I had decided to give Data Savers a try and have been waiting for after the weekend to give them a call. They would be perfect except for two things.
1. They don't have a no data no fee policy -- they do have a free examination and quote. 100$ if they do work but can't salvage data.
2. Open Drive Fee - $100. (I'd love to open the drive up and take photos, but the place I was willing to try will charge $100 for this)
Quote:
It is optimal and improves chances of recovery if we receive your drive in its “as failed” state. The sealed metal case of a hard drive should never be opened outside of a cleanroom. If your drive has been previously opened by another data recovery company it must have the lab’s cleanroom sticker to avoid the open drive charge. If it has been opened outside of a certified cleanroom, this makes the recovery process more challenging. Data Savers LLC will assess a $100 Open Drive Fee in addition to our regular flat rate fees. This fee will be collected before we begin to work on the failed drive. If the drive has simply been removed from a plastic external drive case the fee does not apply.
If it is a SSD, I heard it is more okay to open the case, so I'm not sure what to think about this. I'll bring it up when I call.
In the midst of this, someone was very kind enough to do some research on my drive and discovered it might not be supported by the PC3000. Which means I need to consider this when deciding which DR to choose since it seems most data recovery companies rely on the PC3000. It seems to me, at this point, its about finding a DR which can salvage the data without using a PC3000. This means the original DR company I chose may not be able to help out and I need to continue my search.
While this likely narrows done the number of companies that can salvage in this case, it complicates things as I need to contact each of them and find out if they can take it on. This brings me bake to Drivesavers, again. It seems they support LITEON drives and when I called LITEON, they recommended them.
https://www.drivesaversdatarecovery.com ... customers/It sounds like salvaging the data in my case might get complicated and a unique solution is required. Despite this, is there still a good chance I can save the data and that it won't cost so much
Most importantly, whichever DR I choose, in the process of salvaging the data, what risk is there that in the process, the data will be corrupted or rendered inaccessible in the process? At the very least, if a company can not salvage the data, I need to be sure I can always give another company a try.
Also, when speaking with ACE labs, I mentioned that the controller is likely a Marvel and said I hope they will support it in the future. Then he gave the reply I quoted earlier. So, the chipset is a different piece of information I need to bring up and doesn't have to do with it being a Marvel controller?