Friend of mine has a HDD totally fried in a lightning strike. No, the freezer trick won't work.

 

Google reveals some data recovery services in BKK. I wonder if anyone here just happens to have a recommendation. Yes, it'll be costly.

How is this possible. There is a power supply that would have died first I think. If it is just the board of the harddisk perhaps you can get a replacement (used or new). 

15 minutes ago, Mickeymaus said:

How is this possible. There is a power supply that would have died first I think. If it is just the board of the harddisk perhaps you can get a replacement (used or new). 

He wants to recover data.

1 minute ago, FritsSikkink said:

He wants to recover data.

Why does he know that the data are damaged? Then the harddisk still must be able to read and write. Otherwise you will not know this. If this still works and he can not recover data with software for this purpose then you can try such an often not cheap service. 

Does the computer POST / boot? Is he certain the drive is dead? My experience is data recovery is expensive, time consuming and doesn't work.

 

For what it's worth I back up all my stuff to external and in my laptop keep the data on D.

 

Happy hunting

26 minutes ago, Laphroaig27 said:

Does the computer POST / boot? Is he certain the drive is dead? My experience is data recovery is expensive, time consuming and doesn't work.

 

For what it's worth I back up all my stuff to external and in my laptop keep the data on D.

 

Happy hunting

If the motor is not spinning anymore then you will need such a company. If only the arm hangs (clicking) you might be able to fix it. I did this for several HDs already. Of course I did not open it. If the board is broken you need an identical one. But the BIOS chip on the new board needs to be replaced with the old one. Soldering work. Perhaps better at a computer repair shop. 

43 minutes ago, Laphroaig27 said:

Does the computer POST / boot? Is he certain the drive is dead? My experience is data recovery is expensive, time consuming and doesn't work.

 

For what it's worth I back up all my stuff to external and in my laptop keep the data on D.

 

Happy hunting

Data recovery is as you say is very expensive and no guarantee the data can be fully recovered 

49 minutes ago, Laphroaig27 said:

Does the computer POST / boot? Is he certain the drive is dead? My experience is data recovery is expensive, time consuming and doesn't work.

 

For what it's worth I back up all my stuff to external and in my laptop keep the data on D.

 

Happy hunting

 

And of course One & Google Drives. Hind sight is great!

1 hour ago, BigStar said:

No, the freezer trick won't work.

What about the restore from back up trick?

3 minutes ago, Digitalbanana said:

What about the restore from back up trick?

If HDD is fried he won't be able to boot. Are we saying that the HDD is an external?

43 minutes ago, The Fugitive said:

Are we saying that the HDD is an external?

That was my question as well. Need more specifics, e.g., is the drive external or internal? Is it the primary HDD, i.e., the primary boot drive, or a secondary? Is the drive in a desktop or laptop computer?

 

Not sure if this is applicable or not, but I have been able to salvage data from a few drives from PC laptops by removing them and connecting them via SATA cable to a secondary HDD controller in a PC desktop computer.  Before I tried this, I wasn't sure whether the drive had failed or the motherboard had fried.

1 hour ago, Mickeymaus said:

If the motor is not spinning anymore then you will need such a company.

Yup. Dead and, unlike Pattaya, gon' stay just as dead as the Wicked Witch of the East. WAS an internal drive, now a brick. Rest of the computer replaced already. For our schoolmarms, yes, a lesson was learned.

 

It'll have to be opened in a clean room and the innards prayed over. Now, I take it we don't have experience with any particular company specializing in such service. I'll go with Google reviews I suppose and start an inquiry.

11 minutes ago, BigStar said:

Yup. Dead and, unlike Pattaya, gon' stay just as dead as the Wicked Witch of the East. WAS an internal drive, now a brick. Rest of the computer replaced already.

 

It'll have to be opened in a clean room and the innards prayed over. Now, I take it we don't have experience with any particular company specializing in such service.   

If you need any spare parts let me know it ????????????. The last Seagate that left me ????????????. But I had a backup ????????????. 

 

My advice:

a) Don't try yourself or don't let any amateur try if the data is important. It's easy to make it worse and/or destroy even more.

b) Professional data recovery is sometimes not sooooo expensive. It depends how fast you want your data back (if you are lucky to get it back). It's expensive if you want your data now, ASAP. It is a lot cheaper if you are not in a hurry and the recovery service can work on it when they are not so busy.

 

Dont freeze it, it can cause condensation.

 

I dont know about Thai local services but Seagate's data recovery offers their service internationally. I think they can handle non-seagate drives too. I used them once and got back about 90% of data. Price is decent compared to where I came from (but in USD so current exchange rate) and my contact person was very professional. Not that I do or dont recommend them, but if you are interested, keep in mind that the actual recovery is not done in Thailand and if you end up receiving the recovered data on a new HDD you may get taxed by customs on the that HDD.

 

Also start backup. I knew the importance of backup but didnt "know" it until it happened.