HDD failure!!! HEEEEEEEEELP
 

Does anyone know/recommend a data recovery company that can save my data on a 2.5" SATA HDD? I will provide a new SSD if required.

I had a RAID failure and decided to move some data to my laptop as I repaired the RAID and now I cant access the laptop; keep getting this I/O failure notice................:(

It's a load of family video so irreplaceable, cost is only a minor issue, if it's expensive I'll just wait until I can afford it.

My research into the problem indicates that it may be a platters out repair etc.........:-(

Platters out Mike starts at £'000's from what I've heard. Its a seriously tricky business.

If the drive spins up and registers in the BIOS, you have options. If it doesnt, then its not going to be easy.

I bought some superb software last year, which Ironically due to SSD failure over the weekend I dont currently have it installed, and i'm in a hotel so cant recall what it is.

getdataback for ntfs and fat is a cheaper, but less comprehensive alternitive.

Dont put the data back onto SSD - They're even worse. When they fail (which they do without any warning) they just vanish along with your data - Instead, put it into multiple location of any media you fancy +++

If it registers as a drive, then I can possible do something, but you'd have to get it to me.... Is there anything left of the original RAID where you had it stored? Did it used to be anywhere else that you might be able to undelete more easily ?

whatever you do, stop trying to boot it, or use the drive, it wil likely only make it worst. Save whatever life it has left for the recovery +++

After a bit more head scratching here she is:

http://www.active-undelete.com/

I use R-Studio

You could try http://www.sysresccd.org/SystemRescueCd_Homepage

It's a live Linux OS that you boot the machine to (either CD or USB) and then has tools to recover data, and it's free :)

Thanks for the replies guys.

Ian,

Its actually a 2.5" SATA drive from my laptop. I transferred data to it from a RAID that had an iffy disk while I did a complete rebuild of my household NAS. In the end I did a complete format and rebuild believing my data was safe on the laptop!!!

So now I have the drive out of the laptop in a USB caddy. When I attach it to my Win 8 x64 PC it sees the drive and the partitions but cant access them saying there is an I/O problem. I have stopped trying for precisely the reasons you have stated!

If I send it to you with another 250Gb 2.5" HDD would you have a look please? At your convenience of course. +++

Can you tell me what is the drive make and model number is ,I may have a working cct board , I have a very large collection of 2.5" drives that have mostly just started to fail and bringing up SMART errors so the electronics are good.

Is there a prize for the first person to crack the code and decipher what on earth these guys are talking about? :Confused:

The '8 is enough of a challenge for me, let alone all this techno computer speak! :o

As Roboblob states, the control board PCB, is often the cause of failure, I've brought a few back to life by exchanging that for an identical one - purely to extract the necessary data. Definitely worth a try.

You have to be extremely carefully doing this (apart from any physical issues) as the board will probably have calibration data stored on it during manufacture.
Whatever you do don't put the drive in any situation where it might get written to after making such a swap.

Also, don't do it if there any suspicious noises from the mechanism when powered on as that might indicate physical damage for which a "platters out" laboratory is your only hope.

Mike, ship it to me and I'll take a look.... No promises of success, but I'll give you a better idea of how bad it is worst case.

PM me if you need my address +++

Also, let me know the path / partition if known of the data you most want. I'll prioritise that, with anything else being a bonus....

Thanks,

Here is the 2 barcodes on it
PK1H01005795059AU3370H3U0DEHAA00UC006000000
&
PK1H0

here is a scan of the disk info
http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1359461174

Cool.

Model no is ST9250315AS - Loads on Ebay circa £40. Including faulty ones :(

I share HPSauces reservations about swapping electrickery over - It used to work in the good old days when discs were really dumb and just held data, but now the discs themselves hold info about their own config, its a bit more of a minefield.

Lets start by seeing what is readable 'as-is', and take it from there.

If data is priceless and money no object it might be worth giving it to professionals as poking around and trying to do something might cause more damage. Prices does start at £300-400 mark but can go in thousands. They transfer platters to another disk in clean room environment, do 1 to 1 bit by bit copy to another disk and recover from there

Did you change one of disks in RAID or just rebuilt it with existing disks? If it's the same disks you might be able to recover from there depending how much writing has been done to them.

On the other hand if you only tried to use it in USB caddy it might be caddies fault or USB connection and not the disk itself.

One more trick I have used in past is to cool down the disk while recovering. I put disk in plastic bag with silica gel to absorb any condensate and then that bag in ice water to keep it cool and then just add more ice as it melts. But for me it's always been about not paying $$$ and just recovering what's possible rather then getting it regardless of cost.

Sorry no 250's ,20's,60's and 120's . Hope you manage to get your data

Data can be recovered from formatted drives. Again, providing you have not overwritten the parts containing what you want.
It may be worth a Google of 'recover data from formatted drives' and see what's on offer out there.
Good luck with it

Thanks anyway matey. +++

Do I need to get an identical drive to transfer the rescued data to or will any drive do?

If swapping componants is required of course I'll get an identical drive.

No, anything reliable will do +++

My first course of action would be to attempt to duplicate as much data as possible off the failed disc into a virtual image i can then work with.

Said image would be stored on Raid 6 naturally +++

Wow that was quick! You're not stalking me are you?

I only want the data from the C Drive and any video files the rest is not required. I'll give you a call this evening Ian if that's all right.

No, I stalk the forum..... :D

If you can call before 5:30 it would be ideal as its movie night with the kids on a Friday +++

Otherwise try me anytime, worst case I'll miss you an buzz you back +++

I've used a company called rapid data recovery, Cost will be circa £300 which is ballpark for any recovery that needs the drive casing opened, anything that doesnt and you're paying labour fees at circa £75 an hour - and usually a couple of hours.

www.rapid-data.net

I would not advise running any further attempts at data recovery, if you have a platter issue on the drive or any issue with the drive mechanically then continuing to power it up and force software to read and write from it will make things worse.