Dead hard drive, need data off.

Anyone know a good place (local preferred) to send a dead hard drive for data retrieval? I've got an noteboook hard drive that suddenly died (tried multiple programs, the drive can't be read - looks like a hardware malfunction in the drive). Anyone know a decent place to send it?

 

http://www.broadlandshoa.org/hoaforum/showthread.php?t=2246&highlight=data+recovery

 

hope this might helps...best of luck!:rolleyes2:

 

Put it in the freezer for 30min then try to boot it up...it may work long enough for you to copy files off to another disc.

 

Be careful, this can work for file structure issues, but if you have a mechanical failure any additional use of the drive most likely will damage it for good.

 

I know. Like I said, I can't even access the drive. I have not fiddled with it much beyond that. I sent you email btw afgm.

Edit: Hmm, my other reply is gone. Anyhow I tried the freezer trick once, didnt' work. Programs wont work either as the drive isn't assigned a drive letter in Windows.

 

Hornerjo,

I have just updated my email address. The one you used has been deactivated. Sorry about that, please resend.

 

What kind of drive is it? Does it make any noise when you power it up or is it quiet?

If it's not clicking (internal mechanical problem), you can buy an identical drive off ebay or where ever and replace the PCB on the outside of the drive....most of the time it doesn't have to be the same drive, just from the same drive family (PCB design). I did this with my Maxtor (ick) a year ago and it's working fine to this day.

 

Brim,

You're a brave soul. Replacing the PCB can work, but there's a lot to be careful about. Two identical looking drives can be different on the inside.

Just yesterday we saw two 40G Western Digital drives. Both looked the same, but when they were opened one had three platters and the other had two.

Drive manufacturers build drives with different part suppliers all the time. Based on manufacturing cycles, the guts of a drive can have different parts in it, but be labeled the same.

If you're going to tinker, at the least, make sure the manufactuer, model, and FIRMWARE are the same. Even the visible data on a label may not mean the drives are the same.

If the data was critical, I wouldn't try it.