Data Recovery

[Scart]

My computer started making occasional weird noises and occasionally blue screened. Being the genius that I am, I didn't really look into it due to lack of time. Now my hard drive can't boot windows, or even repair windows. I'd really like to get some data recovered off my hard drive before I send it in under warranty, being that I have pictures from my trip to Germany, music, and whatnot on there that I never backed up.
Anyone know good places to use for data recovery?
I called seagate and their service would cost 1700 bucks, which just isn't worth it.
Also, is there any chance i could just plug it in as a secondary harddrive when my new one gets in and has windows installed on it, and then try and grab some files off of it, or would that corrupt it more?

I live in the Edmonton area if that helps.

[sswilson]

If you've got access to a working computer with a burner you can try burning the ISO to MCNLive linux distro MCNLive - Live USB :: News .

This is the only live distro I've found that easily allows NTFS drives to be read and burnt to CD for backup purposes.

It's been a while since I used it, but you need to use the switch which loads it into memory rather than running straight from the cd. (This allows you to use the cd for burning).

[Jack Rabbit]

You could try Spinrite. GRC*|*SpinRite 5.0 to 6.0**

I have never used it but the reviews are almost miraculous. (Please post your experience if you try it.)

If you can boot from another drive or from a liveCD and mount the partition on your busted drive it is unlikely that copying the data off it will cause more dammage.

[DK2]

Plugging it in as a secondary drive is a good cheap way to start.
wither it works or not depends on what is wrong with the drive.

[BrainEater]

1700$ is a totally reasonable quote , just for your knowledge.Professional data recovery is expensive....They rebuild your harddrive in a clean room , substituting the busted parts.

Here's what you want to do ;

Get a machine thats werking , install R-studio on that rig.

Shut that machine off , plug yer drive in, reboot it.

Run r-studio.Be patient it takes many hours.You may find it necissary to delete files from previous deletions.(yes it recovers deleted files too).....save the recovered files to new HDD.

Good luck.You might get it back , you might not.

If you have questions about r-studio , I'll try to help.

[ebdoradz]

i have bought the ZAR recovery program and it has same a few buds data on dying hard drive or corrupted partition,

[Jack Rabbit]

Open source data recovery tools - Hack a Day

PS. This post should ding me 11.

[death_hawk]

Depending on the size of drive, $1700 is VERY expensive. If it's under 500GB a single drive non-RAID should be under $1000.

There's a few things you want to know before attempting anything:
Software isn't foolproof. It MAY bork your drive more than it already is.
While a recovery center is more expensive, they're usually guaranteed. Software is NOT.

How much is your data worth to you?

I used to have a link to a cheap but reliable (about $800 in your case I think) place, but I can't for the life of me find the link.