Topic: Data Recovery Services?

[bhoy]

I just dropped a portable Seagate 1TB drive.  Windows recognizes it as a USB device, and I hear beeping inside the case, but it doesn't boot up.  I'm guessing I killed it.  Can anyone recommend a data recovery place?  Would they even be able to fix it any cost, or would it just be a pile of randomly named files?

I can rebuild the contents of the drive, but I will lose lots of audacity projects.  Not the end of the world tho.

Thanks.

Bill

[H₂O]

I lost a drive a few years back and looked into this and at the time professional recovery services started in the Thousands of Dollars.

Fortunately I only had firmware issue and was able to recover the files using software I paid about $100 for.

If the drive is physically damaged you can still probably get most of the data off (if not all) but it will cost you a bunch. 

You may be able to find someone whom is somewhat tech savvy that can find a comparable drive that can swap out parts to see if that would work.

[Gordon]

yea if the drive is physically damaged you may be screwed.  if its not it shouldn't be too hard to get the data back.  look at rstudio.  it is a fantastic program for data recovery.  pretty sure you can scan in demo mode to see if it fines what you need.  if it does you can then pay for it. 

[Gordon]

oh and you may be able to take the drive out of the portable enclousre and put it in a dock.

[StuStu]

oh and you may be able to take the drive out of the portable enclousre and put it in a dock.

Gordon recovered all the data of a bad external drive I had. His advice is surely good advice.

[earmonger]

Before you give up or pay $$$ try a bunch of data recovery freebies. I had a disc drive go bad and just started trying them one after another until one worked. Unfortunately I've forgotten which one but among them were:

Seagate's own SeaTools: http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/seatools/

EaseUS: http://www.easeus.com/

Flobo: http://www.floborecovery.us/

Recuva: http://www.piriform.com/recuva

Cnet's download.com probably has more. You might get lucky.

[Gordon]

Recuva: http://www.piriform.com/recuva

works good if you just cleared the recycle bin and need something from it.  I've also used it to recover a damaged sd card.  it's worth a shot for sure. meant to mention it in my first post.

[Chrisedge]

Have you tried the freezer trick? It's worked for me about half the time. Drive (alone, out of enclosure) in a airless ziplock for 10-15 min in the freezer, take it out and quickly hook up to cpu.

[bhoy]

Thanks for the tips guys.  The drive is a portable handheld in what seems to be a completely sealed plastic case.  I don't see any screws; does the top just pop off or might it be glued together?

Also, the hard drive is not spinning.  It didn't take a hard fall - 2 feet from desk to carpert, but it was enough to do damage.  I can hear beeping inside the case.  Wouldn't any of the software programs at least require the drive to be spinning?

Thanks,
Bill

[rastasean]

Never personally used it but i have heard good things about it:
https://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm

[phanophish]

Never personally used it but i have heard good things about it:
https://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm

I have used SpinRite.  Works fairly well, although slow, IF it is a drive that it can recover.  That said if the drive will not spin up it will do you no good, your only option is a commercial recovery vendor.

[H₂O]

was the drive on/spinning when it fell?

If not the heads should have been parked - maybe they got stuck parked and you try do the old spin the drive on a piece of paper trick

Basically take the drive an put it on a piece of paper on a very flat smooth surface (like a hardwood floor) and spin it in hard clockwise direction a few times.  See if it spins up then - if that doesn't work spin the drive in the opposite direction and repeat.

Even if the drive is in a "sealed" plastic case it should pull apart - search the Internet for taking apart your specific drive.

[bugg100]

First thing I would do is get the drive out of the plastic case and have a different way to access said drive (cable or dock or internal installation).... The g force HDD's can withstand when powered off and heads parked is very high.

Plastic cases that hold the drives are FAR less well engineered than the hard drives inside.

Good luck!

[adrianf74]

First thing I would do is get the drive out of the plastic case and have a different way to access said drive (cable or dock or internal installation).... The g force HDD's can withstand when powered off and heads parked is very high.

Plastic cases that hold the drives are FAR less well engineered than the hard drives inside.

Good luck!

What he said.   With any knock/drop/etc., it's more likely that the internal connectors became dislodged inside.   There are quite a few youtube videos documenting how to open the various plastic cases but the SealFails are known for not being "rebuildable."   While you're taking it apart you'll likely have to break a bunch of tabs to get into it making the case pretty much useless.

With any luck, putting the drive into another case or dock will solve your headaches.  Best of luck.