Data Recovery from "dead" Laptop HD (IBM DJSA-220)

[Stereodude]

Anyone have any tips/suggestions on which Data Recovery place to use. It needs to be a fairly quick turn around. Free Estimate would also be good. Finally, not charging an arm and a leg would be ideal.

This is from my co-workers Dell notebook, it just goes click, click, click when power is applied.

 

[Tea]

I think you will find that it is expensive, SD. Very expensve. We just sent a ustomer's laptop drive to a data recovery firm and it cost roughly $1200 (about $550 US). And the problem was not too severe. No click-click. No point in telling you who, they are in Oz.

 

[Stereodude]

I think you will find that it is expensive, SD. Very expensve. We just sent a customer's laptop drive to a data recovery firm and it cost roughly $1200 (about $550 US). And the problem was not too severe. No click-click. No point in telling you who, they are in Oz.

Yes, but when it's the work PC and the data is valuable the company will pay.

 

[Tea]

Strange thing is, they (my customers) have just spent $200 to buy this clapped-out notebook a new battery, $1500-odd for the data recovery, and $200-odd for a new hard drive, all without a murmer. But they are balking at the idea of spending $2500 for a new notebook (which happens to have a CD burner included) - which is so clearly what they need.

If they had spent the $2500 when I first suggested it a couple of months ago .....

 

[The JoJo]

Would the oxymoron "smart customer" fit in there T?

 

[Tea]

Yeah. The battery and data recovery money is sunk, but for the price of the new hard drive they could be 10% ahead on the new notebook.

Shrug

 

[Buck]

Tea, have you ever tried using your special tool on the customer?

 

[Tea]

Naah. He's a nice guy. Remember that amazing corroded hard drive I passed around pictures of? The one I had to get out of the case with a hack saw? Same company. We got another one of those the other day: a clone, this one, ran till it was 90% rust, then stopped.

"Can you fix it?"

"Yep", we said, reaching for a spare Pentium 120 system. Swapped out the original hard drive (2.1GB Western Digital) and the two specialised machinery control ISA cards, combined them with our existing P-120, wrote out invoice.

As repaired, it works like a charm.

Seeing as performance is a complete non-issue, and it's going straight back to the mine where it will be exposed to hydrocloric acid fumes once again, I guess we will see it come back in a fw more years. Unless the ISA cards corrode into uselessness, of course. They are the only bit we can't replace.

 

[Buck]

Wow, the tape seal on that WD drive actually held up in that environment?

 

[blakerwry]

can't they protect the computer in some way from that? maybe putting it in a box with an air filter/pruifier for ventilation....

heh, sounds like a funny situation...

 

[Tea]

Not worth a box, Blakewry. Just throw away the computer every 5 years. They have done some work to improve the atmosphere in the room, however. Apart from anything else, people have to work in there.

And the tape seal, Buck, is doing just fine. The aluminium drive casing is pitted and dulled, but the seal looked fine. Something in the chemistry, I guess.

 

[blakerwry]

wonder if you could put the drive itself in a case... like one of those silencer deals.. the thing might protect the drive from the terribe atmosphere... but like you said.. there are alot of ther things in the PC to die out.. including the necessary ISA cards...

 

[Buck]

wonder if you could put the drive itself in a case... like one of those silencer deals.. the thing might protect the drive from the terribe atmosphere... but like you said.. there are alot of ther things in the PC to die out.. including the necessary ISA cards...

The chassis and top plate are two of the most resilient items in that computer case; actually they’re more durable then the case itself. I was more worried about the adhesive used on the tape seal for those drives -- especially on the side where the servo data is written from. But, my worries have turned to awe.

 

[Stereodude]

Well... for what it's worth it cost us $775 to get the data back. Apparently the 20gig laptop drive is so "popular" with them it has its own special.

 

[Buck]

Well... for what it's worth it cost us $775 to get the data back. Apparently the 20gig laptop drive is so "popular" with them it has its own special.

Who did you use SD?

 

[Stereodude]

Who did you use SD?

dtidata.com