Hi All,

I just swapped out a hard drive in my XPS 410 (new WD TB - Black). The old hard drive is a WD 640 GB and was damage however still able to “spin” it. I took it to a computer guy and he said that he can get the data off of it and then copy it to my external HD and I can then toggle back and forth between the external and Windows 7 to copy my data. However he wanted to charge me $250.00 for a total of 35GB of data. He mentioned that it will be in a file folder structure once we gets it onto the external which is fine. What can I do to get the data myself and save me $250?

Thanks,
CUBE

You could try mounting the drive with a usb enclosure...but seriously......is saving 250 bucks worth risking the loss of your data? I wouldn't scratch my ass for 250 bucks, but maybe that's just me.

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Data Recovery Ireland

Also, if this is just a local computer guy who doesn't specialize in data recovery, he is probably just going to use a USB enclose as well to copy the data, which could be just as damaging. If you think there are issues with the drive and the data is important, you should seek a Data Recovery Pro.

Depending on the damage, I would use ddrescue to clone your drive. Then work on the clone.

Top 10 FREE Data Recovery Software:
http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/200 ... -software/

... and a few more:
http://community.wdc.com/t5/Desktop/WD2 ... 6201#M1008

^ That will be your safest DIY method ^

Not sure I would trust the IT guy to do this job for you. Here on the islands our IT guys are famous for running free software on a drive that is not backed up. Last week got in another one they destroyed. They decided to run some WD free utilities on this guys drive. They did not stop on one but ran 4 of them. Now driver ID's fine, no serial number, correct LBA, and correct heads. No module table and half the tracks are dead and gone. Original Plist and back up are both gone.

To IT shops free utilities look good but are they. This shop here has a good record of running them and all drives coming from there are either zero filled, SA total damage, and a lot of various other problems. Even one drive they managed to kill the heads on it. Proper to see what problem really is frist before running off and downloading a lot of free software and running it on your drive. If your heads are weak and ready to die proper tools can clone this drive and get back your data. Free utilities can make it worse if you try to run them.

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Iorana Haraharaini