Affordable Data Recovery Services

[dreadman]

Hey everyone.

Just needed some advice on data recovery.
Had a 1TB Seagate hard drive that I was using in an external enclosure. Functioned perfectly up till last night when doing some cleaning, I pulled down the enclosure and it fell pretty hard on the desk. Now it makes a clicking sound, isn't recognised in the enclosure neither when directly connected to the motherboard.

Of course you know why I am posting here. This was my entire media collection with no backup. Shame on me I know. I guess I would be satisfied if I could just recover my pictures. They are the culmination of over 6 years of family activities.

So let me know some of the services that you have used and the average prices if possible.
Thanks

 

[Nocturnal]

Well with a 1TB drive it's going to be pretty costly anywhere you go. You can try Gillware which have been really good to us so far but once you hit a certain drive size it gets to be costly regardless of who does the data recovery.

 

[dreadman]

Doesn't look good I guess.
I got a quote from I365 which is a Seagate's recovery service for US$1600 which is over $10000 in my local currency.
What about if I only need to recover pictures? You think that will make a difference in the end cost?

 

[RebateMonger]

Data recovery folks usually charge the same no matter how much data is on the drive. They just recover everything they can get. Other than taking more bench time, it costs them the same whether recovering one file or a million files.

 

[dreadman]

I guess it's up to me to determine whether 1TB or 6 years of pics and other media is worth $10000.
Any experience with the more reknowned recovery companies?

 

[jimhsu]

If you think your data is worth something between 0$ and 10000+$, you could always try the freezer trick, or something else. Otherwise, you do expect to pay that much for data recovery. Hopefully, that's an expensive lesson to always keep a backup at hand.

 

[Gillbot]

i've never seen the terms Affordable and Data Recovery used in the same sentence, ever.

 

[jimhsu]

And this is why almost no one bothers to recover data of sentimental value w/ a commercial service. Generally if you use one of these services, you have a very good idea of how much your data is worth, to the penny (client contact info, tax records in case of audits, x man-hours * wage worth of research, etc)

 

[RebateMonger]

And this is why almost no one bothers to recover data of sentimental value w/ a commercial service. Generally if you use one of these services, you have a very good idea of how much your data is worth, to the penny (client contact info, tax records in case of audits, x man-hours * wage worth of research, etc)

I've never had a client choose to recover from a disk with physical damage, except for a business client where they lost their RAID 5 array containing the last six months of accounting data.

It's SO much easier and cheaper to recover from backups.

 

[dreadman]

Time to make new memories.
Thx for the replies.

 

[jvroig]

Ouch, I was hoping for a better ending to this thread.

OP, I know you are pretty much resigned to just making new memories, but if ever you do get a solution that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, perhaps you can post it here.

I haven't suffered from the same problem, and I obsessively back-up my stuff (although, I don't have anywhere near 1TB of data), but I recognize that a cheap recovery (if possible) would be a life-saver even if just one point in a lifetime.

 

[Blain]

Doesn't look good I guess.
I got a quote from I365 which is a Seagate's recovery service for US$1600 which is over $10000 in my local currency.
What about if I only need to recover pictures? You think that will make a difference in the end cost?

Take a look at My Hard Drive Died

 

[dreadman]

jvroig a cheap one time recovery would be helpful but I guess a disastrous situation should happen only once.
After that your mind forces you to backup when you remember the pictures with your grandma who has since passed on.
With your current backup plans, hopefully you won't need it. Also look at the link Blain posted.

Thanks for the link Blain.

Almost half price and seems to be legit.
The classes are also maybe a worthwhile investment because I don't believe there is anyone providing this service in my country at the moment.

Have you used this?

 

[Blain]

I haven't used the service.
Scott Moulton teaches the data recovery and forensics classes and has been featured on numerous podcasts.