Hard drive failure/recover data

[bhbuckeye]

Hi,

I have a hard drive--WD 320GB IDE--that failed on me... Seems to try to spin up, makes a clicking sound, but won't read.
It was a slave--I've already tried isolating it in an external USB enclosure...no luck

I had a bunch of video files on it that would be a pain to get back... (yeah, I know, I should have backed it up--but I kept putting it off

So, I'm thinking of sending it off to one of those recovery places$$$

Can anybody recommend one who's fair? And of course Good?

Thanks,
bhb

[Number Six]

The clicking noise is a very bad sign. Reliable data recovery services are extremely expensive - hundreds to thousands of dollars - due to the fact that they have to remove the disk platters from your drive and install them into another unit to access the data - this has to be done in a certified clean room.

Good Luck.

[bhbuckeye]

Hi

Thanks for the reply...

I already know about the "clean room thing"...

Has anybody out there actually had any experience with any of these recovery services, and can you recommend anyone?

Thanks

bhb

[handyguy]

That noise is the head slamming into the platen.

Some people get the same HD & then swap parts.

[Toastie]

I once used a service called Drive Savers who successfully recovered data off a bad drive for me:

http://www.drivesaversdatarecovery.com/

Cost was $3400 - but that was for a 1.5 Tb drive. I suspect that the price is less for smaller drives.

My drive was making LOUD clicking noises, but all the data was recovered. It was a mechanical failure, but the platters were not getting scratched up. Clicking often - but not always - means platters are being damaged.

If platters are being scraped, they can only do so much and many files will be corrupted. If your avi files are large, ts possible that many/most of them are damaged and no good to you any more at all???

I think those places charge a couple hundred minimum to look at it??

[jagabo]

Most of the drive manufacturers have data recovery services.
http://support.wdc.com/recovery/index.asp?wdc_lang=en

[Po|arbeaR]

Have you tried any recovery of the drive yourself?

[mh2360]

There's always the old freezer trick, whether or not this actually works I couldn't say, but as long as you dont get the hard drive wet, then it couldn't hurt to try...

[TBoneit]

We used Ontrack