Computer Hard Disk failure - Off Topic

[bandrew]

Guys

A brief word of warning. Yesterday I got a call from a mate that his PC had started smoking and no longer worked.

I went to have a look at the pc and as I suspected the PSU had failed, the problem is that as it failed it appears to have surged taking out all the major parts, including the 2xcdrom drives and his Hard Drive.

Now, I know most people do not back up including my mate, he had all the photos of his kids on the pc since they were born. What a hard lesson to learn, as the companies that make disks say, 100% of Hard Drives WILL fail, it's only a matter of time due to the moving parts inside the disk enlosure.

Anyway I spoke to my mate today who works for a data recovery company and to have the disk spindles removed from the disk enclosure and remounted in another box and then the data copied onto a brand new disk would cost..........are you sitting down.......

£800 + VAT

So the moral of this story is back up guys, a 500Gb external Hard Disk only costs about £100 and if you backup once a month at least the worse case is you lose a months worth of photos etc.

Andy

p.s. Anyone know of any cheaper data recovery places?

[JuzzyD]

Thats a very good price for that kind of recovery to be honest, I very much doubt you'll get it done cheaper!

[CorsaVan]

Guys

A brief word of warning. Yesterday I got a call from a mate that his PC had started smoking and no longer worked.

I went to have a look at the pc and as I suspected the PSU had failed, the problem is that as it failed it appears to have surged taking out all the major parts, including the 2xcdrom drives and his Hard Drive.

Now, I know most people do not back up including my mate, he had all the photos of his kids on the pc since they were born. What a hard lesson to learn, as the companies that make disks say, 100% of Hard Drives WILL fail, it's only a matter of time due to the moving parts inside the disk enlosure.

Anyway I spoke to my mate today who works for a data recovery company and to have the disk spindles removed from the disk enclosure and remounted in another box and then the data copied onto a brand new disk would cost..........are you sitting down.......

£800 + VAT

So the moral of this story is back up guys, a 500Gb external Hard Disk only costs about £100 and if you backup once a month at least the worse case is you lose a months worth of photos etc.

Andy

p.s. Anyone know of any cheaper data recovery places?

Try using "GEt Data Back" www.runtime.org, it comes in two versions, one for NTFS and one for FAT....

Provided the Hard drive can still run, the data can be recovered.

By the sounds of it, though the electronics have been destroyed. A method to try and get the HD working is buy an exact copy of the HD and swap over the electronics, they are on a simple card that can be swapped over without having to open the enclosure. I have done this with a WD Hard Drive 250 GB and it worked, in my case the electronics were shorted out by a paper clip and the data was undamaged.

[bandrew]

Yeah, I fugured that, I am tempted to get a old identical hard drive and move the disks myself....if I manage it I could set up my own data recovery company.....

I just wish people would listen to me when I tell them they need to keep backups.

For my photography business ( I have 2 jobs) I backup to 3 DVD's, a Backup server and a external Hard disk. The External hard disk lives in a fire proof safe, one DVD stays at home, one goes to my parents and one to the in-laws. Mildly obsessive, but I dont fancy ever telling a bride and groom that I have lost their photos....

Andy

[SignumPhil]

I've used the above method, and it can work.
I work for a company that sells enterprise backup solutions, so I always back everything up numerous times.
When I was a field engineer I used to spend so much time explaining to customers that once their data's a goner, it's gone!
Also, if you do back up, check that your backups are readable, too!


Phil

[JuzzyD]

Yeah, I fugured that, I am tempted to get a old identical hard drive and move the disks myself....if I manage it I could set up my own data recovery company.....

Don't contemplate physically opening up the drive unless you're in a fully statically discharged and clean room (plus make sure you know how the drive comes apart!) otherwise you'll blow any real chance of getting any data off, thats why recovery costs so much because of the equipment needed for it

[bandrew]

I've used the above method, and it can work.
I work for a company that sells enterprise backup solutions, so I always back everything up numerous times.
When I was a field engineer I used to spend so much time explaining to customers that once their data's a goner, it's gone!
Also, if you do back up, check that your backups are readable, too!


Phil

Phil

My main job is a field engineer, customer think I am mad when I tell them they need to spend 10k on a backup solution..... And as you say, they seem to either not check the logs or test restores so when they do have a problem even if they have a backup they still can't restore....they will not be told.

Virtual PC rocks though, we run most of our mail servers now on XenSource which is like Vmware. It's brill, shut it down and copy the file to a SAN and you have a brilliant disaster recovery....

Andy