A great friend of mine just "lost" 4 1/2 years of digital work on an external HD. Spare the lectures please. By my phone call with him, I think this might be as simple as the firewire or usb connection failed and the disks are fine. We don't need the ext hd to be fixed...we just want the data. I think this is all Apple brand, but not sure yet. I have contacts here in Denver, but not so sure anymore about my Houston data recovery sources. I am asking for a professional recommendation and not a discount. Regular costs. Can any of you do this or highly recommend someone? email me through the bbs... tia
I know this sounds really basic, but take it to Apple. I had mine crash and I had many of my files not yet backed up (I ran a large advertising firm). I took it to Apple and they had a suggestion of a local company that did fantastic work. It was expensive - about $700 - but worth it for me (files were more or less irreplaceable).
Thanks. Do you remember the local company's name. I'm not in Houston. So I'm trying to help from a distance.
Is it a time capsule? Mine essentially bricked on me,but I took the hard drive out, bought an enclosure and was able to retrieve any of the data I wanted.
No, not a time capsule. He uses this HD to montage his works as new works, upon new works. The HD is a live piece of art work. so sad. He collects images and prints off of this per show....and now...it isn't photography. hard to explain I believe what you say is what I could do if I were there in Houston. But, I'm not. Nor even if I were would I trust myself to crack open his HD. I will trust a cfnet person or a recommendation from one. I have phone calls out and fb. It would be very sad if this hd was not recovered.
If the actual drive is okay and it's just a problem with the enclosures connections....just use a USB to sata adapter to connect it to a pc directly...if that fails....then take it to a data recovery place. Stores like Staples offer that service....I think it's around $700.
yeah.. had an external go out on me twice. Luckily both times it turned out to be the external enclosure went south. I was able to drop it into a pc without the enclosure and restore my info. Hopefully this is the case here.
Why is it so expensive to recover data after an HD crash? I imagine there is no manual labor. Am I wrong? I feel like someone should be able to create a business model around a cost-effective data recovery service.
There's a program I used called "CD Roller" that retrieved data from a couple compact flash cards. I wouldn't tell you this on a private message. I think everyone out there should have a copy of that program in their arsenal of weapons against malfunctioning disks and hardware. It's about $15 for a license. If the data hasn't been overwritten, it can be retrieved, unless there is physical damage on the disk itself. EDIT: this is a PC (Windows) program. If you yell at them, they give you a $10 gift card?
Perhaps the model is to take advantage of folks who desperately need their data and don't know how to get it. If there was something I had to have off of a crashed drive, the fee would be worth it as I know I would have already exhausted all of the cheaper options.
Right, one model obviously exists, so there's room for disruption, especially when the current stressor or is so significant.
I have a friend going through just this. I would think if it's the connections and not the disk, it would be a pretty straightforward fix? Worst case, couldn't she just get a new enclosure for it? I assume you've checked the cables and tried alternate potential ports for said external. Also, if it's the connection, it's probably just shorted or loose. Find the short, secure it in working fashion, and get the files copied and backed up to another drive immediately. Those expensive services are for data recovery, not for fixing a bad input/connection. Takes running utilities on a dedicated machine for a long period to recover data. Time is money. The problem sounds like it isn't as serious as it could be. Find a way to reconnect drive, Learn the backup lesson the easy way, ????, profit!
If you have a mechanical problem in the drive they have to remove the platters and try put them in a functional drive to recover the data. It has to be done under extremely clean conditions. Massive air filtration with specialty tools. thus expensive.
