Hard Drive Failure - Recovery of Data

[Reephdweller]

One of the pc's in the office where I work had a hard drive failure. This also just so happened to be the same pc that all the files that the folks in the office use. Not me personally, but the others do. I know there are services that do data recovery, and our corporate office could most likely have it recovered as well. Though is it possible for a regular person to do it? Is there some method to it? It ultimately won't affect me, but I'd like to help out if I could.

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[Reephdweller]

I got a very good suggestion from a techie friend who reminded me of an old trick with failed hard drives. Sometimes if the drive isn't totally shot, you can put the hard drive in a plastic wrap bag and freeze it either overnight or for several hours. It's possible the drive will boot up long enough for you to recover as much data as possible. So this morning about 9:30 I removed the offending drive from the computer and it's now sitting in a bubble wrap envelope inside a freezer. I hope this works.

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[jeffdwright2001]

you can put the hard drive in a plastic wrap bag and freeze it either overnight or for several hours.
http://www.teachertailored.com/images/products/storage/261091.jpg
to hear you found a possible solution.

[JPMNICK]

try putting the drive into a computer with the EXACT SAME specs. Maybe the controller went bad on the mother board. does it make any spinning noise?

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[Reephdweller]

There was a low clicking noise, which I know is usually the sound of hard drive death. I was actually just thinking of putting the drive in another box. I'll try it in a few minutes.

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[Reephdweller]

Well, that didn't work, but it was only 2 hours. So I'll let it sit longer and try again.

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[JPMNICK]

you can try dropping it on its side, sometimes this helps move stuck heads

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[JustJon]

If you want to pay for a service, there's drive savers. http://www.drivesavers.com

They claim to be at a very high recovery rate (dunno the exact number, but it's high 90's)

If you use them, I am a Drive Savers reseller, and if you use code DS13198, you'll get 20% off.

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[jeffdwright2001]

you can try dropping it on its side, sometimes this helps move stuck heads
This would be oddly hot if it weren't a bunch of guys posting to this thread.

[TooCute]

I used drivesavers after I dropped my work laptop.

$1200.


Back your fucking hard drive up, that's the lesson to learn.

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[Reephdweller]

I used drivesavers after I dropped my work laptop.

$1200.


Back your fucking hard drive up, that's the lesson to learn.



You don't need to tell me. I always back up my stuff. This is the computer the office upstairs from me uses. I've told them numerous times to back up their stuff. I'm merely being helpful to them because they lost everything.

Jon, If this don't work, then I'll give the company your reseller info if they want to go that route.

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[ADF]

Maybe you could pantomime your vision of what the files would like like if they were a fig tree. That <i>just</i> might work.

Assuming your company has network drives, just have people backup things on that... and be very explicit. This way, when the hard drive can't be saved, your ass isn't in the fire.

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