Broken External Hard Drive - Data Recovery Help!

[Kenny Adams]

I have a 250 GB Lacie external hard drive (designed by F.A. Porsche), which fell off of my table onto a carpet floor and now does not work. I've called around the country for estimates and get quotes in the range of $700-$2,000 for data recovery.

Can you recommend a company to me? I want to be sure I'm using a credible company. It's hard to figure out without references!

Also, have any of you had similar experiences with hard drives and what did you do to fix it or get the data back?

Thank You,
Kenny Adams
http://www.acclaimimages.com (http://www.acclaimimages.com/)

[sandpiper]

Is the hard drive physically broken (i.e. doesn't spin up) or does it run but won't access the data?

If it will run, you can get software that will let you recover it yourself. I had a drive take a knock and the computer wouldn't recognise it, but I got the data off it with software. If it's physically broken though, you do need a specialist to take it apart. I can't help there I'm afraid, I would just throw it away and set up a new one from the backup.

Is there much on it that isn't backed up ?

[Kenny Adams]

Yes, the hard drive is physically broken. It doesn't spin but does make a type of 'stuck humming noise' like its trying to spin but cant.

There's about 10 GB of un-backed-up images on this hard drive.

Kenny Adams
http://www.acclaimimages.com/

[Moppie]

Have you opened the case up?

It would be very hard to damage the actual drive inside the case, although relativly easy to damage the case and its internal electronics.
Inside the case will be a simple IDE drive just like inside your computer.
It takes a lot more than a drop off a desk onto carpet to damage on of those, unless your very un-lucky.
You should be able to remove it, and simply plug it into an internal connector in your PC, and gain full access to it :)

[JCR]

another option is to buy exact same drive and transfer the controller onto the damaged drive (circuit under the drive) is a few screws and a ribbon connector.

[tommykjensen]

http://www.ibas.com/

If you can't afford to loose the images then my advice is to use a proffesional recovery service instead of trying to recover it yourself like several members suggest here. Unless you know 100% what you are doing you could end up with a complete loss of the images.

With a proffesional recovery sevice like Ibas your chance of recovering your data is much higher. Yes it cost money and can be expensive so you have to carefully consider if the images are with that kind of money.

[Moppie]

Good point Tommy,

However, if the drive inside the case is still intact (I imagine it will be) then he should be able to take it a reasonably competent computer tech to get the drive removed, and installed in his, or another system.
It would certianly be cheaper than sending it off to a specialist, who will charge an abhorent amount (and rightly so, especialy if they have to remove the drive plater and install it in another drive, or special reader).

[Wsman2]

One company you might consider is DriveSavers (http://www.drivesavers.com/).

[Zepher]

How hardware literate are you? If you know how to work inside your computer and install hard drives and cards, I would suggest removing the hard drive from the enclosure and installing the drive in your computer to double check that it's not the external case that is broken.

Also, was the external drive powered on when it fell?

[kennygadams]

Zepher,

Yes, the external drive was on when it hit the floor.

Ive installed a Drive into a laptop before. Is it basically the same procedure with desktop computers?

Kenny