Data Recovery Service Recommendations?

[ElectroPulse]

Hello, all!

A non-techy friend of mine has asked me for some recommendations of what to do about his failed hard drive. He mentioned that the data is very important to him, so he is willing to send it to a professional data recovery company.

I've looked around online, and the highest-profile ones I've seen are Ontrack and DriveSavers, but have read that there are others that are better (and that DriveSavers is overpriced). I also ran across one of those top-ten sites rating "Secure Data Recovery" (http://www.securedatarecovery.com/) as the best one, but I am a bit wary of those top-ten sites at times. What companies are considered by those in-the-know to be the best?

Also any ideas of a range of what it could cost? Based on what I was reading about DriveSavers, people were saying $800-2,200, but some people were saying they were overpriced so I'm not sure how much it would cost from other companies.

It's a WD My Passport Ultra 2TB HDD. He said he was using it when he dropped it, so I don't know whether the head crashed, or if it was able to park (I'm not familiar enough with hard drive safety features). He says that when he plugs it in, it spins up and starts clicking. After a few seconds, it spins down and stops clicking.

Thanks!
ElectroPulse

[labtech]

If recoverable, expect a quote on the high end range as it will likely a difficult recovery.

[warnerr]

there are several great companies on this site. pm sent

[Dmitri]

It's a WD My Passport Ultra 2TB HDD. He said he was using it when he dropped it

If your friend is very lucky, then it could happen that only heads are dead. In this case you can expect a cost of a few hundreds.
We have a very similar recovery right now, also 2 TB external WD, also dropped, but height was very low. Generally you shouldn't count on this.

If platters are damaged, then as labtech said, recovery cannot be a bargain due to the complexity and time required. I'd also suggest to avoid places, who say that recovery will be cheap anyway. They are likely taking such jobs just "to try" and have no plans to actually handle platter damage.

I also ran across one of those top-ten sites rating "Secure Data Recovery" as the best one, but I am a bit wary of those top-ten sites at times.
...
Based on what I was reading about DriveSavers, people were saying $800-2,200

You indeed have likely been reading "Top 10 advertising budgets" chart.

First of all, there's a number of companies from the US/CA on this forum, who spend less on promotion.

Secondly, if you're looking to save and it's OK for you to ship internationally, we'll be happy to help and offer the same level of data recovery services. Please check your PM.

[ElectroPulse]

Thank you all for the replies!

I don't believe that he would be comfortable sending it outside the US, so will be looking for US-based companies.

[data-medics]

In cases like that we here in RI charge a flat recovery charge of $650 plus the cost of parts. If you can provide me a picture of the HDD label (inside of the outer plastic shell) I can get you a specific on the parts cost.