HDD Data Recovery

[Ormorof]

Hi all, my WD My Book Pro just went boom and is now not spinning at all its under warranty but it doesnt cover any data recovery, how much does that kind of thing normally cost/how long does it take?

also what kind of data is usually recovered easily? (i have alot of photos of my time at uni and several holidaysthat are on there, they are on facebook and crap but i like having decent quality versions )

 

[inactionman]

Investigating the problem will involve cracking it open to have a look, which will invalidate your warranty.

If you are happy with that, then first steps would be to see if the drive itself is ok by taking it out of the case and seeing if it works when you connect it to your computer.

 

[Embattle]

Getting a proper company to try and recover the data can be rather expensive but you also have to consider that if you just use Jimbobs data recovery then your drives warranty will be void, read to this to find out more.

 

[Zenith.UK]

Data recovery costs ++£lol
The amount to be recovered is one factor.
The timescale you want it in is another.
Finally the method it's provided back to you also drives up the price (DVD vs HDD).

There is a way to recover the data *IF* you have suffered an electronics failure (as opposed to the physical mechanics of the drive)...

You'll need a set of small torx screwdrivers (like the ones for working on mobile phones).
Buy/get/steal another MyBook Pro with identical characteristics to your MyBook.
Using the torx screwdrivers, remove the electronics from each of the "broken" and working hard drives.
Transplant the electronics from the good/working drive onto the "broken" drive.
Slave your "transplanted" drive to your PC.
IF YOU'RE LUCKY, your drive will be visible to your PC.
BACK YOUR DATA THE F*** UP!!!

I've had the power regulator chip on an old Seagate drive blow in the past. I got another IDENTICAL drive, moved the electronics over and was able to backup the data. Then I swapped the electronics back so I still had one fully working drive.

 

[nath]

If you do consider recovery check out these nice folks:

Fields Data Recovery - USB, RAID & Hard Disk Drive Repair and Data Recovery

I've dealt with them a couple of times (well referred clients on to them). They're reasonably priced, relatively speaking - about £2-300 quid usually. Plus they're a no-data-no-fee policy and you can find out what they can retrieve and get a quote before they do anything.

 

[Ormorof]

i've had a further look into this and it will void my warranty, i cant use a data recovery thing as its not starting up properly at all so wont connect to the PC, will just have to get it replaced i guess, thanks anyway guys! (and i will keep that link incase a HDD not in warranty goes boom thanks! )