Sounds like a potential customer with a thousand and one questions, and a very tight budget lol.

Not potential... "I need a car...-get thousands of depliants and quotes- a Ferrari! -get some more info, magazines... - well, even a Mercedes suits well - do thousand trips to see, more googling... - Oh, come on, a Toyota is a car too and much cheaper - more asking for quotes and more internet search - HAD ENOUGH! I'LL WALK.

Ok, piece by piece I assembled the puzzle!

If I've well understood, here you all think that recovery companies suck; so the advice is: ask a guru of the forum, else take it up the ass, search on Google... and good luck!

My advice is you should make the things clear, be explicit!

I sent a PM to "luck", but "luck" didn't answer!

Sorry, but:

1) Still, I don't get if you work for a company, if you have a company, better, what you do and if you can help me
2) You told me you don't work with "end users"
3) Then, you asked me how much I'd be prepared to spend; usually, it's the vendor who makes the price, then the customer decides if to accept or not, or they can make an agreement

Is your data important? So far all you seem to do is question everything, doubt everyone, and struggle to understand the complexity of data recovery.

1) Do you think BlackST would have the knowledge he does as a hobby? Obviously he works for a DR company.
2) Some larger companies dont deal with end users, but with contracted companies and affiliate programs. To have this type of work consistently you would need to achieve good success and customer service.
3) As you have come through the forum, is it so difficult to believe that BlackST would do you a favour, as a sign of good faith? You will not get many opportunities to haggle with price, and this is likely to be the best opportunity you will get.

On another note, the particular disk failure you have is proving to be difficult even to established and competant DR firms, hence it will likely be expensive. Stop questioning everything and take it for granted that people here do know what they are talking about.

UGH. I never said any such thing. What I'm saying is, your problem is YOU must think recovery companies suck, and that you will be screwed no matter what you do. If so, you're already a bit screwed, aren't you? I'd spell out some simple 'Advice for Dummies', but I'm sure you'd be determined to twist it into something completely different. Do you know why I'm here? It's to help. Some people cannot be helped, and some, in the attempt of helping themselves, make things much worse for themselves. I'm not your shrink, so I'll just wish you the best.

Just curious (it's evident I can't help you) : HOW MUCH WAS the amount you could afford , maximum ? Be honest. No PMs. No one will blame or ashame you for the answer. If don't want, just say "NO I DON'T WANT TO".
The fact I didn't answer your PM is only because I was VERY BUSY as usual, and didn't have time for making pointless quotes - BTW, it is impossible to evaluate anything without having seen the drive. I would have made an exception if you didn't question everything, from clearly stating your available budget to the worries about someone handling your data, professionality and everything else - and probably have offered you an "HDDGURU SPECIAL DISCOUNT", but the entire mood was a real turnoff to me, so I gave up. Sometimes only one word is sufficient, cowboy style.

P.S. Dmitry, after Mr. Wolf will give a reasonable answer, should this thread be closed and locked FOREVER ?

AZZZZ! Now it's my turn: where you infered from I think recovery companies suck?

Let me summarize:
I started writing here because first I wanted to know more or less what could have happened to my hard disk;
so, knewing there's nothing I can do, I'd have no other choice than sending it to a recovery company;
it'd be the first time I'd turn to them: so, I wanted to know other user's experiences with them, maybe an advice about what company choose, and in special way what they can do for me

I think that's all!

Again? You first tell me why you are so curious. As I said, usually is the vendor who makes the price, and the customer decides if to accept, make an agreement, or... look for another vendor

You have the time to answer here, but you have no time to answer my PM?

What's wrong about questioning?
If you must undergo an operation (touching the balls), you don't want to know what you have and what will happen you by the doctor?

Sorry, but how can I trust you if you don't give me any information about you???

Vabbè fatti fare un pò di preventivi e ne riparliamo.
Ok, get quotations and call back.

Mr. Wolf,

Bearing failures are fairly common with this Seagate model. The symptom is that the drive will not spin, but it will try. You should rule out a bad logic board before opening the drive (and I DO NOT recommend that YOU open the drive).

I have had success freeing up bearings on 250 GB and 300 GB drives and recovering the data, but never on a 500 GB. The best -- and I think the only practical solution for this problem -- is to move the heads and the platters to another enclosure with a good motor.

This is very difficult to do for two main reasons:

1. If you move one platter relative to the others even a very small amount, you can kiss the data ciao.

2. These Seagates have dampening barriers between the platters, which as far as I know, must be extracted along with the platters.

Doing these things successfully is a big challenge, and is beyond many recovery companies. I would recommend only firms with a proven track record with this problem, and none of them are "budget" companies.

Capiche?

Jon

_________________
http://www.datasaversllc.com

The truth: this is kind of 1500/2000 $ dr, likely 1500/1800 eur + vat.
Reality: want to spend no more than 50-150 eur all included.
Scenario: usually this situation will lead to go to dr company that claim this and that and blah blah blah on the web, usually 'no recover no fee' ... And the drive, if comes back, is classified 'unrecoverable'. Usually FOREVER. Have anyone see this movie yet?

I've done at least a dozen of these 500Gb models, with only one failure so far. And 10's of the 250/320Gb variants (easier!)

Some recover with near 100% success, some 90-95%, depends on how they've failed (dropped or just failed).

PM me if you're serious about the recovery.

Sean

_________________
PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

New!! HDD-PCB.COM for all your PCB and donor HDD requirements!

Sean, he wants a LOOOOOOOOW price. Your record tracks are words (despite the fact I trust you 100% ), it's not the point.

Psssttttttttt! Stop wasting time guys, we love people with common sense.

psstttttt....anyone want to argue with me I'll lock him up just like Amarbir.

Thanks, your was quite an answer! And actually it was what I didn't want to hear... in short: if it's so, I'm screwed

Yep, I tried to change the pcb... but nothing, and I'm not gonna open it

So, this particular model would be complicated to dismantle and repair?
And you also say that not all the recovery companies would be able to do the job?

Btw, if it is a common problem to these models... fucking Seagate!

Well, he ain't gonna get a LOOOOOOOOOW price (in fact he's not asked yet) as it's a bitch of a job. But it would be very reasonable and a fraction of what Seagate/i360 would charge!

If anyone needs one of these Seagate's doing, and doubts my abilities, references may be available. In fact I may even post some on our website, after obtaining permission of course!

Done another two 500Gbs today, both 99.9% recovered.

Sean

_________________
PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

New!! HDD-PCB.COM for all your PCB and donor HDD requirements!