[Hidden-tech] Retrieve data on external hard drive

[Jeff Brand]

Drive failures can take many forms. It may be possible that the only 
damage is located around files related to the boot process, or it could 
be that the drive is actively failing and every minute spinning is 
bringing it closer to total failure.

When it comes to data recovery services, it's my opinion that she should 
think less about the man-hours involved and more about the "business 
value" of this data. It sounds like losing the data will impact her 
significantly. If recreating this (possibly priceless) footage will cost 
less than $700, then skip it and try other methods.

The worst-case scenarios that professional data recovery services must 
plan for require highly-specialized hardware and knowledge. The folks 
who do this type of work can occasionally hold a business' fate in their 
hands. If they are legitimate and competent, they're worth every penny 
if not more.

That said, if she can manage to hook it up to another computer as an 
external drive (or use an Ubuntu Live CD), she may be able to skip 
around the damaged areas and access these important files with minimal 
trouble.

Best of luck to her,
  - Jeff

On 10/24/2013 5:56 AM, George Forman wrote:
>     ** Be sure to fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area.
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>
>
>
> Dear Hidden Tech Community,
>
> A colleague of mine who works in Honolulu cannot open a back up drive 
> that contains 3 years of work.  She is absolutely undone by this lost. 
>  The drive contain 3,000 video clips of a demonstration preschool that 
> presents an innovative approach to early childhood education.  The 
> drive will boot then crash.  The standard attempts to repair the 
> directory have not worked.  She was told by a company in Honolulu that 
> it would cost $700 to retrieve the data.  Doesn't that sound like way 
> too much money?  Does anyone know of a reliable service that can 
> retrieve the data for less?  She has a Western Digital, 2 terabyte 
> drive that is about 75% full.  I would then call your recommended 
> service to learn what is involved in retrieving data (dust free room, 
> manual retrieval versus batching it, etc.) and communicate this 
> information back to my colleague.
>
> Thanks,
> George Forman, President
> Videatives, Inc.
> Amherst, Massachusetts
>
>
>
>
>
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