Speak for yourself and not everybody else. Somebody else defended their heat, I will defend my cold. I indeed saved the day sticking the drive in a freezer. A server with an older ball bearing drive came down. When I checked it out, drive was hot and would not spin. Drive had been loud for awhile but it wasnt my responsibility. Now everybody was sniveling. So I jumped in there and put drive in freezer to cool it down. I didnt let it freeze to high heaven, I just got it pretty cold, then hooked it back up again. Sure enough, drive spun up noisily and I ghosted it to a backup drive. The day was saved. So Mr God, er BlackST, this is a trick I share with you that may one day make you a buck or 2.

And targeted heat could very well save somebodys arse as well. It all depends on exactly what the problem is and how the failure occured. But drive speed and data density do make vibrations a very bad problem for DR in these newer large drives. And as I said before, the bigger they make them, the fewer success there will be in data recovery.

That is the problem with the DR world. There is no qualifying or oversight. I can clean up a room, sprinkle it with work benches and several dozen drives from Ebay, and give you a quote. Everything looks good, but its a money pit and they only succed at the problems that we could also have succeded at if we only found a little more info on the internet. And that is partly why we play around with this stuff ourselves. You spend your money, and you still get an amature no more qualified than we are.

Since you are not very capable, and the info is precious, it is best to stick with mailing the drive to a large well respected DR firm that has a track record you can verify. And also check them out with the better business bureau. Do they have that in Germany? No matter, BBB is on the internet, and its big with american companies. It is an indication of customer satifaction.

Its going to cost you a small bundle. You might as well spend it with somebody you are sure is going to deliver.

[quote="stts So Mr God, er BlackST, this is a trick I share with you that may one day make you a buck or 2. [/quote]

Thanks for the "trick" .... are you teaching dad how to f..k ?

Usually, when no failure is allowed, platter stack swap or "surgical intervention" on the fluid/magnetic bearing has to be done. And that's what I do. 100% success if the surface has no damage. Since a long time. On others, H/S and alignment. And there's plenty of "low tech" for doing it, successfully.

If you are so self confident, why don't you repair (seriously) his/other drive ? I can't !

Me and surely other people have solutions for large drives (500G/1TB), despite the theories. If all these drives were so "sub-micron sensitive", simply they won't work. I can make 1 or 2 bucks with a oven / freezer, then put your background at work and you can make thousand bucks as they sold the drives in millions and they are failing every minute. Just pocket money for some extras - taxes paid.

As far as repairing his drive, I have a job, and there is not enough time for me to save the world. Thats why we have this forum. So we can spread knowledge so more people can help themselves.

And surely, you as can I, can fix a few things on the larger drives, but the time invested will sky rocket, and the success rates will drop dramaticly from the success you had with 100gig drives.

And its sad as lots of pocket money will change hands as people pay an initial work fee in vain as the DR fails.

Today, I received a first offer from Seagate DR located in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Minimum charge is EUR 600 (~ USD 900), but in case of mechanical defect (spindle / bearing) cost could easily reach > EUR 1,200 (~ USD 1,800). The exact costs would be advised when they have analysed the HDD by an engineer. Anyway, I'm going to check an alternative DR service for comparision.

The offer is reasonable. Have another or another two-three but don't expect so much difference.

We have actual labs in US, Canada and The Netherlands. All cases from Europe will be shipped to Amsterdam I beleive

_________________
SAN, NAS, RAID, Server, and HDD Data Recovery.

How to break down these costs?
50% working hours and 50% amortization of the equipment?
How much working hours must be considered for replacing the bearing?

It's not a claim. I just want to get some confidence.

It doesn't work this way
And it is not that easy also

_________________
SAN, NAS, RAID, Server, and HDD Data Recovery.

Understand and accepted. I have no other choise. But it's really painful.
I would appreciate if this costs would be shared between owner and manufacturer during warranty period. At least manufacturer should offer an insurance for such cases.

The addresses in Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt are just collection points.

jono-ats ,
Hey at what temprature did u heat the bearing area ? and with what ?

Jono, PM me.

Anyway it's not possible to breakdown costs THIS way : you have to cinsider equipment upgrade, parts inventoryand you pay taxes on inventory, general expenses, mortgages etc. etc. plus labor costs, insurances, etc.etc.etc.. Oh, if you were a qualified engineer ou would be paid a little more than a tinker, don't you ?

I just wanted to find out how many hours I have to work in order to pay a one hour worktime of a pro.

Yes, this could be true. Some people says the same about my hourly cost, and I say them that I say the same for many soccer or basketball players. The same for a specialized doctor. The same for a baker, for a farmer etc. etc. It is impossible and also pointless to make comparison(s)... How much was/is the hourly worktime cost of Pablo Picasso according to the price of his operas ? And so on. Someone DO the service you need... the market is free... then if you have an alternative , go for it. Otherwise, you have to pay for it. If you want a genuine Rolex, you have to pay the price. Or you have to buy a cheaper clone or another brand... it's not a Rolex anyway. But you don't have any "alternative Rolex" than Rolex. That's life. Sad but true. (you can replace the "Rolex" name with every other luxury brand or unique thing/service you know)

I'll PM you.
Jon

_________________
http://www.datasaversllc.com

I'm interested in this information as well. Does this work for both ball and fluid bearings?

Both of the Maxtor OneTouch 4 drives I purchased within a month of each other have seized spindles...

Thanks!

-- C

Please, I would like to know that information too.
Thanks

Could you let me know as well please? Thanks in advance.

If anyone needs a DR in Europe:
Collegues from "around the corner" www.attingo.at

The have offices in other European countries as well - and just opening new branches.
They have very experienced former staff of IBAS and do succeed where the biggest
one(es) before did not.

The prices are in the usual range, but differ for private and companies - and given
time frame to do the job.

Whenever I have a DR which is over my (very limited) knowledge, I pass it on to them.