I have a seagate Go that I dropped, and has a failed heads/motor.
It's currently with a vendor, who wants 230£ for a 70% chance of being able to replace the heads/motor and then another 100 to do the data recovery.

(Fields Data Recovery)

I've had another quote from Nationwide DAta Recovery, who charge a flat 249.99 regardless of the issue.

And I've got a quote from ontrack for 70 to evaluate, then anywhere from 499-999 for recovery, depending on what's wrong.

Does anyone have any feedback on these companies, or can suggest a reputable one ?

You get what you pay for IMO. I can't see how some guys are only charging £230/250 for such a recovery.

There are some reputable guys on this forum who may be able to help you, but I'd expect to be paying closer to £500+ for a professional to do this work right.

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Data Recovery Ireland

The Ontrack quote is honest.

PM this guy

pcimage

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Databusters Data Recovery Glasgow
http://www.datarecovery.co.uk/latest-data-recovery-jobs/

Just a short note to follow up on this.
Following my post on this, and another forum, I received a call from Fields the following morning.
Better yet, I have an email. Basically, they refused to further process my case, as a result of my exercising my rights as a consumer to research and ensure I am making the correct decision.

The ultimate amusement is, on the basis of some advice from another vendor, we had decided to move ahead with Fields anyway.



It's kind of amusing, because the day before, they had, or could get the parts, or at least gave the impression that they could.

ultimately - I received the drive back today, and will now be sending it to another vendor.


My main point here is,

If you have sent your drive to fields, or any of the companies that may be associated with it, don't post about it online. Apparently they have an entire team, whose sole job is trawling internet forums for posts about them.

You do realise whichever vender you send it to you will part with money regardless if you get data back or not as they have probably already opened the drive or even attempted to fix it already. No company will try to recover that drive on a no data no fee basis.

So 230 upfront and then a further 100? Where is the carrot and the stick incentive for them to actually try to recover it?

Fields took no money from you, explained that parts are needed to continue with the work, contacted you wen they realize you have concerns and offer you free return postage of your media.

Whether they could have recovered the data, or even honor the quote, we will never know. But seems to me like they were giving a relatively good service and under-charging you for the work...

Spaz is right also, chances are the HDD was opened and now you have to accept that there will likely be extra diagnosis fees at an alternative firm.

usually when we lack parts we find them , not decline the job.
Sounds like an assasination of Franz Ferdinand to me =)
Oh and only Ontracks quote looked legit to me...

PS PCimage indeed has a good track record on this forum.

Looks like they wanted money up front to cover parts and OP didnt pay it.

No Recovery No Fee companies do this so not to make a loss.

I have no experience with Fields, Ontrack or PCImage but I guess they would all need good donor parts, maybe this difference is in how this is dealt with.

$230 and $100 for physical clean room repair? Either is a great deal or too good to be true but am 100% sure this recovery will cost at least $500 anywhere you go from here.

FYI check the currency units used in the first post & the location of the OP - its not USD...

Disklabs forum seems to have a lot posts relating to Fields but as I have not used them it is here say.

Loki

GBP / USD.... does it really make a whole lot of difference?

FYI the principle remains the same...

I'm considering asking for payment upon quote approval and will refund the money if the project is unrecoverable. We've been burned too many times by clients who say, "yes," then they change their mind after we've spend $300 in parts and two weeks imaging a very unhealthy drive. So, this way, they have something to lose if they suddenly change their minds.

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Luke
Recovery Force Data Recovery

I guess the problem is finding the balance between giving a good honest service and taking money to cover cost of parts and labor.

Ask for money upfront and suddenly the customer is dubious.

Dont ask for money upfront and the customer changing their minds after you buy in good donor parts.

I guess this is what the £70 evaluation fee is for that Ontrack charge...

@hddhelp:

That difference means it gets a whole lot closer to the price (in USD) that you say you're expecting it to be ($500), so I'd say yes, it's makes a difference Just trying to point out that your guess about price is lots closer than you said, just due to the currency difference - that's all.

No wonder (it doesn't take an entire team, one man that eventually has some time is sufficient)

But as a matter of fact in any case it is not possible to loose time and parts giving free diagnose to every incoming drive , unless you have clear symptoms and foolproof diagnose in 1 minute AND your business (charity ?) is supported by public funding .