My hard drive crashed a few days ago.
This crash is beyond the common data recovery tools one can purchase and operate on a computer since the drive no longer appears as a drive when it is plugged in. (I tried their free demos)
Fortunately I have everything I did up to Jan 1 backed up, which is most of my important stuff, but all the little tests and other noodlings like my ankylosaurus I've done since then are toast.
Has anyone experience with actual data recovery companies? Actually sent them a dead hard drive and gotten something recovered? What did it cost?
Full Version: Hard Drive Crash
Sorry to hear about that Robcat. I don't have any experience with data recovery companies ... But I do have a suggestion for a very easy, and relatively cheap, daily backup routine 
I have been using it for a couple of years now and it seems to work great.
I bought a large USB external hard drive. (It doesn't have to be particularly fast since it's just a backup drive)
Then I downloaded SyncBack Free
exe: http://www.2brightsparks.com/assets/softwa...cBack_Setup.zip
help file: http://www.2brightsparks.com/assets/pdf/SyncBackPDF.zip
I also installed "CCleaner" http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download
SyncBack allows you to make a profile that will run automatically at the time you specify, so I have mine run every day at 5am.
At night when I stop working,
First I run CCleaner to get rid of all the temp files, browser cache files, recycle bin files and other stuff I don't need.
Then I put my computer on "Stand By" instead of turning it off.
SyncBack will wake my computer up and backup all my files to the external drive.
Since my XP does strange things if I don't reboot after I bring it out of stand by, I have to reboot it every morning when I start work, but it is a small inconvenience.
I really hope you are able to get your data back. Have you tried to download a "LiveCD" of Linux Mint, boot off the CD and see if it will see your hard drive?
I have been using it for a couple of years now and it seems to work great.I bought a large USB external hard drive. (It doesn't have to be particularly fast since it's just a backup drive)
Then I downloaded SyncBack Free
exe: http://www.2brightsparks.com/assets/softwa...cBack_Setup.zip
help file: http://www.2brightsparks.com/assets/pdf/SyncBackPDF.zip
I also installed "CCleaner" http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download
SyncBack allows you to make a profile that will run automatically at the time you specify, so I have mine run every day at 5am.
At night when I stop working,
First I run CCleaner to get rid of all the temp files, browser cache files, recycle bin files and other stuff I don't need.
Then I put my computer on "Stand By" instead of turning it off.
SyncBack will wake my computer up and backup all my files to the external drive.
Since my XP does strange things if I don't reboot after I bring it out of stand by, I have to reboot it every morning when I start work, but it is a small inconvenience.
I really hope you are able to get your data back. Have you tried to download a "LiveCD" of Linux Mint, boot off the CD and see if it will see your hard drive?
Ouch! Hate to hear this, Robert.
The only experience I've had with recovery was many, many years ago when I worked at an ad agency. We ended up having to overnight the drive to California and pay a small fortune, but we did get back all of our files. This was a large drive (at least it was back then. Now a thumb drive probably holds more) and it was a rush job.
I'm interested to see the outcome, though. I had an external drive decide to stop working in this last move. Can't possibly afford to try to recover the data now, but was planning on doing so in the future. It was the drive that held my iTunes library, but virtually everything was also on my iPod classic and so I was able to create a new library using it.
[EDIT] To add to the data backup suggestions. I use an online service to back up all of my The Wannabe Pirates files in addition to backing up to an external drive. I've developed a complete distrust in hard drives in the last couple of years.
The only experience I've had with recovery was many, many years ago when I worked at an ad agency. We ended up having to overnight the drive to California and pay a small fortune, but we did get back all of our files. This was a large drive (at least it was back then. Now a thumb drive probably holds more) and it was a rush job.
I'm interested to see the outcome, though. I had an external drive decide to stop working in this last move. Can't possibly afford to try to recover the data now, but was planning on doing so in the future. It was the drive that held my iTunes library, but virtually everything was also on my iPod classic and so I was able to create a new library using it.
[EDIT] To add to the data backup suggestions. I use an online service to back up all of my The Wannabe Pirates files in addition to backing up to an external drive. I've developed a complete distrust in hard drives in the last couple of years.
and if you were to have a house fire or something and couldn't get to the HDD in time, you'd lose all your files, no matter how much you backed them up!
QUOTE(HomeSlice @ Mar 15 2010, 02:21 PM) 
Have you tried to download a "LiveCD" of Linux Mint, boot off the CD and see if it will see your hard drive?
I'll try it. Is it the file called "LinuxMint-8.iso"
I'm doubtful since even the initial boot up screen doesn't see a hard drive, and if the motherboard doesn't see a hard drive, an OS probably can't either.
Fortunately I haven't done anything really important in months.
Yes. I actually have recovered data off what appeared to be dead drives for high profile clients. These clients came to me because other companies wanted 5 grand or more. I did it for 2 hundred.
was the drive internal? I mean to say was it inside your computer? Or was it an external Fire wire or USB drive?
was the drive internal? I mean to say was it inside your computer? Or was it an external Fire wire or USB drive?
QUOTE(jason1025 @ Mar 15 2010, 03:39 PM)
was the drive internal? I mean to say was it inside your computer? Or was it an external Fire wire or USB drive?
It was an internal drive.
PATA aka E-IDE
Ancient technology.
If you would like to ship it to me Ill be glad to work on it for free, but I have only successfully repaired sata drives. Sometimes I have to take out the platters and put them into a working dummy drive.
On a separate note can I get you to make a video tutorial on a light with animated volume/turbulence to create the effect of shinning a flash light in a dusty dark room? Also you seem to have a bunch of turbulence I don't where can I get them? can you post them?
Ill be glad to purchase a book or something for you.
If you would like to ship it to me Ill be glad to work on it for free, but I have only successfully repaired sata drives. Sometimes I have to take out the platters and put them into a working dummy drive.
On a separate note can I get you to make a video tutorial on a light with animated volume/turbulence to create the effect of shinning a flash light in a dusty dark room? Also you seem to have a bunch of turbulence I don't where can I get them? can you post them?
Ill be glad to purchase a book or something for you.
Sorry to hear about your hard drive Robert. If you have another drive the same as the one that bit the dust, you can try swapping the circuit board from the good drive to the bad drive. That way, you wouldn't need to open the drive and expose the platters.
Before doing any of that stuff, did you try swapping the hard drive to the other IDE port? Maybe your mainboard is going bad. That happened to me a while back. The drive was fine, just the IDE port was bad. Replace the mainboard and life was good.
Al
Before doing any of that stuff, did you try swapping the hard drive to the other IDE port? Maybe your mainboard is going bad. That happened to me a while back. The drive was fine, just the IDE port was bad. Replace the mainboard and life was good.
Al
QUOTE
Before doing any of that stuff, did you try swapping the hard drive to the other IDE port? Maybe your mainboard is going bad. That happened to me a while back. The drive was fine, just the IDE port was bad. Replace the mainboard and life was good.
I hoped that was what it was, but the new drive I put in is running off the same plug so I know it's not the port. QUOTE(jason1025 @ Mar 15 2010, 05:10 PM)
Ancient technology.
If you would like to ship it to me Ill be glad to work on it for free, but I have only successfully repaired sata drives. Sometimes I have to take out the platters and put them into a working dummy drive.
Sounds like clean room stuff. It seems like you'd have to get another of the same drive model.If you would like to ship it to me Ill be glad to work on it for free, but I have only successfully repaired sata drives. Sometimes I have to take out the platters and put them into a working dummy drive.
QUOTE
On a separate note can I get you to make a video tutorial on a light with animated volume/turbulence to create the effect of shinning a flash light in a dusty dark room?
that sounds easy enough, what's not working?QUOTE
Also you seem to have a bunch of turbulence I don't where can I get them? can you post them?
Those are "Enhance A:M"
They are quite ancient but it seems they can still be purchased at http://www.shaders.co.uk/enhance:am/index.htm
Most of them work fine. A few are semi-functional in V15.
I have had data recovered as well. It can be expensive. The main thing is getting the right dummy drive. What brand is the drive and model number and drive size? I have had good luck with swapping platters as well. Sounds like Jason is working you a deal.
Sorry to hear this. I am currently down myself. Being an it guy I swap machines all the time. But the main modeling machine is down. Fortunately I have two servers backing up all the data. I may have lost one or iterations of the character I am working on.
Good luck
Steve
Sorry to hear this. I am currently down myself. Being an it guy I swap machines all the time. But the main modeling machine is down. Fortunately I have two servers backing up all the data. I may have lost one or iterations of the character I am working on.
Good luck
Steve
Robert,
usually there are symptoms that lead up to such a drastic drive failure. Have you had any indications in the days or weeks prior to the failure? If so, what were they. Also, was the drive making any clicking or loud humming noises? Did the crash happen while you were on the computer or did it just not boot up one day? Do you have more than one drive in the system? Is this a home build computer or something like a Dell or HP? What operating system is on the drive? Did you already mention what brand and model the drive is? I ask all these questions because it matters in drive recovery. I have had probably 5 drives fails over the last 15 years and recovered all data from all of them. I seem to remember one of them was not recognized by the motherboard either. I have a system that has several swappable drives in it. Most of the time a drive can be coaxed into life and be read as a slave drive. Most of the time...
Eric
usually there are symptoms that lead up to such a drastic drive failure. Have you had any indications in the days or weeks prior to the failure? If so, what were they. Also, was the drive making any clicking or loud humming noises? Did the crash happen while you were on the computer or did it just not boot up one day? Do you have more than one drive in the system? Is this a home build computer or something like a Dell or HP? What operating system is on the drive? Did you already mention what brand and model the drive is? I ask all these questions because it matters in drive recovery. I have had probably 5 drives fails over the last 15 years and recovered all data from all of them. I seem to remember one of them was not recognized by the motherboard either. I have a system that has several swappable drives in it. Most of the time a drive can be coaxed into life and be read as a slave drive. Most of the time...
Eric
If you can find another drive that is identical to that one, you should be able to swap out the logic board and read the data off, used to do that way back on my raid drives.
Of course if it is a mechanical crash (sounds like a subway on dry tracks) there may not be much that you can do.
As a rule of thumb you may want to change the drives out prior to the expiration of the "warranty chip" that is on all items we buy and always kill the products we buy immediately after the warranty runs out.
Of course if it is a mechanical crash (sounds like a subway on dry tracks) there may not be much that you can do.
As a rule of thumb you may want to change the drives out prior to the expiration of the "warranty chip" that is on all items we buy and always kill the products we buy immediately after the warranty runs out.
QUOTE(robcat2075 @ Mar 15 2010, 01:35 PM)
QUOTE(HomeSlice @ Mar 15 2010, 02:21 PM)
Have you tried to download a "LiveCD" of Linux Mint, boot off the CD and see if it will see your hard drive?
I'll try it. Is it the file called "LinuxMint-8.iso"
Yep, that's it.
Well, tried the Linux, but it didn't see the drive.
no symptoms.
On the possibly plus side, the drive does spin up, I can feel the gyroscopic motion. It's not clicking.
QUOTE(Eric2575 @ Mar 15 2010, 07:33 PM)
Robert,
usually there are symptoms that lead up to such a drastic drive failure. Have you had any indications in the days or weeks prior to the failure? If so, what were they. Also, was the drive making any clicking or loud humming noises?
usually there are symptoms that lead up to such a drastic drive failure. Have you had any indications in the days or weeks prior to the failure? If so, what were they. Also, was the drive making any clicking or loud humming noises?
no symptoms.
QUOTE
Did the crash happen while you were on the computer or did it just not boot up one day?
The display froze , so I tried to reboot but couldn't.QUOTE
Do you have more than one drive in the system?
just the one.QUOTE
Is this a home build computer or something like a Dell or HP?
built it myselfQUOTE
What operating system is on the drive?
Win 2KQUOTE
Did you already mention what brand and model the drive is?
Hitachi Deskstar 250 GB PATAOn the possibly plus side, the drive does spin up, I can feel the gyroscopic motion. It's not clicking.
Robert,
if everything else fails, I'd also give the recovery a shot for all the work you do here for us. 3ddink at gmail dot com
Eric
if everything else fails, I'd also give the recovery a shot for all the work you do here for us. 3ddink at gmail dot com
Eric
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