I need the absolute BEST Data Recovery lab.

A

andrewanimation

New Member
Hello,

My hard drive failed/died/crashed, and Best Buy told me they could send it to a lab to retrieve the data for $1600. I'll gladly pay the price, because of the nature of what would be lost, but first I wanted to come here and ask if there's a particularly well-known Data Recovery business, known for being the best? Known for high quality? I only want to trust the BEST with this job. Money isn't a huge problem. Please let me know, if you know.

Thank you.
 
brian

brian

VIP Member
i knew of one. it would force th hd to spin and it would recover it. but i totaly forget the name. i think it was like spin something
 
A

andrewanimation

New Member
I'm only trying to find the best. I've searched by Google, and every company claims to be the best. Does anyone know of a very good one? Or at least a review of data recovery companies I can read? Thanks.
 
T

taylormsj

New Member
Im not too sure what the problem is - but if its because the hard drive has stopped wokring / spinning - you can put your hard drive into the freezer for a bit and then youll have about 20 mins to plug it in and retrive the data from it
 
Jonyboy

Jonyboy

New Member
taylormsj said:
Im not too sure what the problem is - but if its because the hard drive has stopped wokring / spinning - you can put your hard drive into the freezer for a bit and then youll have about 20 mins to plug it in and retrive the data from it
Click to expand...

I'm not going to question you but WTF?

Does that work. If so, link?

That would be so cool.
 
cybereclipse

cybereclipse

Member
^^ i don't think that works....

but if your really desperate, you can open it up, take the platter out, and put it inside another HDD that does work...
 
A

andrewanimation

New Member
I contacted Drivesavers.com as one of the many companies I'm contacting (just got back to this after a family vacation..constantly worrying about my data all the while...), but, unfortunately, they're the only ones who actually charge based on if they were successful in retrieving the data, NOT by how hard or long it took. The problem with that is that they're asking for $2,700 if they get what I need, even if it was a piece of cake for them to do. I only need <15MB of data. MadMotter or anyone else, do you know any other company known for being one of the best? I have yet to contact Ontrack during their business hours. Any help appreciated. (besides the do-it-yourselves..I'd actually pay $3,000 over doing it myself, no kidding..I REALLY need this data)
 
A

andrewanimation

New Member
Indeed. And my computer itself cost about $3,500. But the data's worth the $3,000 for me. I'm a novelist, I work about 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, but I haven't backed up for 3 weeks, so I've accumulated around 250 hours of creative work that I'd never get back in any way other than my memory, if I don't save this data. My not backing it up in so long is a long story about how I thought the warranty company--which recently replaced one of the two hard drives in my computer--set it back up into the mirror array that I originally had it in, but, instead, they simply replaced the drive and let it sit in there, and instead of a mirror array, one of the two 200 GB hard drives was simply doing nothing. So when the hard drive with my data on it gave me the BSOD and then keeps saying 'Operating System Not Found,' I can't depend on a mirror array to save the data.

I'm still in the process of trying to make the warranty company pay the $3,000, if that's how much this will really cost, because they didn't even give me any kind of warning that it was no longer set up in a mirror array, which is what I was depending on for my data backing up. I'm going to back up my work at the end of every day, on a few hard drives, from now on, but I'm not going to pay for that mistake with 250 hours worth of work, even if the $3,000 comes out of my pocket.

That warranty company also spent a full YEAR trying to fix ONE problem about the computer constantly rebooting on its own, because they outsource to cheap Asian labor that constantly guessed at the solution and sent it back, whereas, finally, near the end of that year, when I asked to speak to a supervisor at the company, he knew what the problem was right away. They practically kept my computer away for a year trying to fix that issue. I'll do whatever I can to expose Waca's way of doing business, if they don't pay the $3,000. As long as it doesn't take up too much more of my time, of course ;)
 
A

andrewanimation

New Member
I appreciate the offer, Short Ram Air, but I need to make sure I trust this data only to the absolute best in the field, because I read and heard that, in some cases, your first attempt is your last chance. I collected over 100 data recovery company names and numbers from the net, phoned around half of them before going on a short vacation, and will phone the rest today, trying to judge my chances with them by their answers to my questions.
 
Short Ram Air

Short Ram Air

banned
andrewanimation said:
I appreciate the offer, Short Ram Air, but I need to make sure I trust this data only to the absolute best in the field, because I read and heard that, in some cases, your first attempt is your last chance. I collected over 100 data recovery company names and numbers from the net, phoned around half of them before going on a short vacation, and will phone the rest today, trying to judge my chances with them by their answers to my questions.
Click to expand...

is the drive still physically working? cause it seems to me that your OS just became corrupted and that your data is still there....

if your HDD still shows in BIOS, then all you would do is pay shipping fees to me and I can get your data back.

those bigger guys who charge $3k are only good if your HDD is messed up.
 
diduknowthat

diduknowthat

formerly liuliuboy
It sounds like you have a corrupt hard drive. Just stick it in a working computer (as a slave drive if it's IDE) and rescue the data that way.
 
A

andrewanimation

New Member
Thanks for that generous offer, Short Ram Air! But I'm going with Best Buy's Geek Squad department tomorrow morning, who will send it in to Ontrack for a flat fee of $1660 total. It was either that, or risk sending it in to Ontrack myself, directly, which would be a gamble, as it could then cost me anywhere between $600-$2600, without Best Buy's special deal. Not to mention I'd have to package and ship it myself. So I feel I'm going with the best option available, as it seems, after my extensive research, that Ontrack is THE most renowned data recovery one out there.

I just can't risk doing it myself, but thanks for your help, diduknowthat, and everyone else.

I think my hard drive is physically messed up, too, Short Ram, because Best Buy couldn't get the data out without a lab. As for the BIOS check, I'm not good enough with computers, and I don't want to risk turning it on at all, which I heard is bad for that.

So $1600, hopefully, will bale me out of this. You probably already know this, but BACK UP your most important stuff at the end of each DAY, if it matters enough to you. Have at least one other hard drive just for backing up. I read that all hard drives, even from the most trusted brands, fail in 3-5 years, no matter how well you take care of them. That kind of cheapness is a crime, if you ask me.

Back up..Don't learn your lesson the hard way ;)
 
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