Too all the Computer Guru's

[B20badboy]

Awhile back my old comp crashed, axxess told me the hard drive was dead all of a sudden. Anyway I have alot of very important pictures on it and was wondering if there was any way to try to retrieve them and what cost would it be?

[bo0stedk2o]

is it like dead dead? does the computer screen turn on blank? bring it into a computer shop you might have a chance of retrieving your files...but if your hard drive makes a funny noise that means its crashed and your out of luck.

[w00dr0w]

Yeah it all depends if it's completely dead or not. If it's not you may be able to hook it up as a slave to your new hard drive and still see the file system in Windows. Jumper it to slave and connect it to the middle connector on the IDE cable.

[bo0stedk2o]

did they diagnose your computer and tell you its the hard drive? could be other hard ware issues

[LeonZ]

If it's really dead and HD is not spinning, you can take it to a hard drive recovery place but it's really expensive but success rate is very good. I would try seeing if you can read any data off this drive through Linux OS somewhere - it looks for data with more effort and I've recovered one hard drive like this in the past

[exciv2000]

OnTrack Recovery works great if the HDD is still working.

[B20badboy]

The comp quite working so I took it to axxess to have them look at it. I need the pics off there my first kid being born etc.. how much is very expensive?

[-=[Juztin]=-]

If it's really dead and HD is not spinning, you can take it to a hard drive recovery place but it's really expensive but success rate is very good. I would try seeing if you can read any data off this drive through Linux OS somewhere - it looks for data with more effort and I've recovered one hard drive like this in the past +1

[B20badboy]

were can I find that os system?

[Nightfall]

If it's really dead and HD is not spinning, you can take it to a hard drive recovery place but it's really expensive but success rate is very good. I would try seeing if you can read any data off this drive through Linux OS somewhere - it looks for data with more effort and I've recovered one hard drive like this in the past
+2

[Mark_H]

how much is very expensive?

Anywhere from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars. I used to work in the hard drive industry, check with http://www.actionfront.com/ they will see if any data is recoverable for free then quote you a price to recover whatever data you need.
HTH
Mark

[LeonZ]

were can I find that os system?

Find a friend that has one, everyone should have a friend with at least one Linux box in their home :D

[Ir0nMonk3y]

Try linux first. If you dont have it or know it, a friend who does is absolutely needed.

Unless their was a major fire and the platters are ash, you can recovery anything. The harder it is, the more expensive. If the drive just crashed, as in a head crash, or burnt electronics its easily recoverable. However, this is all done in a class 100 clean-room (an operating room in a hospital is only a class 10,000, to put it in perspective). I work in a class 100 clean room daily at work, and its no joke - and not cheap to run. A spec of dust left on one of your platters is like driving over a 12 inch speed bump at 500mph - so its hermetically sealed and must be taken apart in a clean-room. They can place the platters in a "bench" drive of sorts, and retrieve all your stuff and put it on a new hard disk for you.

Check this out - http://www.drivesavers.com/museum/index.html

Last time I checked, the cheapest quote I got from a drive recovery business was around 500.00 min. But the info is safe and easily recoverable as long as you dont open it up.