My Hard Disk

[timebomb]

Hi, folks,

I sent my hard disk to a recovery centre and the experts there gave me this reply -

Laboratory Report
Media: Maxtor
Model: D740X-6L

I must unfortunately advise that despite our best efforts we are unable to salvage any functional contiguous data from your hard disk drive.

The drive has suffered the following problems/failure:

1. Classic head crash wherein one search head has come in contact with (crashed into) the drive's platter stripping the Angstrom coating from its surface and destroying all data in those locations.

2. Media corruption wherein debris from the original contact has migrated throughout the media destroying virtually a majority of the logical file structures, rendering the data unrecoverable.

The experts can't do it but I'm hoping one of you can. The more I think about what's inside that hard disk, the greater I feel the loss. I have many pictures inside, most of which were taken over a period of several months and it would hell to do it all over again.

If you think you can help me recover the data, I will be most happy to compensate you for your efforts. Please let me know if you like to try. The hard disk is still under guarantee and if I decide to give it up, the company will give me another one for free but that would mean giving up hope on ever recovering the data inside. I don't want to give up hope until I know for sure there's no more hope.

Loh K L

[RonWill]

The experts can't do it but I'm hoping one of you can. The more I think about what's inside that hard disk, the greater I feel the loss. I have many pictures inside, most of which were taken over a period of several months and it would hell to do it all over again.

Kwek Leong, I'm not saying that it is true but sometimes 'experts' take the easy way out. They are 'paid employees' and have a different perception to the value of the data.

IIRC, there was a shop in Sim Lim Square who does data recovery but a thousand apologies for not remember which unit it is. Have you checked with mac_user to see if he knows anyone?

A Google returned these hits, some of which looks promising.

I feel your pain... ouch ouch!!

[Heather]

Loh,

If it wouldn't cost an arm and a leg to get the hard drive here, there's a wonderful computer repair guy who lives right down the road from me. He can fix almost anything.

I agree with Ron, the "experts" usually take the easy way out and I would definitely get a second opinion.

Good luck!
Heather

[stormhawk]

Kwek Leong, i had the same problem a few years back when my PC crashed after it was hit by the Chernobyl virus. in fact i pretty much lost ALL my information... most of which were precious to me. the repairman at the company said they had to reformat the HD as part of the process so i guess i just agreed to what they said.

well one fine day when i was at a training school, my classmate told me that replacing a bios chip was all that i needed to do to deal with the virus without reformatting my HD. and that was pretty much a blow to me as i agreed to the repairs just because i wanted my PC back fast. nowadays, i'd go for a 2nd opinion before i do anything, just to reassure myself that i'm not doing the same mistake again.

i think there's a shop down at Sim Lim that does data recovery. u should go down personally and ask around, especially those small shops in the back alleys. these shops are practically hidden gems. i got a cheap PC fan for my DIY cooling fans at one of these shops which specialises in stripping old PC's for their parts.

[sard]

i had the same problem a few years back when my PC crashed after it was hit by the Chernobyl virus

stormhawk, for your case, data recover is not a problem.
Mr Low, if it is exactly what the expert said,

1. Classic head crash wherein one search head has come in contact with (crashed into) the drive's platter stripping the Angstrom coating from its surface and destroying all data in those locations.

You have no hope.
However, I can't be sure what kind of lab test did the "expert" carried out.
if you don't mind, tell us what exactly happen and what you did to your HDD and where you send the HDD for repair, some may be able to advice.

[timebomb]

You have no hope.
However, I can't be sure what kind of lab test did the "expert" carried out.
if you don't mind, tell us what exactly happen and what you did to your HDD and where you send the HDD for repair, some may be able to advice.

Terry,

I didn't do anything to the hard disk. All of a sudden, it just crashed. My PC was already booted up and I was surfing around on this forum. I left the computer to fiddle with my fish tanks when suddenly there was a funny noise, something like a ringing sound. My daughter said it was coming from my CPU but I didn't believe her. Until I took a look and the monitor was blank and there was a message that said something like "Cannot detect system".

Anyway, thanks for all the advice, everyone. I'm going to give the hard disk to Lily's son who's confident that he can recover the data. Although the data inside my hard disk is dear to me, it's not life and death. So I have to admit I would rather surrender the hard disk and get a new one if recovering the data involves paying hundreds of dollars.

Loh K L

[timebomb]

Oh, I forgot to answer Terry's other question.

The recovery centre I sent my hard disk to was recommended by Maxtor. I don't want to name them because it will really make them look bad if Lily's son can recover the data when they cannot. But they are a company that specialise in data recovery. I must say they are pretty fair though because they didn't charge me anything. Their policy is they won't charge anything if they can't recover the data.

Loh K L

[imported_lily]

Hey Mr Loh,

I hate to say this but just don’t put too much hope on my son, If the experts are unable to accomplish the task, I am not very optimistic about this recovery too. Together with his friend, they will try their best to recover your data and hopefully they wont let you down.