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Old April 28th 18, 04:46 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,alt.windows7.general,alt.comp.os.windows-10
B00ze
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Posts: 472
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
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