sweep it up without having to separate the iced vo-vo crumbs!

I hope all goes well.

P

[Cliff Rogers]

http://www.imij.com.au/
http://www.ontrackdatarecovery.com.au/
http://www.technetics.com.au/


Don't know what any of them are like but I do know that it is expensive.

[Big Shed]

Certainly more expensive than an external backup HDD

[journeyman Mick]

,
bummer
My next door neighbour's son had a HDD crash, a few years worth of photos and MP3 files. Got quoted some phenomenal amount for recovery from one of the recovery services. Next door neighbour took it to a local computer techie geek type who charged hi a few hundred bucks and recovered everything bar a few files. There were 1000's of photos and Mp3s on there so he was pretty happy. PM me if you want me to enquire.

Mick

[Daddles]

I used to know a bloke who reckonned part of his fee was a copy of the he found on people's hard drives. He used to claim that his most impressive haul was from an Anglican minister and there was at least one customer he refused to ever work for again. Can't give you his name though, he discovered sanity and gave up computer repairs to go high school teaching.

Richard

[Big Shed]

,

You say the hard disk on your laptop has ceased working. What are the symptoms?

Is it just that the laptop won't boot, or doesn't the hard disk spin at all?

One thing you can try is get a external hard disk case for a 2.5" notebook drive, take the hard drive out of your laptop, put it into the external case and plug it into another computer's USB socket. If the drive is still working that computer will recognise tthe external drive and at the very least you can take all your data off it and then try to re-format or re-install windows.

Re your lost emails, I use Gmail (Google email) and all my emails are kept on their server, so impossible (I hope!) to lose. Every now and then I download and archive them.

I also use an external HDD (2.5" 80Gb) and DriveImage and backup to this regularly.

My notebook is part of my home network and before I switch it off every night I back up all notebook data to the desktop. Belts and braces

[Groggy]

,

Big Shed has some good ideas, I'd try that first. If you are over my way drop in and we'll sort it out.

Also, my laptop backs up critical files every time I connect to the internet using a tool called Foldershare. Using this tool I always have a set of synchronised data files on different PCs at all times. Since I connect every day the most data I can lose is 24 hours worth.

Using that, and the Firefox Bookmarks Synchroniser add-on, at worst (laptop) I am only a few hours software loading away from a complete recovery. On my home PC I have swappable hard drives with three complete OS sets I can just plug in, so recovery on that PC is almost instant. I can also access any file on my home server from the internet, so I don't need my laptop to recover data (just in case it was stolen).

If this seems over the top, I set it up when consulting, and losing my data meant no paycheck till I was back up and running - how's that for incentive!

Cost? Both are free. Give me a call if you want a hand.

[Big Shed]

Groggy,

Use the same swappable HDD system on my desktop and started doing that for the same reason, consulting. I was writing software for different operating systems and different database environments so needed to be able to just plug a HDD with all the environment on there. Thought it was Xmas when those HDD first came out

[bsrlee]

If $$$ are no object, I believe Polaroid Australia have a very good service and can recover almost anything.

A lot of digital imaging shops claim to able to recover files from any media so that might be another avenue.

I have also heard of the double sacrifice method - if it is the motor or arm actuator that has died, then another drive of the same model can be opened and the platters of the old drive installed & the contents read off immediately. You can then pretty much throw both drives away, it is cheaper than the big boys but a bit wasteful.

[Stuart]

- can I suggest - do nothing until Saturday. I will bring along my gear and will see what I can do.

What I do is non-destructive - ie if what I attempt doesn't work, I won't make the situation any worse. It will involve removing the harddrive from the laptop, but that is easy, and easy to reverse. I have an external case to place it in, and some pretty amazing software for file recovery. (Had to recover 180GB of files today from a drive that the idiot had reformatted.....(ok, it was me, but I have recovered lecturers books and doctorates from drives that have been reformatted).

However, it really depends on the circumstances of the failure - symptoms etc. Some things are definitely beyond me, but at least I could give you an idea of the next step if it came to that.

Let me know if this would help.

Stu

[I_wanna_Shed]

Without knowing what the problem is.... one thing you can try is putting the hard drive (once out of the laptop) into a freezer bag then into the freezer for 60 minutes - then reinsert it and fire it up. Am I joking??? Nup. This won't fix the problem for good, but if it works will give you enough time to boot the laptop up and get the data off it (if it doesn't stay up for very long, freeze it for longer, even 24 hours).

I've done this on laptop drives, as well as drives from large servers (I am in IT). Works surprisingly well (also good for dodgy motherboards).

To give you an idea on data recovery cost, we recently sent a laptop drive to a data recovery place, and that cost us over $2000.

P.S. This works for faults such as metal parts moving or bending out of place. The contraction pulls the defective parts back into place.

[RETIRED]

Big Shed. The hard drive is making all sorts of clicking noises. It has been tried in another computer and won't come out to play. I will try the freeze method.

Greg. Thanks for the offer. I will see what Stuart can do on Saturday first.

Cliff, Brslee and others. Thanks for the information regarding recovery services. Rang a couple yesterday and prices vary from $2000- $3500.

Heart attack stuff but with some of the data it may well be pay the money and cry.

[Cliff Rogers]

Big Shed. The hard drive is making all sorts of clicking noises. .

If it is a random pattern, it is history.
If it is a repeatable pattern, then it is now finishing it POST (power on self test) & the freezer trick might work.