My laptop fell some distance and the arm of the hard drive broke, says my tech guy on examining it. We replaced the drive, but he says that because of the damage done, it is not possible to retrieve the data from it without sending/taking it to a "lab," and that the cost could be $500 to $1200. Does that make sense?
He is right, i dont think you can recover the data unless you send it to a specialized recovery center. If the data is worth it i would say why not.
The data is worth saving, which is why I am asking. I don't need it right away, but it has value to me.
shoot me a pm and let me know where about you are. i deal with a place that does this and can see how far backed up they are. otherwise just make sure who ever you do use is reputable there are many places i would never use again because of issues.
I agree - if the (reliable) tech has determined the drive is physically damaged then you have no choice but to send it a forensic data recovery lab, and as seen, they can be very expense. In fact, it is my experience as drive capacities become larger and larger, the cost of this type service increases too. It takes very specialized equipment (read: $$$$) and training as the platters need to be removed individually, the data retrieved (if possible) from each platter, then the data needs to be reassembled in the right order. And that takes time - often a lot of time, and of course, time = $$$$ too. It is very possible the $1200 high estimate is low - very low. Clearly, you don't need (or probably want) to be told this now, but clearly we all need reminding - if we value our data, we MUST back it up - regularly. And I cannot stress that more for portable device users because they are much more susceptible to physical damage due to rough handling or misuse. Not to mention portable devices often grow legs and wander off - with our data. To make it as simple as possible, I recommend everyone keep all their data under the same folder. My Documents is perfect for that. I have dozens of subfolders full of docs I cannot afford, or would not want to lose. A simple copy and paste of My Documents to an external disk makes it quick and easy. Sure, I might need to rebuild Windows and all my programs, but all my invaluable data files (tax records, school and work papers, downloaded programs, tunes, photos, etc. are all safe and sound. If you have more than one computer on your network, setting up a share to the second computer makes saving a backup of My Documents even easier. You just "drag" a copy of My Documents and let it go.
I agree with everybody. I think it makes perfect sense. I say go for it as the data is valuable to you. Just make sure the lab is reputable and reliable.
I think $500-$1200 would be an extreme bargain price for this service by industry standards that is. Still outrageous to me. I think a reputable company would charge $2500 to $5000 for an attempt, no guarantee. So if was me I'd attempt to do it myself. Even if'd be an abject failure. Buy 1-3 identical drives & take them apart & switch over the platter(s).
The problem there is you need a "clean-room" environment if you open a drive and expose the platters. And this requirement will only become more stringent as drive densities continue to increase. And besides, what good is swapping in a new platter if the old platter contains the data you need?
Then why swap platters? Just swap the arm. But even so, a broken arm (depending on how broken) could cause the R/W head to come crashing down on the platters, or worse, scrape back and forth across the platters - like a windshield wiper with no blades.
Ok ok I give up! LOL But I wouldn't give up. I'd at least look & see if I could find a diy vid on youtube.
$300 Data Recovery is worth a look at. No charge if they can't recover your data and usually only $300 to recover it.
Sometimes drives can become damaged on the OS level rather than physical damage. Id try tossing it into a HD docking station first and see if you can get it to show up. Ive had this happen 3-4 times where a PC wouldnt boot and I couldnt get it to do anything, but I was able to see the drive and access files from a USB docking station.
That's true. But OP said "the arm of the hard drive broke". And there are many ways to break, so I'd be careful if the data on there is valuable enough to pay someone serious money to recover.
You are assuming the arm broke in such a fashion that it is not touching the platters. You cannot assume that. It may be broken and jammed into a platter, digging trenches in the disks as they spin - as I noted above, in the same way a windshield wiper with no or rotten blades scratches a windshield.
First of all, get a 2nd opinion. The 'tech guy' examined the HDD and concluded the arm was broken. Did he disassemble the HDD or shake it around and hear loose metal? Let someone else, trustworthy and proficient, have a look also before handing out hundreds of $$.