# Buggered Hard Drive



## Deco (Feb 15, 2011)

What I call my 'C' drive stopped working on Thursday.

I have had it replaced, but most of my family photo collection is on it along with some video files and all of my music. Obviously, I'd like to get it back.

Has anyone used or can anyone recommend a possible data recovery firm. The disk is currently in a box, so can be easily posted.

Dec


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## feenix (May 27, 2008)

Deco said:


> What I call my 'C' drive stopped working on Thursday.
> 
> I have had it replaced, but most of my family photo collection is on it along with some video files and all of my music. Obviously, I'd like to get it back.
> 
> ...


Before you go spending the sort of money that Data Recovery costs invest in a USB external enclosure. You will have to make sure you get an enclosure that suits your HD (Sata, IDE, etc) but it can be as simple as plugging in and dragging and dropping files back to your new HD. This of course is dependant on the severity of the damage to the old HD. Good Luck.


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## freestyle_gus (Oct 17, 2010)

Deco said:


> What I call my 'C' drive stopped working on Thursday.
> 
> I have had it replaced, but most of my family photo collection is on it along with some video files and all of my music. Obviously, I'd like to get it back.
> 
> ...


You could also look at getting a replacement PCB (relatively inexpensive compared to data retrieval which can run into the thousands)

http://www.hddzone.com/

Of course, if it waking all sorts of whirs and clicks before it died it's unlikely to have been the PCB 

Good luck!


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## Deco (Feb 15, 2011)

Sorted, Thanks to a similar request on the Leinsterfans forum!

I'm not sure how they did it, but it was simple enough for them, they just plugged it in to something. 82GB of data is currently being transferred onto my brand new 500GB back-up external hard drive!

Those of you that haven't backed up stuff like this - *DO IT NOW* - just like the LOTTO, it could be you!

Thanks Gus & Feenix for the replies.

Relieved,

Dec


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## freestyle_gus (Oct 17, 2010)

Deco said:


> Sorted, Thanks to a similar request on the Leinsterfans forum!
> 
> I'm not sure how they did it, but it was simple enough for them, they just plugged it in to something. 82GB of data is currently being transferred onto my brand new 500GB back-up external hard drive!
> 
> ...


Excellent, very please to hear that


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## mel (Dec 6, 2006)

Good news you got it all back - - although I believe a couple of guys who work for the "News of The World" might have been able to help :lol:


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## Chromejob (Jul 28, 2006)

mel said:


> Good news you got it all back - - although I believe a couple of guys who work for the "News of The World" might have been able to help :lol:


The morning after is too late to think about backup options ... I've made nightly and weekly backups since the early 1990s (I miss good ol' Norton Backup), and have had to use the archives more than a few times. With external and network hard drives cheap as chips today, no reason not to buy one along with the new socks and motor oil at your favorite big box store.


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## JWL940 (Jun 11, 2010)

> With external and network hard drives cheap as chips today


Today, no. A month ago yes, a few months time yes but today no









http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/370816/hard-disk-shortage-drives-up-pc-prices

Still good advice though, get it backed up while you can. There are 2 types of computer user, those that have had an HD go down and those that are about to.


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## Chromejob (Jul 28, 2006)

JWL940 said:


> > With external and network hard drives cheap as chips today
> 
> 
> Today, no. A month ago yes, a few months time yes but today no
> ...


They've been offering $20 - $50 rebates on 1-2-3 TB drives at my local Costco for the past few months ... I'm going to bet that the holiday shopping season will see deals offered on external drives.

Mind you, I'm talking external drives in enclosures, not OEM HDDs sold to laptop manufacturers, who are almost always building systems on a very tight margin.


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