Hard disk Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 broken - Advice

[BlackST]

No, I can do my DR so why send out?

[Mr Wolf]

You can repair hard disks by yourself? You're great! But you have the necessary equipment and tools?
Or do you work for a recovery company?
Maybe... the one you suggested me? Else why you suggested it me?

[BlackST]

I have everything needed, plus it wasn't me suggesting that company.

[Mr Wolf]

Ahem... sorry! Wrong person!

Ok, but do you repair hard disks as a job? And can you repair more or less all the hard disks?
Or to be more specific, can you repairn the ones who need to be opened?
Where do you live? (maybe you can send me a PM)

[BlackST]

Yes but can't help because I don't work at present with end users ('utenti finali'). Mainly I do r&d on dr. All brands but more specialized on Maxtor, Samsung and Fujitsu. P.s. Hard to say, some issues are NOT repairable and data not recoverable.

[Mr Wolf]

Please don't tell me that, I don't want even to think about it!

So, you work for a company, then? Of course you'll have to repair the hard disk you're given, you don't know the end users
Sorry, what is "r&d"?

[pcimage]

Research & Development

[shahij]

Mr Wolf,
if u really wants your data back, better to choose BlackST than searching a data recovery company. Cos, he does have outstanding knowledge about HDD DR.

[BlackST]

I work for MY own company. R&D = research & development (ricerca e sviluppo). Thanks Shahij for appreciation.

[shahij]

I work for MY own company. R&D = research & development (ricerca e sviluppo). Thanks Shahij for appreciation.

OLD BRAND Without Own Name: ONTRACK, ADRC etc...
BRAND WITH INDIVIDUAL NAME: BlackST, pcimage, rameez etc...

[hddguy]

Avoid a small company, or PC repair shop, look for a company with a nice professional site, and speak to them first. You can generally get an idea of the company your dealing with from the website and the customer service on an initial phone call. Google the company, if they are not ver good Im sure you will find plenty of complaints. But as BlackST says, if you send your disk for recovery based on the price alone, you can say goodbye to your data.

[HDD Spaz]

theres a couple of good small companies but thousands of not so good. The sort who believe a N40P is the next strain of bird flu.

[BlackST]

At this point: how much can mr. Wolf afford?

[hddguy]

At this point: how much can mr. Wolf afford?

A good and valid point!

[HDD Spaz]

data is probably not so important when realistic honest prices are given.

[Mr Wolf]

Well, I'm starting to search and ask the companies, and, as far as I can see, the prices and the services vary: for example, one doesn't make you pay the diagnosis service if data are not retrievable (I'm touching my balls!)
How much I'm willing to spend? Eh...

However, I know you can't say the cost before analysing the hard disk, it depends a lot on the damages, and in my case, there's more the fact that one partition is encrypted

I don't know, as I said, the ideal thing would be to dismantle the platters from the damaged hard disk and mount them on an identical hard disk to access directly the data

I also sent a PM to BlackST

[BlackST]

VERY constructive thread in this forum, technology section :

name-and-shame-fraudulent-companies-t9733.html

read carefully.

(ancient Romans said : CAVEAT EMPTOR = buyer, beware !)

[Mr Wolf]

Thanks! I'm reading it, I'm very interested in other user's experiences in sending their hard disks to recovery companies

So you won't fix my hard disk? (I sent you a PM)
EH!EH!EH!

Or could you suggest me a reliable recovery company?
PM me if you wish

[BlackST]

Didn't answer... how much is "worth" to you ? It is pointless to request quotes if you don't say (it's NOT you don't know) how much can you spend.

(Non hai risposto... quanto sei disposto a spendere in ogni caso? E' inutile chiedere preventivi se non dici (non e' che non sai) quando puoi spendere)

[Mr Wolf]

Why pointless?
As I said, I'm searching, asking and making comparison, then I'll make my decision
What can say, I'm prepared to spend more than 500 euri
And yes, in my hard disk I have my whole life

What it's not clear to me (maybe it depends on the company) is if the cost depends on the amount of the data actually recovered, and, in special way, if it could depend on the amount of data I want to recover among the ones actually retriavable

I explain better:
recovering 300 GB from a hard disk costs more than recovering 200 GB from another hard disk?
And moreover, if I want to recover just a portion of the data actually retriable, it would cost me less?


I read the discussion you linked me, but I didn't understand just where it says:
With these jobs, I find that the "respected" company, having completed a successful recovery and being in possession of the client's data, have subsequently presented the drives as "unrecoverable" to most intents and purposes.

I'll be dumb, but it's not explained why recovery companies would do it. They want the damage to appear worse than it really is?

And another issue worries me: what about the privacy of my data? Is it safe?
Doing this job, I think it's hard not to be curious about other people things...!