HD recovery service

sgtpepper · Post by **sgtpepper** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 6:15 pm

I have a "client" that is in need of HD recovery, but obviously wants the best deal he can get. When he originally bought his Mac Pro November before last, we bought two 500 GB SATA drives and striped them (RAID 0). Anyone familiar with RAID 0 knows that one drive cannot function without the other because data is written across both drives at the same time.

So anyway, this morning he calls me up and says he boot up his computer and it Kernel Panic'ed and is making a bad whining noise. See where this is going? So I come over to discover that he does in fact have a HD failure on one of the two HDs. Thankfully, I previously set his computer to be cloned to an external backup HD. The bad news is, he hadn't backed up since January 22nd!!

With about a month of data gone, (he's a hardcore photographer, Nikon D3, Photoshop CS3, everything) he's obviously freaking out. So here's my question to you fellow Benheckers:

What experience have you guys had with HD recovery services, and do you have any recommendations? Obviously the RAID 0 array probably adds a layer of complication to the whole business, so that's why I thought I'd look for multiple opinions on this!

Thanks!

P.S. Last resort would be attempting a platter swap in a DIY clean room. Anyone crazy/talented enough to have done that before?

Aguiluz · Post by **Aguiluz** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 8:07 pm

I have heard of "platter swaps." It's really hard they said.
http://www.hackaday.com/2005/11/17/hard ... urrection/
Your case is even more complicated due to the data striping

But, if you really, really need the data, send it to the pros. That is, if the data is worth paying for.

Post by **bicostp** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 8:21 pm

RAID 0 was a bad idea. What was wrong with leaving them two separate drives? (RAID doubles your speed but doubles your chances of losing data due to drive failure.)

You're probably better off sending the drive(s) out to a professional shop if it's that critical.

Bear in mind that if the drives are identical and bought at the same time, the other will likely fail soon.

sgtpepper · Post by **sgtpepper** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 8:29 pm

RAID 0 was only a temporary solution, the whole thing was meant to last about 2 years, and it made it about 1.5, so that's just bad luck I guess

We're replacing the system with a RAID 1+0 array where there are 4 750 GB drives striped in pairs and mirrored to each other. It'll keep everything internal and prevent him from going a month without backing up.

What's a dollar minimum to expect for data recovery? It can be rather general, I just wanna know a ballpark figure. Most places want me to send in the drives and charge me just to look at them, not even fix anything...

Post by **bicostp** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 8:36 pm

Maybe the logic board on the hard drive died?

I've heard good things about <a href="http://www.drivesavers.com">DriveSavers</a>, and they've been around since '85...

It will probably cost a few hundred dollars at least. The computer wasn't physically destroyed so recovery chances are good.

ChrisS · Post by **ChrisS** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 8:57 pm

That "Museum of Disk-asters" is pretty awesome.

Post by **Black Six** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 9:29 pm

sgtpepper wrote:What's a dollar minimum to expect for data recovery? It can be rather general, I just wanna know a ballpark figure. Most places want me to send in the drives and charge me just to look at them, not even fix anything...

First off, RAID 0 is the dumbest thing ever, I think hardware vendors should stop supporting it.

Also, don't do RAID 1+0 or 0+1, you'll end up having the same problem. Just get a RAID controller card and do RAID 3 or something that won't explode if one drive dies.

As far as cost, I had a hard drive fail about 4 years ago that I looked into having the data recovered off of. As I recall, the quotes ranged from ~$800-$2000, so yeah, not cheap at all. Most places still charge you some fee just to look at the drive, even if they recover no data. Find out how much this guy is willing to spend, and make your decision based on that.

jperryss · Post by **jperryss** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 4:22 pm

I've used this one:
http://www.datadoctor.org/

There is a free version for download that will only scan the drive and tell you what it finds and can recover. If your files show up, then you gotta fork over the $70 for the full version. But at least you can see if it'll work before shelling out the cash for it.

BTW, it recovered over 99% of my stuff when I used it.

Post by **Black Six** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 9:16 pm

Yeah, when my disk died I tried a software recovery solution but it didn't work I was SOL.

Post by **Triton** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 10:42 pm

ive recovered one harddrive with a SMART error (iminant hardware failure) usng getdataback for NTFS and another i saved from the "CLICK OF DEATH" by literally sticking in in the freezer for a few days, taking it out and letting it thaw a bit before hookin it up via usb and dumping the data with getdataback for FAT. the freeze trick might work for you but i dunno

sgtpepper · Post by **sgtpepper** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 12:15 am

Duuuude the freezer trick brought my Gameboy's dead screen back to life, I'm totally going to try that! Looks like data recovery is going to cost no less than $1200 because of the RAID setup, the freezer is much more appealing!