Laptops SOS: Retrieving Critical Data from Dead HDD

T

TheMask

Explorer
My friend's Toshiba laptop HDD died. Windows XP Prof wouldnt boot in normal or safe mode. I removed teh HDD from the laptop and put it in my external USB casing. the hdd gets detected but is painfully slow to read. after a few mins, the contents get displayed in Explorer. But most of the folders showing up are empty. all the files are missing. And after a few minutes, there is a "Error: Delayed write failed."

There is one folder with around 4GB of very critical data. that one folder alone contains data from the past 8 years, hence the criticality. Unfortunately for my friend, the back-up he had kept on the server was deleted a couple of months back during server migration. :(

So far we've tried recovery thru getbackdata but to no avail. I need some kinda of tool to recover the data. any professional help is also fine. Suggestions welcome.

TIA.

Edit:

Also, the drive kinda makes noise, otherwise not audible in other drives. so its more of hardware error/dying i guess.
 
Easy Recovery Professional has always helped with my data recovery.

IF the data is very crucial there are some companies that help u recover ur valuable data through there own special software suites donno how much they

charge.

Its always advisable to backup ur crucial data always.

I have lost close 100GB + Data due to my carelessness of not backing the data to optical media.

Also PM Eazy he can help u more.
 
Quad Master said:
Also PM Eazy he can help u more.
Click to expand...

No need.... :)

This is not something I can help you with as my idea of data recovery is to restore a backup image .... I make daily backup images and when I have a problem like this I RMA the HDD and restore a backup image to another HDD. Not very helpful to Masky in his current predicament but retreiving data from a dead or non-starting HDD is not something I know much about.

Check this page... How to fix a dead hard drive

As a last resort try freezing the HDD ... download this pdf file for how-to freeze HDD .... http://www.hddrecovery.com.au/downloads/200ways.pdf
 
yup..i read somwhere...that keep hdd in fridge most of the times help........it may b in that recovery technique...i guess that will allow to access for sometime..u can try that
 
maybe OT but any of you tried this ??

HDD Regenerator - the unique software program for regeneration of hard disk drives. The program eliminates physical damages (bad sectors) from hard disk drive surface. It does not hide bad sectors, it really restores them! ***How it works:
Almost 60 % of all damaged by bad sectors hard drives have incorrectly magnetized disk surface. Our researches have been fruitful and we have found algorithm which is special sequence of high and low level signals. These signals are generated by the software and they switch damaged surface. Even low level formatting is not able to handle this task!

***Main features of HDD Regenerator:
-Ability to detect physical bad sectors on a hard disk drive surface
-Ability to recover physical bad sectors (magnetic errors) on a hard disk surface
-Ability to create bootable regenerating diskette to start the regenerating process under DOS (the option is supported by Windows 95/98/ME/NT4/2000/XP/2003). The diskette can be used if you cannot start the regenerating process directly under Windows or if you cannot boot your computer to Windows (no operating system is installed on your computer or the operating system is damaged)
-Ability to start the regenerating process directly under Windows (the option is supported by Windows 95/98/ME)
Click to expand...
 
If the disk emits "khat-khat" sound while starting, or at disk access, there isn't any hope for a software recovery now. If the data is critical enough, your friend should consult specialists like from Stellar or Unistal.

My 17.2GB Seagate desktop disk died on me the same way, but it was a slow and painful death. That suffering of the disk provided me with enough time to take proper backups. It was 6 years and 2 months old at that time. *sob*
 
Unfortunately enough, my lappy's Toshiba 30 GB hdd also crashed a couple of days back. Some of the advise/help provided here might help me as well.

I was planning to replace the 30gb one with an 80 gigger and the darned thing crashed already. No imp data on it, the only reason i'm trying to revive it is so that I can use it in external casing. Otherwise I'll get a new 80 gb hdd anyway.

Regarding the recovery tools, basically all i've got is Hiren's Boot CD 8.3 ... each tool takes its own time to complete. Also used HDD Regenerator as mentioned by thexfactor but .... :(
 
masky,
if the heads of the hdd are in working condition then ask ur friend to get hold of another identical model hdd and just replace the pcb of the hdd. it may work long enough to atleast reclaim the critical data. the only drawback is the expense in procuring a similar model hdd.
if the heads are damaged, even then it is possible to retrieve the data by actually removing the platters from the hdd and transferring it to another hdd. ( a very specialised job, sterile room conditions a.k.a factory assembly line conditions.) this is the reason it costs a lot in retreiving data. the data recovery co's take advantage of the fact that "criticality" of the data is more imprtant to thier clients than a mere few thousand $$$

Freezing the hdd might help in retreiving the data but please note its good effects will not last more than 10 ~ 20 minutes (since as the drive components get warm / hot during its operation , it will start showing the same symtoms again) so retrieve whatever you can immediately without bothering to test or surf the hdd looking for folders etc ...( this presumes that the hdd "might" work after a deep freeze.)
 
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