HoneySuckleDreams Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 My PC blew up at the weekend and the Hard Disk, amongst everything else (mother board/graphics card etc), is dead.Does anyone have any experience of using a firm to retrieve data from a dead HD? I've found a couple in the UK I think I can trust, but I don't know of any in France. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gardian Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 Some years ago, the mother board on our PC was 'fried' when we had a lightning strike. A few other bits got taken out too.We were lucky - found a man in the Pages Jaunes who undertook PC repairs, training courses, etc. He was excellent: replaced the mother board and the other bits and rebuilt our database. It took 4 or 5 days and he charged us about €400, of which we got about €300 back on our house insurance.I can only suggest that you try something like the Pages Jaunes and see what you can find.Did you have offline backup? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunday Driver Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 What do you mean by 'My PC blew up'? Are there pieces of it embedded in the ceiling or do you mean nothing happens now when you switch it on?If it's the latter, it may be that it's the power supply unit that has failed and the rest of the components, including the hard disk, are still OK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoneySuckleDreams Posted November 7, 2011 Author Share Posted November 7, 2011 [quote user="Sunday Driver"] What do you mean by 'My PC blew up'? Are there pieces of it embedded in the ceiling or do you mean nothing happens now when you switch it on?[/quote]Smoke and sparks from the power supply, scorch marks on the case.[quote user="Sunday Driver"] If it's the latter, it may be that it's the power supply unit that has failed and the rest of the components, including the hard disk, are still OK.[/quote]Swapped the power supply out for a new one - nothing alive - no light on the mother board. Swapped secondary disk on my friends computer for my HD, no life in it. Swapped graphics cards etc nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 When my o/h's computer failed, a local company removed the hard drive and put it in its own case. It now behaves like any other external hard drive. Cost: 50€.But then, his computer didn't actually smoke when it went "bang". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pickles Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 [quote user="HoneySuckleDreams"][quote user="Sunday Driver"]What do you mean by 'My PC blew up'? Are there pieces of it embedded in the ceiling or do you mean nothing happens now when you switch it on?[/quote]Smoke and sparks from the power supply, scorch marks on the case.[quote user="Sunday Driver"]If it's the latter, it may be that it's the power supply unit that has failed and the rest of the components, including the hard disk, are still OK.[/quote]Swapped the power supply out for a new one - nothing alive - no light on the mother board. Swapped secondary disk on my friends computer for my HD, no life in it. Swapped graphics cards etc nothing.[/quote]So, it looks like the control circuitry on the HDD itself has been fried, if I am reading you correctly. It is possible to get another of the same type of HDD and swap over the controller circuitry and to reanimate it that way.RegardsPickles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoneySuckleDreams Posted November 7, 2011 Author Share Posted November 7, 2011 [quote user="Pickles"]It is possible to get another of the same type of HDD and swap over the controller circuitry and to reanimate it that way.[/quote]I think that is what these recovery companies do. They swap the platters from the non working HDD into a working one. I don't think I would be confident to do it myself, I would have thought you have to do it in a sterile/dust free environment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pickles Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 [quote user="HoneySuckleDreams"][quote user="Pickles"]It is possible to get another of the same type of HDD and swap over the controller circuitry and to reanimate it that way.[/quote]I think that is what these recovery companies do. They swap the platters from the non working HDD into a working one. I don't think I would be confident to do it myself, I would have thought you have to do it in a sterile/dust free environment.[/quote]Actually, that is one step on from what I was advocating: you can remove the PCB from the HDD without being in a dust-free environment: you don't get involved with the platters themselves if you just change the PCB that is mounted on the outside of the HDD ... or at least, that was the case for the one I did ...RegardsPickles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoneySuckleDreams Posted November 7, 2011 Author Share Posted November 7, 2011 OK I'll give it a try.I have a pet geek in the village and I will see if we can get it going together.I have another Western Digital disk of the same type working as a secondary HDD in another PC, so I'll make sure I copy everything off of that and see what I can do. Edit: Actually, unless the disks are identical it's probably not a good idea to mess with it. Something to do with firmware versions. So, it's back to the original question. Has anyone used a recovery firm? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoneySuckleDreams Posted November 23, 2011 Author Share Posted November 23, 2011 [quote user="Pickles"][quote user="HoneySuckleDreams"][quote user="Pickles"]It is possible to get another of the same type of HDD and swap over the controller circuitry and to reanimate it that way.[/quote]I think that is what these recovery companies do. They swap the platters from the non working HDD into a working one. I don't think I would be confident to do it myself, I would have thought you have to do it in a sterile/dust free environment.[/quote]Actually, that is one step on from what I was advocating: you can remove the PCB from the HDD without being in a dust-free environment: you don't get involved with the platters themselves if you just change the PCB that is mounted on the outside of the HDD ... or at least, that was the case for the one I did ...RegardsPickles[/quote] Thanks Pickles, I've read a lot more about what to do and now taken your advice. I've managed to source a PCB almost identical...it's Ebaying itself to me as I type. I will give it a go, and if that fails I'll try and swap the firmware chip. 27quid so far, a datarecover company quoted me 600euro, so I'm hoping the replacment of the PCB does the trick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOther Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 A timely reminder to those who STILL have not independently backed up what is dear to them and/or irreplaceable.Today HSD's hard drive - tomorrow yours perhaps [:(]The more so if you have stuff worth contemplating paying €600 to get back [:-))] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pickles Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 [quote user="AnOther"]A timely reminder to those who STILL have not independently backed up what is dear to them and/or irreplaceable.[/quote]And if you are a skinflint (which it would appear most of us ARE!), then I would suggests that you take a look at Microsoft's Skydrive or similar free services. There are file size limits, but if you keep data backed up over the Internet then that is most of the problem solved. I also use memory sticks and an external hard drive to back up.RegardsPickles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOther Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 If you are a skinflint then it becomes even more imperative to back up as the cost of recovery will really spoil your day.Choose you own weapon but anything is better than nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoneySuckleDreams Posted November 24, 2011 Author Share Posted November 24, 2011 [quote user="AnOther"]The more so if you have stuff worth contemplating paying €600 to get back [:-))][/quote]It doesn't actually cost them €600 euro, (I mean it only takes 10 minutes to change a PCB). They can hold you to ransome for whatever price they think they can get away with. For businesses, then it will be worth it. I've got most of it backed up anyway, it was just the last weeks photos and emails that were missing. Is that worth €600 to me? probably not.I will look into the Internet backup method (as well as external hard drives) now that we have a faster internet connection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dart16 Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 It costs a shed load more than £600 for the equipment that can access any failed drive and recover data. The swapping of the pcb of a faulty drive with a pcb from a working drive is often not successful and in those cases professional recovery is the only option. In business £600 would be considered peanuts to recover business critical data.I'm not sure I would want to sending my private data to a cloud storage server..encrypted or not - give me a local solution any day. I use sync'n'go for day to day backups and Acronis True Image for longer term stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoneySuckleDreams Posted December 6, 2011 Author Share Posted December 6, 2011 [quote user="Dart16"]It costs a shed load more than £600 for the equipment that can access any failed drive and recover data[/quote]I agree, but they don't buy the equipment just for me. The expensive equipement is a long term investement that they will recoup the money on from lots of punters. Anyway...an update. My Ebay PCB arrived and I swapped it over. My PC came back from pet geek and it booted OK [:D] but I got a message that I have to reactivate windows, which I reckon is OK, but I can't find the bumf with the code on. I didn't get any further than that at the weekend but things are looking hopeful. I should be able to mount it externally and see the data...but we will see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoneySuckleDreams Posted December 15, 2011 Author Share Posted December 15, 2011 [quote user="Pickles"]Actually, that is one step on from what I was advocating: you can remove the PCB from the HDD without being in a dust-free environment: you don't get involved with the platters themselves if you just change the PCB that is mounted on the outside of the HDD ... or at least, that was the case for the one I did ...[/quote]Many thanks for the advice Pickles. The replacement PCB worked a treat, my pet geek has managed to get all the data off. It wasn't without problems though as he found a trojan that had hijacked the folder permissions and then buggered the FAT, just before the power supply blew. I'm hoping that they aren't related! It would be a bad thing if people can remotely knacker your PC.However, everything is OK now. Other than the PCB cost, it only cost me some Scotch Eggs...pet geek got attached to them when he was England for a year...the cheaper the nastier the better apparently.So once again, many thanks for the heads up on the PCB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pickles Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 [quote user="HoneySuckleDreams"]Many thanks for the advice Pickles. The replacement PCB worked a treat, my pet geek has managed to get all the data off. It wasn't without problems though as he found a trojan that had hijacked the folder permissions and then buggered the FAT, just before the power supply blew. I'm hoping that they aren't related! It would be a bad thing if people can remotely knacker your PC.However, everything is OK now. Other than the PCB cost, it only cost me some Scotch Eggs...pet geek got attached to them when he was England for a year...the cheaper the nastier the better apparently.So once again, many thanks for the heads up on the PCB[/quote]I'm delighted that it worked for you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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