Hi all,

I'm new on this forum so I need your help. I have got a faulty HDD hard drive that was caused by the heads. I sent the hard drive to a data recovery company in 2006 and they have only recovered 16% of my data which they should have recover 95% of the data.

However I have been looking on YouTube it show me how I can build a small chamber with a laminar filter on it to keep the dusts out. I am thinking about doing it as I think I can do it to replace the heads. I can't trust any data recovery company as I have been ripped off that haven't recovered most of my data.

Have any of you been successfully recovered the data from the hard drive when you replaced the bad heads?

I'd you have done it by built a small chamber, if love to know.

Your chances might be 0% I'm afraid.
Probably the other lab couldn't recover more because of media damage.
You don't even say what drive it is.
There are plenty of good reputable labs in the UK. You can check here: https://www.datarecoveryprofessionals.org/
I advise you to go to one of them if data is really, really important and you are willing to recover it.

_________________
http://www.pclab.com.pt facebook.com/PCLAB.A.T
ACELab partner

I don't think there is a media damage. My hard drive is seagate ST360020A.

I know there are alot of good labs and I have found two are the best so I'm going to hold on it while I take my own research.

If it cost more on build clean chain and get the tools, I will forget and contact the professional data recovery to recover my data only if the DIY chain and tools cost me twice than what the data recovery charge.

It will not be just the cost of tools, but also the knowledge.

If I give you a scalpel, will you do a heart surgery?

_________________
http://www.pclab.com.pt facebook.com/PCLAB.A.T
ACELab partner

I advise you that if the data is valuable to you, you send it to a data recovery laboratory. Here it is not only about making a booth to open the disc, it requires knowledge and appropriate tools. And I can assure you that they are much more expensive than sending the hard drive to a laboratory.

Who ripped you off in 2006?

There are plenty of us in the UK that wouldn't have but we're all north of the Watford gap.

Sean's your best bet for ageing spinners http://www.pcimage.co.uk especially ones that have already been messed with. Recovery technology and techniques have improved but expect an open drive fee as we're all sick of that stupid youtube video telling people to open their drives and poke around.

_________________
Data Recovery Services in the UK.
https://www.usbrecovery.co.uk/

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

That's unfortunate- no wonder he thinks all DR is a rip off, can't really blame him.

_________________
Data Recovery Services in the UK.
https://www.usbrecovery.co.uk/

It was from fields data recovery company who ripped me off. I was lied and misleading as they said on the phone they can recover 95% of the data, but I got 16% of the data so I was lied and I have been ripped off. I paid £350. That was in 2006.

I still got the faulty drive here, so I hope Fields haven't damage it. I'm going to contact pcimage, but the only problem is they don't return the faulty drive to me.

However I am thinking about going with this data recovery company:

https://www.cheadledatarecovery.co.uk/

It has got alot of good reviews from. their clients as they got most of their data back. They got most positive reviews than any data recovery company has got. They are based in Manchester in UK.

Have you heard of them??

I am still thinking of going to them, but their name is not on professional data recovery list so I'm not sure if I can trust them.

Any idea what I need to do??

Go to Sean at PCIMAGE. He will deliver you the patient drive if you ask for it.

_________________
http://www.pclab.com.pt facebook.com/PCLAB.A.T
ACELab partner

They're a well establish lab, John's a member here just not very active. I'm sure either would serve you well and certainly better than your last experience. AFAIK pcimage is better with older spinner and will return the patient if requested.

_________________
Data Recovery Services in the UK.
https://www.usbrecovery.co.uk/

Oh ok I am going with PCImage.

Before I contact them, can I ask if I choose one of these options to send them the drive to get best recovery rate or it is doesn't matter what options I go for?

Just curious. Can you show us a photo of the drive's label? I'm wondering if the lid was actually removed.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

No, the label haven't been removed. I don't know why you asked me that.

BTW, I have make another double check with my donor drive and the failed hard drive. I have got the same model, same storage size, same firmware version and first 3 digits of serial number are the same. Will it work if I swap the head?

If it will work, but only one problem is how do I know if the platters got scratches?

Here is the details of the hard drive:

My failed drive:
Model: ST360020A
Serial number: 3EX0BYQC
Firmware: 3.34

My donor drive:
Model: ST360020A
Serial number: 3EX0BOLV
Firmware: 3.34

??????????

I'm just wondering why Fields didn't attempt a head swap.


I think you will struggle on your first attempt. If you insist on DIY, practice removing and reinstalling the heads in your donor and confirm that the drive still works afterwards. I'm not a pro, but I believe that the donor matching rule for your model is to match the first 3 characters of the serial number.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

What is the size of the largest file that was successfully recovered?

Can you run a short-stroked read benchmark in HD Tune on your donor drive? This will tell us the size of the serpentine zones.

How to determine number of heads using HD Tune:
https://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=650

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

They have only recovered about 10GB.

Here is the pictures:

Donor drive:




Failed drive:




No, they didnt do the head swap and I dont know how they did it to recovered my data.

If the donor drive is matched with the failed drive, I could do the head swap and I could get a clean chamber for £100 as I can get one from ebay.

But only one problem I am bit concerned, if I swap the head, do I still need PC3000 to recover my data or I can use HDDSuperClone to clone on my failed drive on to another drive and recover my data using with DMDR software??

I'm still waiting for your response.