Data Recovery, Price Too Much, Is There Any Other Way? Please - I Need Your Help. :(
Miu
important to ask.
You know that voice in the back of your head that whispers, 'You should
really back up your data right about now?' every once in a while. Well,
I didn't. And I dropped it. And the head crashed. And the other half
of my brain with it.
I took it to a local Macintosh repairman; he analyzed the drive and
basically said the head crashed - @#$(! - and, bottom line is, he sent
it to a company called Drive Specialists out in a galaxy far, far away
who told me the data is 100% recoverable, but it will cost me $2250.
:| (that's the numbness of disbelief)
I don't have that kind of money. My current net worth is less than that
(unless you want to discuss futures). But my life is on that computer, my
mind, my memories, precious things I will never be able to get back unless
the drive is fixed. My heart is breaking.
I know it was stupid of me to let it go for so long without backing it up.
I just bought a DVD drive. I just...things happen, you know? Backing up
data wasn't on my mind, though it should have been - it really should have.
But this is where I draw the line.
So I'm wondering if anyone here knew of someone who could retrieve data
from an Apple drive for a more reasonable price than this 'Drive
Specialists' company in California are asking for. I don't know these 'Drive
Specialists'. Does anyone else around here Are they the best? Or just the
most expensive?
Could anyone recommend a less expensive but equally expert hardcore data
retrieval company? Is anyone here very knowledgeable in crashed drive
data recovery?
Anyone know a company of experienced, perfectionist hackers who have nothing
to do but rescue a damsel in distress at a discount? Or am I going to have
to take out a loan?
Thank you,
Merc
nospam
<gno...@invalid-address.com> wrote:
>
> I took it to a local Macintosh repairman; he analyzed the drive and
> basically said the head crashed - @#$(! - and, bottom line is, he sent
> it to a company called Drive Specialists out in a galaxy far, far away
> who told me the data is 100% recoverable, but it will cost me $2250.
the fact that your 'repairman' claims the head crashed and he can
guarantee 100% recovery is itself suspect.
does the drive make any unusual or abnormal sounds, like a screech?
if so, then the heads may have in fact crashed, and a recovery service
is your only viable option. it will not be cheap, and chances are, it
won't be 100%. the part of the disk where the heads impacted are
probably not recoverable. however, the rest of the drive is probably
ok. it is possible that the damaged tracks might not contain any of
your files (i.e. free space), and everything will be recoverable.
if there are no unusual sounds, then the heads are probably fine and
the data on the disk is just corrupted. if that is the case, then you
just need appropriate software tools and you could even recover it
yourself.
i'd start with diskwarrior <http://www.alsoft.com/> to see if it can
repair it, and also datarescue <http://www.prosofteng.com/> to try to
recover files if diskwarrior can't repair. the latter has a free
downloadable demo that will list all files it can recover, allowing
only one file to be recovered. of course, you will need a mac with a
working hard drive to utilize either one.
however, if the drive is making any weird sounds whatsoever, don't
attempt anything on your own.
> Could anyone recommend a less expensive but equally expert hardcore data
> retrieval company? Is anyone here very knowledgeable in crashed drive
> data recovery?
i don't know how they compare pricewise to others, but they are *very*
good.
> Anyone know a company of experienced, perfectionist hackers who have nothing
> to do but rescue a damsel in distress at a discount? Or am I going to have
> to take out a loan?
where ya located?:)
Tom
Retrodata
www.retrodata.co.uk
Globally Local Data Recovery Experts
Not sure if they can do Mac but it's worth a try.
--
apax63 'at' dsl 'dot' pipex 'dot' com
Tom Harrington
> I took it to a local Macintosh repairman; he analyzed the drive and
> basically said the head crashed - @#$(! - and, bottom line is, he sent
> it to a company called Drive Specialists out in a galaxy far, far away
> who told me the data is 100% recoverable, but it will cost me $2250.
Sure it wasn't Drive Savers? They're a reputable group who seem to be
able to recover more or less anything, but are not cheap. Drive
Specialists I've never heard of, and can't find through Google.
--
Tom "Tom" Harrington
Macaroni, Automated System Maintenance for Mac OS X.
Version 2.0: Delocalize, Repair Permissions, lots more.
See http://www.atomicbird.com/
Ernie Klein
nospam <nos...@nospam.invalid> wrote:
> In article <BF271330.3%gno...@invalid-address.com>, Miu
> <gno...@invalid-address.com> wrote:
> >
> > I took it to a local Macintosh repairman; he analyzed the drive and
> > basically said the head crashed - @#$(! - and, bottom line is, he sent
> > it to a company called Drive Specialists out in a galaxy far, far away
> > who told me the data is 100% recoverable, but it will cost me $2250.
>
> the fact that your 'repairman' claims the head crashed and he can
> guarantee 100% recovery is itself suspect.
>
> does the drive make any unusual or abnormal sounds, like a screech?
>
> if so, then the heads may have in fact crashed, and a recovery service
> is your only viable option. it will not be cheap, and chances are, it
> won't be 100%. the part of the disk where the heads impacted are
> probably not recoverable. however, the rest of the drive is probably
> ok. it is possible that the damaged tracks might not contain any of
> your files (i.e. free space), and everything will be recoverable.
>
> if there are no unusual sounds, then the heads are probably fine and
> the data on the disk is just corrupted. if that is the case, then you
> just need appropriate software tools and you could even recover it
> yourself.
>
A third possibility is that some electronic component or drive motor or
head motor, etc. failed and the platter itself is 100% OK. If you can
find an identical drive, usually the circuit boards can be swapped and
with a bit of surgery, the platters can be swapped. I did that once to
recover a teachers data at school.
--
-Ernie-
"There are only two kinds of computer users -- those who have
suffered a catastrophic hard drive failure, and those who will."
Have you done your backup today?
Shawn Hirn
> to do but rescue a damsel in distress at a discount? Or am I going to have
> to take out a loan?
A company called Drive Savers might be able to help you out. Their web
site is http://www.drivesavers.com/
I have no idea how much they charge for their data recovery service, but
it can't hurt to call them to ask for an estimate.
Howard S Shubs
> Anyone know a company of experienced, perfectionist hackers who have nothing
> to do but rescue a damsel in distress at a discount? Or am I going to have
> to take out a loan?
Do you want the data back or not? If you can recreate it, do so.
Otherwise, you're asking the wrong question. This isn't something you
can do with software alone. It requires high priced hardware and
special environment.
Next time, make backups.
--
May we live together in peace.
xxxxx
> I took it to a local Macintosh repairman; he analyzed the drive and
> basically said the head crashed - @#$(! - and, bottom line is, he sent
> it to a company called Drive Specialists out in a galaxy far, far away
> who told me the data is 100% recoverable, but it will cost me $2250.
>
> Could anyone recommend a less expensive but equally expert hardcore data
> retrieval company? Is anyone here very knowledgeable in crashed drive
> data recovery?
depending on what shape the drive was in, i.e. what it was
doing and not doing before you took it in, you may be
able to do the rescue yourself - the fact that they said
it was 100% recoverable would seem to be a good sign
assuming you can have it sent back to you, and you have access to
another mac (or even your own with a new/functioning hard disk
in it) running at least OS 9.2.2, you might try hooking the dead drive
up via a firewire enclosure, or one of the firewire drivedocks sold by
wiebetech, to see if it shows up on your desktop
if it does, chances are you'll be able to suck some or all of your own
data out of it for the cost of the enclosure or the drivedock and the
appropriate cable - a whole lot less than two grand
fwiw, i ended up using the firewire notebook drivedock to rescue
data from a small (6 gig) 2.5" drive about two yrs ago - could'nt
have been happier
cp
Space Case
I have a feeling that Drive Savers is the company he's talking about.
I had a 250GB drive (failed servo) recovered by them, and that's about
what it cost me.
Part of the reason it costs so much, is they disassemble the drive in a
clean room, take out the platters and read them on special equipment,
then reassemble the data. They can write it to a tape or drive that
you supply, or to one that they sell you.
That was actually the second drive I had sent their way over the years.
The first one had essentially turned to dust inside, so since they
couldn't do anything, they didn't charge me. But that was like ten
years ago...
~Steve
Chu-en Ginsberg
Definitely worth trying DataRescueX from http://prosoftengineering.com -
rescued many a trashed drive with this puppy.
=:~)
--
chuenginsberg at mac dot com
Charles Dyer
(in article <BF271330.3%gno...@invalid-address.com>):
> Hello there all of you Mac people out there, I have something very
> important to ask.
>
> You know that voice in the back of your head that whispers, 'You should
> really back up your data right about now?' every once in a while. Well,
> I didn't. And I dropped it. And the head crashed. And the other half
> of my brain with it.
>
> I took it to a local Macintosh repairman; he analyzed the drive and
> basically said the head crashed - @#$(! - and, bottom line is, he sent
> it to a company called Drive Specialists out in a galaxy far, far away
> who told me the data is 100% recoverable, but it will cost me $2250.
That's cheap, especially if it includes the cost of a replacement drive. I
once sent a client's drive to Drive Savers and they charged just short of
$3000 to get the data off. They got 99.99% of the data, and the stuff they
couldn't get could be redone. The client paid up, that disk contained the
only copy of a major ad campaign. ("Backup? What's a backup?") Given the
prices the charge they still made a profit on that ad campaign.
>
>>> (that's the numbness of disbelief)
>
> I don't have that kind of money. My current net worth is less than that
> (unless you want to discuss futures). But my life is on that computer, my
> mind, my memories, precious things I will never be able to get back unless
> the drive is fixed. My heart is breaking.
>
> I know it was stupid of me to let it go for so long without backing it up.
> I just bought a DVD drive. I just...things happen, you know? Backing up
> data wasn't on my mind, though it should have been - it really should have.
>
> But this is where I draw the line.
>
> So I'm wondering if anyone here knew of someone who could retrieve data
> from an Apple drive for a more reasonable price than this 'Drive
> Specialists' company in California are asking for. I don't know these 'Drive
> Specialists'. Does anyone else around here Are they the best? Or just the
> most expensive?
Drive Savers, which sounds like the guys you're talking about, are about the
best. You _could_ dig up Data Rescue from Prosoft and see if it will see your
drive and recover data from it; I've had it recover data from drives which
everything else said were totally trashed. But it didn't get everything every
time, and you'll need to not only buy it but to buy another drive for it to
recover data to. It's not as expensive as Drive Savers, but it ain't cheap
either.
>
> Could anyone recommend a less expensive but equally expert hardcore data
> retrieval company? Is anyone here very knowledgeable in crashed drive
> data recovery?
>
> Anyone know a company of experienced, perfectionist hackers who have nothing
> to do but rescue a damsel in distress at a discount? Or am I going to have
> to take out a loan?
Sorry, but I think that you're going to have to spend at least a few hundred
dollars on Data Rescue and a drive, and if that doesn't work decide whether
you're going to spend the money Drive Savers wants or live without whatever
data Data Rescue couldn't recover.
>
> Thank you,
> Merc
>
--
We are Microsoft of Borg. You will be assimilated. Stability is irrelevant.
Where _you_ want to go to today is irrelevant. We will add your currency to
our own. Bend over right now. Resistance is futile.
Charles Dyer
(in article <srhi-747848.1...@news.giganews.com>):
Drive Savers starts at $300-500, depending on the size of the drive, and
escalates rapidly into the thousands depending on what's wrong with it. The
worse off the drive is, the more expensive recovery is.
Howard S Shubs
Chu-en Ginsberg <nospa...@nospamhere.comINVALID> wrote:
> Definitely worth trying DataRescueX from http://prosoftengineering.com -
> rescued many a trashed drive with this puppy.
That'll only work if the system can get to the drive.
Chu-en Ginsberg
> In article <rKydndJmtPR...@eclipse.net.uk>,
> Chu-en Ginsberg <nospa...@nospamhere.comINVALID> wrote:
>
>
>>Definitely worth trying DataRescueX from http://prosoftengineering.com -
>>rescued many a trashed drive with this puppy.
>
>
> That'll only work if the system can get to the drive.
>
Not necessarily: if the drive appears in Disk Utility, even though it's
unmountable, DR should be able to make the attempt.
Chu
Jon Yaeger
gno...@invalid-address.com wrote on 8/16/05 4:02 AM:
Merc,
I'm able to recover data from drives unless they have severe servo damage
(e.g. Make a click-click noise; motor won't spin, etc.)
I can recover data from a drive with bad tracks but not bad heads. I can
also do component-level repair on the PC boards. I do not have a clean
room.
My flat rate pricing is $300 to recover data; $600 if I also have to repair
the drive; or $30 if I can't.
E-mail me at (770) 414-5266 or check out our other website at
www.atlantamacservice.com.
Jon Yaeger
Dara Savers, LLC
(770) 939-9363
he...@datasaversllc.com
sanny....@gmail.com
To get additional info regarding this:
http://www.mactrashrecovery.net/howto-recover-trasheddata-onmacosx.php
nospam
> On Tuesday, August 16, 2005 1:32:43 PM UTC+5:30, Miu wrote:
> > Hello there all of you Mac people out there, I have something very
> > important to ask.
>
> deleted files on mac system,
hawking their crappy wares.
> but you must know that freeware programs will
> not help you in the complete data recovery process and will even insert
> certain kind of malwares on your pc during installation.
> So, its better to
> spend few pennies and go for complete as well as safe recovery of lost data
> from mac hard drive. Such softwares are easily available online.
asshole spammers.