HDD data recovery services?

[Esau.]

The other week my 360 GB HDD suddenly stopped working and after trying numerous different recovery programs, repair discs & even slaving it in another computer all to no avail, I finally got my hands on the HDD manufacturer's diagostic disc/tool & found I have a bad sector and the error code issued says its an "uncorrectable data error" so from my research online there isn't much I can do myself, but I had read that it may be possible using a recovery service.

I have alot of stuff on that damn drive I don't want to lose - 110 GB of live music DVD, 75 GB FLAC/SHN shows & 60 GB of mp3, not to mention a shitload of unfinished Fatties shows (15GB maybe) which I don't have copies of anymore. Whats worse is I'm gettin my 500GB external for xmas & was planning to do the back-up then..argh.

So, does anyone know of any places in Hamilton or Toronto that do data recovery for hard drives?

I imagine I'm shit out of luck, but I have to try.

[StoneMtn]

PTing you.

[Cully]

good luck bro!!!

[bouche]

good luck. post any resolution that you get. I tried a data recovery for non-critical material and it was going to cost me too much for my taste. They said that they could recover ANYTHING. That's here in Ottawa, so I'm sure you'll find a place.

For the record, I just got a 250 gig external at work, and I LOVE IT! I'm going to get an enclosure and 500 GB drive for home soon as well.

[Pumpkinhead]

Hey . . .

If there is a physical problem with the drive the first thing you might want to try is putting it in the freezer overnight. Connect it in the morning and see if you can get any of the data off. You'll have a limited amount of time before it heats up again, so hurry.

If the problem is logical and not physical, or logical caused by physical, you can try using a data recovery program yourself. PM me and I'll hook you up with one.

In both cases you will need a destination to copy the recovered data to, so make sure you have one of those first.

[bouche]

I've also read for physical problems, that you can buy an old working harddrive off of Ebay, and then swap your storage space into the hardware of the working drive and you could get it all copied off that way.

[phishtaper]

try Rolling Thunder in Hamilton, on King near Mac. they can do this sort of stuff, but its outrageously expensive. re: the freezer trick - it's usually a one shot deal, with the freezing having the effect of minutely contracting the thickness of the cylinders, temporarily allowing clearance of the head - and the ability to read. as things heat back up, you lose that clearance and risk further damage. and make sure u put the HDD (not the whole computer!) in a static free bag while its in the freezer (for at least 2 hours). laptop HDD's are more successful due to the speed at which you can hook it back up and try. i had a HDD failure on my laptop last year and my IT dept at Mac tried this, but it didnt work - I lost a bunch of concert pics. good luck, i feel your pain.

[Esau.]

Cheers StoneMtn.

Pumpkinhead I've heard of the freezer trick but I don't think I wanna try that just yet. I have some recovery software ( http://www.runtime.org/ ) which I am going to try in the next few days, once I grab my 500 GB external. If you have a different app, I might be interested if mine doesn't work, thanks.

Thanks phishtaper, I'll check that place out, I have a lead already I'm checking into but I'll keep that in mind.

bouche, As mentioned in my first post, I've already slaved it into another computer to no avail. I know what the error is, its not physical. And with HDDs so cheap as it is, no need for ebay, but thanks.

[secondtube]

your gonna be somewhat happy.

i shop in hamilton, in walmart plaza on upper james, recovered almost 15 gigs of deleted fishing pictures i lost.

they charged me the cost of the dvd(s) to back it up. now, ALNC (the shop) will give ya free service of a PC they sell for life, which is why i got it for free.

however, they are very reasonable. ask for Ian. Tell him Steve sent ya. My brother and I have sent a lot of business there. THey are good people.

THey'll at least look at it, and let you konw if they can do anything....

I lost over 4000 fishing pictures over the last three or four years, as well as all my music photo's and personal photo's.

[Esau.]

Cheers Steve that is good news & hope, I'm going be in that area today or tomorrow as it is. Thanks for the tip, I'll be sure to stop by there.

[jay sanislo]

Yeah Greg, I would go with steve. I took my computer there recently. My hole computer was screwed. All I wanted was my pictures back, and by the next day and thirty bucks later i was ready to go. Mind you it wasnt hundreds of gigs, but they still got her back.