Hello all, I am a newbie to this forum (and proabably an old man at about 20 others)

I am an action photographer from Los Angeles CA.
Recently my partner in business decided it would be a smart idea to knock over his Western Digital 500gb Drive.
As with the rest of the posts in this forum, i removed the hard drive from its external case.
And attempted to mount it directly to the SATA Port to no avail.
Upon Powering up the drive, the drive makes 4 musical sounds, in 3 sets
No clicking or grinding is heard.

I am an ex-electrical engineering major and would never attempt opening a hard drive.
I believe that I am dealing with a seized spindle motor. Or a crashed read arm.

I would like to know if anyone here can recommend a data recovery place (or person)
Or maybe even a hard drive specialist in the Los Angeles, CA area.

I would prefer this place/person to be somewhere local however i will drive far out if necessary.
Many of the photos on this drive are confidential, XXX, and many of my clients data on the drive are extremely sensitive.

If anyone here know a recovery center or specialist in Los Angeles CA. Please share the wealth.
I understand this is an expensive process $2000-$4000, but this data MUST be recovered.
Thx to all and have a happy New Year!

These are tough. Good luck.

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You don't have to backup all of your files, just the ones you want to keep.

Well, I am sure many HDDGurus here are capable of doing this kind of recovery.

PS : This thread makes me thinking about creating a thread list of DR specialist professionals who is also member of this forum, complete with their latest address and contact person. May be this will need permission from Master Dmitry.

Regards,
Jonathan

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That would be nice and all. However i do not require specialists from Ukraine, Cuba or even Arizona.
I need one located in Los Angeles so that i can visit in person. Pay in cash. And walk away like nothing ever happened
I hope i am not violating any forum rules by doing this. It's a quick buck for someone that knows what they are doing.

The only company/person i have been forwarded to is located in Georgia, USA
His name is Scott Moulton, he is an expert in the field and if i cant find someone local in the next 72 hours. I will be forced to send it to him...

Please guys, if you know someone in CA, hit me up!

I thought the purpose of this forum was to exchange information, not advertise our services?

May be, in a way, we exchange information. I do not intend to make it as advertising thread.

it's just my humble opinion

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Hi Stuntfoto,

I recommend you try Data Master (www.data-master.com). One of their engineers, Dave Nago is extremely good. They are in Southern Cali.

Hope this helps.

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Data Recovery Ireland

thatdellguy is in Calif. and he will be able to help.

'Check your pm.

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www.datarecoveryne.com

Thanks to those that pm'ed and sent me addresses... Much better than mailing my drive out to georgia (ups proabably will damage it further)

I in no way would want to turn this forum/post/thread into any sort of advertising.
I was just asking for a recommendation from someone that has had a positive experience.

I am still open to any other suggestions that you may have.
My next question is a little bit of a stretch as well.
I understand that all hard drives have and always will ultimately have errors.

I am interested in a 2TB or 2 (1TB) Mini Dataserver or NAS systems.
After my incident cost just does not matter.

Does anyone have a recommendation for what drives to get.
I obviously am considering a raid1 loop. so that the data is mirrored.
I am looking for the most reliable. Most durable system you can think of. Price is not an issue but should also not be exaggerated.
The system should also have a considerable amount of encryption at least 128 bit algorithms. With password protected partitions/blocks

Thanks again, The HDDgurus truly are amazing. I look forward to taking Macro Photography pictures of the drive recovery process.
I will definately do my best to put in a good word/article for this forum on my blogs (all 14) and newsprints in the LA Times (both)

WDs are tough to recover, some DR companies even prefer to send WD drives to us for recovery
we can do that and we have lab in Santa Clara, CA


PS: if your models are adults you wouldn't have any problems with confidentiality with us or any other large DR companies
PPS: If you drive had software encryption that would double complexity of the recovery

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

Confidentiality is not an issue with serious professionals- when drive is repaired and data accessible again, usually imaging is an automated process. Also, a pro is a pro.

I am in the process of reviewing a bunch of solutions.

Easiest? Get a SATA RAID controller with two eSATA ports. Create a RAID 1 across them. That way you won't depend on any particular enclosure. You may want to RAID 1 your internal drives as well, since you'll have unused internal channels. I would recommend staying away from proprietary dual-drive units. Specifically, do not even consider Western Digital MyBook and Maxtor Onetouch III Turbo. If opening the unit to replace a drive voids its warranty, you don't want it.

If you need yet more space, as digital media workflow tends to produce, a larger array may be appropriate. You can use inexpensive SATA drives in them. Inexpensive RAID controllers are easiest obtained as part of a Dell server that's a few years old... They also make for excellent NAS boxes.

Another option is an enclosure with a SATA port multiplier and a RAID controller that supports them. Then again you can go with a network box, which is basically a dedicated computer, usually powered by Linux, with a hot swap cage.

I am writing a book on this subject (multi-tier backups for home users).

Be careful, dual-drive units tend to be setup for RAID 0, which you do not want.

Data recovery companies always have a confidentiality clause in the agreement for any work done.

Choose a data recovery company that can confidently repair the drive.
and restore your data again.