hard drive failure

  • Thread starter Thread starter mgm
  • Start date Start date
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mgm

What, if anything, can be done in a home or small office to retrieve data
from a crashed hard drive. Thanks
 
mgm said:
What, if anything, can be done in a home or small office to retrieve
data
from a crashed hard drive. Thanks
Click to expand...

1. If the drive is *not* physically damaged, you can run data recovery
software. There are a variety of data recovery programs ranging from
free to quite expensive. If the drive is viable but Windows is messed
up, sometimes you can boot with a rescue system like Knoppix, a Bart's
PE or ERD Commander (expensive) instead of specialized data recovery
software. Doing this successfully depends on the state of the drive and
the skill of the person working on it.

2. If the drive *is* physically damaged, your only recourse is to send
it to a professional data recovery company. I like DriveSavers
(www.drivesavers.com) but there are others such as Ontrack and Seagate
Data Recovery. These companies' services are not inexpensive, usually
starting at around $500 and going up from there. Only you can determine
the value of your data. If the hard drive made *any* unusual clicking
or grinding noises it is physically damaged. Do *nothing* on it if you
want to save your data. Contact the data recovery professional.

Since you really didn't provide any details, I can't be more specific.
Saying "a crashed hard drive" means nothing. If you have high computer
skills you can do #1 yourself, although if you do I doubt you'd be
asking this question. In that case, call a local professional who does
data recovery for a diagnosis.

Malke
 
Small office?
You recover data from your backups
No backups? be prepared to go out of business!
 
mgm said:
What, if anything, can be done in a home or small office to retrieve data from
a crashed hard drive. Thanks
Click to expand...

Depends on how "crashed" it is...

DO NOT attempt to write anything to the drive! If it is the boot drive for a
computer, replace it, and install it as a slave or external drive.

Get Spinrite from www.grc.com. If the drive is recoverable by someone other
than the NSA, Spinrite is likely the best start.
 
Check the ads in an issue of "PC Magazine" - there are companies listed
that will recover data from a drive - for a fee.
 
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