I will try to make this brief, as this has been an ongoing saga for well over a year now, but I will try to provide as many details as possible. This the story so far.

I had an external "Seagate Barracuda LP 1TB ST31000520AS" (known from here on as Old Hard Drive) and I kept all my stuff on it. I noticed at some point that it had been behaving oddly - not starting up properly, being slow, some files not accessible etc - so I decided I would begin transferring all my stuff onto a brand new hard drive.

I transferred all my stuff onto an external "Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB ST31000528AS" (known from here on as New Hard Drive)

I did this by mostly copying and pasting to the New Hard Drive and -this is important- deleting files as I went so that I would not lose track of what I had copied and what I had not. By the time I had copied all my data across, the Old Hard Drive had more or less ceased functioning. The BIOS could see it, but when trying to view or open it in windows explorer, I could see that the Old Hard Drive was now in a RAW state.

No big deal, as all my data was now on my New Hard Drive. Within the week, I accidentally dropped the New Hard Drive. When I powered it on it made scratching, grinding noises consistent with the head scratching the surface of the platters.

I sent it to a Australian hard drive recovery company and after 2 weeks was told that my data was impossible to recover as the 'platters were too badly scratched'. I had paid them $2000 to recover my data, and if I am lucky I will get $1300 of this money back due to their 'no data, no charge policy' (I am not receiving a full refund as they are still charging me for the 4 hours spent working on it).

I am devastated due to the immense loss of my personal data but I think I still have another chance.

Question 1:
My New Hard Drive was described by the company I dealt with as being 'scoured the surface over in scratches', that an attempt to clean the surface of the platter was futile as the platter is so badly scratched, the data has literally been gouged out of it. Should I try again with a different company? My reasoning is that if the hard drives from the late Colombia Space Shuttle could be recovered after getting blown out of the sky and sitting in a swamp for weeks ( http://www.computerworld.com/article/25 ... -site.html ), then I'm pretty sure it's possible to recover data from my hard drive.

Question(s) 2:
I would like to know if it's possible to recover my Old Hard Drive that is in the RAW state?
If I recover the data from the RAW state, would I be able to use some sort of Undelete Software to further recover the files I deleted when I was originally copy/pasting/deleting. I understand that when files are deleted, that they don't really get deleted - only made 'hidden' and are only unrecoverable if these 'hidden' files get written over. From what I recall, I never transfered anything onto the Old Hard Drive after taking stuff off it - it just 'died' after I'd finished transferring everything I wanted.

If there are any further details required, please ask.

I hope some one can help me, I am literally at my wits end and I can't take it anymore.

uuuh then that's hardly No Data No Fee is it, I'd take them to task.

New trashed drive.
If indeed the disk is heavily scratched there's not much hope, sight unseen.
Scratches are not repairable, whereas firmware, bad sectors etc (old drive) generally are workable in one shape or another.
There will likely be other suggestions here that only part of the drive is damaged and *some* data may be recoverable. this is v thin chance though given the drive was dropped.

Old trashed drive.
probably a better chance of recovery.

Either way, you pays your money and takes your choice.
Sorry dude, not great news i know.

_________________
Когда хочется кушать – съешь всё.
Голод не тётка!

Sounds like a job for the ACCC.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Sorry, have been so busy last few weeks to reply.

I'm not bothered by the whole losing $500 because of a loop hole in the fine print - had I been told that I would be charged for the hours worked on my hard drive, regardless of whether I got my data back or not, I still would have gone through with an attempted recovery with the company. Anyhow, this thread is not about that.

What I am trying to find out is this:

If I attempt a home recovery of my RAW state Old Hard Drive, could I then use an un-delete program and be able to see files that were deleted before it fell into a RAW state?

I've never done a recovery of RAW state hard drive, but I know it's possible from home. I just want to know if the recovery process of a RAW state hard drive, also recovers files that are deleted (partially-deleted/hidden) - or does it only recover files that have never been deleted?

I'm really looking for some input on this as I do not want to try and recover from a RAW state at home and lose all those partially-deleted/hidden files.

Would I be better off explaining my situation to a Hard Drive recovery company? Another forum perhaps? I don't know where to seek advice on this. Thankyou.

There are many objects from the shuttle that survived nicely and intact. Others not so. According to the report it sounds like the disk platters weren't significantly damaged, and the important experiment data happened to be on a section where there was no damage. A little bit of soap and water fixed it up nicely.

Your case is likely different with ground-down surfaces. Could be far worse than the dirty platters from the shuttle. Can't make a diagnosis without a visual inspection.




Probably yes. It is important to figure out what caused the RAW situation to happen. It is also good practice to image the disk and work from the image.

I'm getting out of data recovery and moving into preventative measures such as backups. So I may not be totally aware of the latest and greatest tools for this activity. But perhaps you could start with R-Studio.

_________________
On a clear disk you can seek forever.