Hard Drive Recovery For Difficult Cases

[Trevor25222]

I have a Maxtor (Seagate) 1TB external hard drive which suddenly failed after 5 years. It was not backed-up. Following advice on this forum, I initially took the drive to 'BIOS', on Pantip Plaza's 4th floor, who briefly examined it but could not repair or recover. I then sent it to Phuket Data Wizards who said one of the heads is not reading data and they "Can't recover for a reasonable amount".

The technician at BIOS had suggested the following company would charge no more than ฿15,000 for recovery. However, I chose to send it initially to the farang in Phuket due to his promise of expertise and data confidentiality.

http://cu.co.th/en/icudatarecovery.php

Has anyone here used this Computer Union Company at On Nut, or any other Thai firm? I especially brought the drive from the U.K. to economically repair here and am already halfway through my 30-day visit. It looks like I may now have to deposit the drive and request postal forwarding (of a new unit containing the data) when complete; is this feasible? Thanks for any advice.

[fstarbkk]

If Phuket Data Wizard was not able to recover your drive, then your chances of successful recovery are rapidly spiraling toward zero. I have worked with the Russian guy there a while ago, after all my so-called experts in Germany had given up (money was no object).

He completely recovered and delivered all data from our mission critical RAID array within 2 days at a ridiculously reasonable charge. A quote from the expert who referred me to him: "There's nobody in Southeast Asia I would entrust with a sensitive data recovery situation, except him".

I think it's time to gracefully accept defeat with this drive.

[jpinx]

Sounds like a heads alignment problem which is not easy to overcome.

Did you try dd-rescue in linux ? It is going to be a serious pita for a big drive, but depends on how important it is to you.

Here is the last-ditch recovery method tried and tested by me.

Buy a clone of the hdd that is broken.

Open both drives in a clean-ish environment and swap the physical discs over.

Sort out your copy system and set everything up for a single run of the data disc in the new harddrive - if it reads at all it will possibly only do it once.

Copy the drive at the lowest level possible. dd in linux is what I used.

next time - keep backups

[Will27]

I can recommend this place in Bangkok.

http://www.idrlab.com/en/

They will tell you how much they can recover (if any) and then give you a price.

I had 2 places in Australia quote me $600, approx 18 000 Baht.

They managed to recover 90% of my data and the bill was 7000 Baht.

Took nearly 3 days.

Regards

Will

[Trevor25222]

Sounds like a heads alignment problem which is not easy to overcome.

Did you try dd-rescue in linux ? It is going to be a serious pita for a big drive, but depends on how important it is to you.

Here is the last-ditch recovery method tried and tested by me.

Buy a clone of the hdd that is broken.

Open both drives in a clean-ish environment and swap the physical discs over.

Sort out your copy system and set everything up for a single run of the data disc in the new harddrive - if it reads at all it will possibly only do it once.

Copy the drive at the lowest level possible. dd in linux is what I used.

next time - keep backups

This video, by a professional recovery firm, merely swaps the reading heads -- somewhat simpler than the platters. However a torque screwdriver, clean room and experience is required for best results.

This is my drive, so I could obtain a clone.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Maxtor-1TB-Desktop-USB-2-0-External-Hard-Drive-Used-/221156543094?pt=UK_Computing_HardDrives_RL&hash=item337df50a76

Could an amateur mechanic like myself change the heads on a table at home?

[Trevor25222]

Sounds like a heads alignment problem which is not easy to overcome.

Did you try dd-rescue in linux ? It is going to be a serious pita for a big drive, but depends on how important it is to you.

Here is the last-ditch recovery method tried and tested by me.

Buy a clone of the hdd that is broken.

Open both drives in a clean-ish environment and swap the physical discs over.

Sort out your copy system and set everything up for a single run of the data disc in the new harddrive - if it reads at all it will possibly only do it once.

Copy the drive at the lowest level possible. dd in linux is what I used.

next time - keep backups

This is my unit, so at least clones are still available.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Maxtor-1TB-Desktop-USB-2-0-External-Hard-Drive-Used-/221156543094?pt=UK_Computing_HardDrives_RL&hash=item337df50a76

This professional guy merely swapped the heads rather than the platters. Surely simpler? However it required expertise and a torque-screwdriver to secure the main cover correctly.

[Trevor25222]

I can recommend this place in Bangkok.

http://www.idrlab.com/en/

They will tell you how much they can recover (if any) and then give you a price.

I had 2 places in Australia quote me $600, approx 18 000 Baht.

They managed to recover 90% of my data and the bill was 7000 Baht.

Took nearly 3 days.

Regards

Will

Thanks, I'll give them a try. Do you think they'd mail the unit to my home country when finished? I can't believe what heavy weather some people make of a drive failure. The unit was never dropped or abused during its 5 years, nor showed any signs of imminent failure.

[BlackPuddingBertha]

The unit was never dropped or abused during its 5 years, nor showed any signs of imminent failure.

If there is one certainty, just as certain as death and much more certain than taxes, it's that all hard drives will fail one day. There are no exceptions and it's purely a question of when. Some die within days or hours of first use, some go on for many years, some die in between, but they do all fail. Sometimes you get some warning, sometimes you dont and that all depends on which part goes wrong first.

If more people realised this they would probably be more careful about backing up data.

[jpinx]

I can recommend this place in Bangkok.

http://www.idrlab.com/en/

They will tell you how much they can recover (if any) and then give you a price.

I had 2 places in Australia quote me $600, approx 18 000 Baht.

They managed to recover 90% of my data and the bill was 7000 Baht.

Took nearly 3 days.

Regards

Will

Thanks, I'll give them a try. Do you think they'd mail the unit to my home country when finished? I can't believe what heavy weather some people make of a drive failure. The unit was never dropped or abused during its 5 years, nor showed any signs of imminent failure.

If it never showed any signs of failure, what are the exact errors now? Have you tried dd_rescue in linux?

Has anyone ever taken it apart? Did the people you asked for assessment take it apart? Did you leave it with them for a while to investigate?

Yes - replacing the heads is simpler, but more likely to not read when done by an amateur because of alignment issues. Swapping out the disc is more trouble, but more likely to work the one time you need to recover the data. Don't expect to fix the drive or salvage the clone, it's a job of getting the data and binning the original and clone hardware,.

[Trevor25222]

If it never showed any signs of failure, what are the exact errors now? Have you tried dd_rescue in linux?

Has anyone ever taken it apart? Did the people you asked for assessment take it apart? Did you leave it with them for a while to investigate?

Yes - replacing the heads is simpler, but more likely to not read when done by an amateur because of alignment issues. Swapping out the disc is more trouble, but more likely to work the one time you need to recover the data. Don't expect to fix the drive or salvage the clone, it's a job of getting the data and binning the original and clone hardware,.

The current situation is that the drive motor tries to get up-to-speed but cuts out and repeats the process every 7 seconds. Recovery software is of no use because the drive doesn't appear under Mac Disk Utility. Greg in Phuket is a man of few words and merely said, "We did receive it and can't recover for a reasonable amount, one of the heads is not reading data. Will send it back to you ASAP."

On Monday, 26th November I will take it to http://www.idrlab.co...ervice-Fee.html . Their fee of ฿3,000 - ฿9,000 seems reasonable and the poster recommending them above had a good experience.

[aarn]

Hi,

I had a similar experience to you recently. Was quoted ridiculous fees, to possibly retrieve data.

I think jpinx suggestion above is good. Sounds like the problem is mechanical rather than software.

Get the torque screwdriver - it will be a smaller size [ie. < t10],

so probably have to go to computer shop and try their tools.

Buy same model HDD as yours - used one via ebay will be fine.

Try to dissemble. OK in an ideal world you work in a clean, static-free environment.

Just put glad-wrap (plastic shielding) over your hands/fingers while doing the reconstruction.

In my experience, changing batteries in watches, and hard drives inside a comp,

is too easy with a little practice. Have a go! AA

[Trevor25222]

Hi,

I had a similar experience to you recently. Was quoted ridiculous fees, to possibly retrieve data.

I think jpinx suggestion above is good. Sounds like the problem is mechanical rather than software.

Get the torque screwdriver - it will be a smaller size [ie. < t10],

so probably have to go to computer shop and try their tools.

Buy same model HDD as yours - used one via ebay will be fine.

Try to dissemble. OK in an ideal world you work in a clean, static-free environment.

Just put glad-wrap (plastic shielding) over your hands/fingers while doing the reconstruction.

In my experience, changing batteries in watches, and hard drives inside a comp,

is too easy with a little practice. Have a go! AA

If the Thai firm can't do it, I will try this at home where I can buy a clone. Lucky there are still 5-year-old Maxtors still around on eBay. Anti-static gloves and an earthing strap would be a good idea. Would you recommend putting the new heads in the old unit, or the old platters in the new unit? Did it work for you?

[jpinx]

The current situation is that the drive motor tries to get up-to-speed but cuts out and repeats the process every 7 seconds. Recovery software is of no use because the drive doesn't appear under Mac Disk Utility. Greg in Phuket is a man of few words and merely said, "We did receive it and can't recover for a reasonable amount, one of the heads is not reading data. Will send it back to you ASAP."

On Monday, 26th November I will take it to http://www.idrlab.co...ervice-Fee.html . Their fee of ฿3,000 - ฿9,000 seems reasonable and the poster recommending them above had a good experience.

Classic case of not posting the exact problem, symptoms and errors I have never heard of a data-recovery facility having success with a drive that isn't getting up to speed. Basically all they do is run a fancy version of dd_rescue.

Do the swap - you only need it to run once

Swapping heads or disc will be your choice when you get it open. I have always swapped the disc 'cos someone told me there can be alignment issues when you mess with the heads but ymmv

imho static is a red-herring unless you are in a very crackly environment, and clean is just that - clean place to work, clean tools, wash your hands and swab fingertips with aftershave or similar solvent to get rid of skin grease, switch the aircon/fan off to stop dust swirling around, etc. Handle the disc by edges only - use your little fingers if you have big hands like me.

Good luck.....

[Trevor25222]

Jpinx: thanks, your cloning method makes sense and is my final option once home. However, for the sake of a brief outing to the Bangna-Trat road in Bangkok, I'll try IDR on Monday, 26-11-2012 and ask them to assess it while I wait. This would save me a return trip to collect. It's a 4 Km taxi ride from Udom Suk BTS station.

I don't feel too confident doing the clone head/platter swap myself without the relevant tools. Would a local, run-of-the-mill computer repair shop in the UK accept this kind of task? Or possibly only without any guarantee of success?

[jpinx]

Fair enough to try the options here first. No shop will do a disc swap and guarantee anything, and without a guarantee they tend to not be so careful with what they're doing. Catch-22..

[Gregory Morozov]

Recovery of this drive is possible but will likely require more than one set of heads, and then it's still not guaranteed.

We chose not to take the risks.

Swapping heads in a DIY environment on a 1Tb drive will be almost guaranteed failure. Yes, it worked sometimes on the drives up to 40Gb in the past.

No need to discuss "userland" utilities here as they would not see the drive at all.

[JakeBKK]

End of life (EOL) for a HDD is around 50000h. that is if you run 24/7 reached at 5,25 Years!

[Trevor25222]

End of life (EOL) for a HDD is around 50000h. that is if you run 24/7 reached at 5,25 Years!

Actually I only ran this hard drive while the computer was on -- no more than half the time! It just sat on my desk in the UK and was never even moved for 5 years. Sometimes the power was cut without formally ejecting the drive; I don't know whether rare incidents like that could have shortened its life? Do the hard-drive heads retract to a safe mode if power is lost?

[Trevor25222]

(OP) Yesterday I took the drive to the IDR Company, next to Central Bangna & Big C. 23 hours later they emailed me with a quotation for ฿9,000 + VAT (total £197), stating, "There will not have any cost if the data could not be recovered." Curiously payment is by cash or bank transfer only. They will accept shipments from abroad. My local computer repair shop in the UK would not even discuss recovery for less than £300.

There are half a dozen computers in the reception area for downloading customer data, and IDR promises confidentiality. I merely have to return the email accepting that they can 'break the seal'. So, no guarantees of data yet but at least a positive, can do, attitude.

Interestingly, Big C had a WD My Passport 1TB 3.0 USB portable hard drive on sale (฿200 off) at ฿2,790 (£57). Would this be a good medium to download my data to if it can be recovered? I already have a WD My Passport Firewire 1TB portable hard drive, which cost double, at home as my primary backup. It's noticeably faster than the failed 2.0 USB drive.

[BlackPuddingBertha]

23 hours later they emailed me with a quotation for ฿9,000 + VAT (total £197), stating, "There will not have any cost if the data could not be recovered."

The "no win, no fee" part certainly seems fair.

USB3 will be much faster than USB2, always assuming that your PC has USB3 sockets. (I added 4 via a GBP10 PCI-e card recently and they work fine with an external USB3 SATA dock).

I dont like those prebuilt external hard drives very much. They dont seem to last anywhere near as long as when I buy a regular drive and fit it myself into an empty caddy.

[jpinx]

The "no win, no fee" part certainly seems fair.

except for the possibility of them failing and losing the data forever,,,,,

.........

I dont like those prebuilt external hard drives very much. They dont seem to last anywhere near as long as when I buy a regular drive and fit it myself into an empty caddy.

I agree - I bought one empty external box and have 3 hdd's which are my backups. I just swap them around as needed and they hav been going for many years now - they are old ide ones - that's how old

[Guest]

Recovering data from a broken disk sounds like classic case of an old, retired engineer who was called to fix an old paper mill. The multimillion system was working fine for years, but it got an problem which resulted bad quality paper. Company engineers tried to figure out what was causing the error, but they all failed.

Finally an old engineer was called to the place, he analysed and simply replaced one screw on the mill. His fee was 50.000 euros.

Owner of the mill was shocked of the bill and asked for an breakdown of the bill.

The breakdown of the bill was:

- 1 screw to replace the old one: 1 euro

- Knowledge where to replace it: 49.999 euros.

------

I'm very interested to hear how this case will eventually turn out. Replacing disk heads is something I would not do and would not leave the work for companies who are not trusted professionals. One thing which makes me to be doubtious is that Gregory turned this case down.

So please keep updating what is going on with your disk and if you got it recovered.

[Trevor25222]

I dont like those prebuilt external hard drives very much. They dont seem to last anywhere near as long as when I buy a regular drive and fit it myself into an empty caddy.

Internal / external drives are identical. The casing shouldn't make a blind bit of difference. Why should it? Superior PCB ... nah!

The fact that the Thai company IDR is experienced and willing to quote for repair suggests they have a pretty good idea of their chances. To my mind, the Russian in Phuket is a wuss; he wasted me a week asking for it to be sent down, only to chicken-out, despite being described the full symptoms in advance.

[Trevor25222]

I dont like those prebuilt external hard drives very much. They dont seem to last anywhere near as long as when I buy a regular drive and fit it myself into an empty caddy.

Internal / external drives are identical. The casing shouldn't make a blind bit of difference. Why should it? Superior PCB ... nah!

The fact that the Thai company IDR is experienced and willing to quote for repair suggests they have a pretty good idea of their chances. At least they have the 'nads to take it apart in a clean room. To my mind, the Russian in Phuket is a wuss; he wasted a week of my valuable time here asking for it to be sent down, only to chicken-out of the recovery, despite being described the full symptoms in advance.

A French guy on this board, who contacted me via personal messaging, also failed to follow-up with his expressed, and cost-quoted interest to help me recover the data. Anyone who is not prepared to dismantle a non-mounting drive is a boastful amateur and time-waster. Fixing a minor servo-mechanism glitch on a hard drive is not rocket science, although some seem to think it is. If IDR fails I'll simply pay an engineer to clone it in the UK; the data will still be on the platters.

[Guest]

The fact that the Thai company IDR is experienced and willing to quote for repair suggests they have a pretty good idea of their chances. To my mind, the Russian in Phuket is a wuss; he wasted me a week asking for it to be sent down, only to chicken-out of the recovery, despite being described the full symptoms in advance.

That might be true or it might not be. For me I value experience and knowledge over "yes, yes sir, I can do it" promises. Therefore your outcome is really interesting. If this company can not recover your data, is the data on the HDD still available for some other company which is considerably more costly.

This case is also interesting as very few of the IT professionals will ever have to go through it as they do keep their backups in the order that there is no need for hard drive recovery. It's also interesting to see how the recovery will be made in the future when we all use SSD's.

[Trevor25222]

Greg's final advice to me was to try Singapore. He clearly doesn't have a very high opinion of local Thai recovery engineers!

[RandomSand]

If you're prepared to throw money at the problem then contact the maker of the drive and ask if they provide a recovery service or who is their partner in such matters.

In the case of WD, I found out (see post below) that the whole recovery business is tied-in with the availibilty of repair solutotions provided by the maker.

If your drive is "served" by a specialist "agent", then it won't be cheap.

--note: you must ask for data recovery service and not regular repair -

[RandomSand]

Some brands are easier to recover data from than others. I have a 1TB WD Green drive from when they were first released, dead in a box, back in Europe. I remember finding out that, with WD drives, the PCB could not be simply swapped from another WD drive with the same model number. Wow, I really regret buying that drive.... had I known about the problems in dropping in a new PCB when repairing WD drives I certainly would have bought a Seagate instead.

That said, there have been takeovers in the industry in the last few years so things may have changed?

[RandomSand]

I'd like to add that I managed to get data off a seagte drive, some years back, by way of freezing the drive. There's much info on the net if you poke about.

[Guest]

I'd like to add that I managed to get data off a seagte drive, some years back, by way of freezing the drive. There's much info on the net if you poke about.

That's nothing new really. I have done it years ago and I suppose many others as well. Works when the disk does not start, but still is kind of pain to get the data. I suppose keeping the drive on liquid N2 could keep the drive cold and would allow full data recovery..

As I said before. This is one of the specialties where the usual IT expertise is not enough. To get the data back requires professionals, not the 200 baht 'it-experts' who are widely available.

It will be interesting to see what will come out of this case.