Have used GetDataBack myself a few times and always managed to get what Ive wanted. Saying that there werent on drives that had a possible mechanical fault.

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Originally posted by willay
is that free?

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quote:

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Originally posted by Tim
Used R-Studio a while back to recover a drive (bloody IBM DeathStar clunking -- took it awhile but it didn't give up). Since then I've always been ultra-paranoid and run RAID on everything :)

[Edited on 27-01-2009 by Tim]

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Used R-Studio a while back to recover a drive (bloody IBM DeskStar clunking -- took it awhile but it didn't give up). Since then I've always been ultra-paranoid and run RAID on everything :)

[Edited on 27-01-2009 by Tim]

is that free?

Use something like GetBackData (there are two versions - NTFS and FAT), it has an image tool where it'll create an image (non-compressed) of the whole drive and then it'll try and recover the data from the image rather than the drive.

Creating the image takes 30minutes or so, but the actual data recovery can take up to 24hrs+.
I've used it when a drive failed a few years ago when the drive failed to boot. After sticking it in the freezer (in a air-tight bag) for a few hours, it lasted just long enough for an image to be made. I managed to get around 90% of the data back using GetDataBack.

well doesnt bother me as i'm booting off a live linux cd in the first place so not booting off the hard drive.

then I mount the local hard drive (fucked one) then i mount the usb external and try to copy the files across....

:lol:

Mine wasn't one from Hong Kong just first I found on eBay, Easy IDE is basically the same just a bit more professional looking!

If you get it plugged into a desktop as a secondary drive will give you longer to get the files off no OS to boot blah blah!

well i borrowed my mates one last week but it blew up :| so I've had to order his replacement.

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Originally posted by willay
got one of them coming in the post actually dan :lol:

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got one of them coming in the post actually dan :lol:

Spinrite does work a treat like John said!

Have you tired removing it from the laptop and using an adaptor to plug it into a desktop as a secondary HDD?

Thats how I've always recovered data from laptop drives, used to use one of THESE

But then bought myself an easy IDE connector USB - IDE worth a try if you haven't already!

I doubt it'll work if its physically failing but GRC's Spinrite is an amazing program, can recover data long after other programs have given up.

After that taking the platers out and sticking them in a working drive but that's extremely difficult to do without a clean room.

ARGH :lol:

Just got a reply :lol:

"Put it in the freezer inbetween the ice lolly's and a chicken over night, and then used it"

:lol:


[Edited on 27-01-2009 by Whittie]

i wish.

Done quite a few hard drive recovery jobs lately but they had never suffered from mechanical damage. I was able to recovery over 100gb of data from a fucked external hard drive on the weekend but that was the usb controller that had gone on that! Dont really want to freeze someone elses hard drive :lol:

Eeeeek, ok.

I'll let you know what he says anyway, his was a desktop hd, not that it makes a lot of difference.

Did you find this laptop on a train with a government logo on the side?

its in a laptop so more then likely its taken a hit and the headers/arm thing is hitting the platters of the disk. Sounds like its very near to mechanical failure.

What's actually wrong with the HD if its spinning up?

My friend got over 50 gigs of info from a dead harddrive. I'm not sure how, i'll give him a text for you.

yeah I keep reading the freezer trick but thats the last effort sort of thing, so far I've been able to rip off only a few meg of data without it throwing up loads of errors (running off a live CD too)

Also this drive spins up at the moment!

[Edited on 27-01-2009 by willay]

I had a drive die a few months ago, was completely dead, wouldn't even power up.

Put it in the freezer for a few hours, plugged it back in and ripped over 100GB of data off it :)

I never believed it until I tried it but it works !

Hi,

Got a hard drive i need to retrieve as much data as possible from, the drive sounds like its suffering from physical damage (it makes fun noises) so I'm interested if anyone here has tried any successful techniques?

I'm not interested in keeping the drive, I just want to rip off as much as possible, accessing the file system isnt a problem but I'm getting input/output errors very quickly.

thanks for reading.