I have a 4TB hard drive that has apparently failed at some point today.

Normally I guess it wouldn't be a big problem, except that this is my main data drive for my computer. ALL my data...Docs, Pics, Music, Movies, CAD, Games...ect....EVERYTHING from the last several years.

I have done backups but unfortunately it hasen't been for a while.

I found a local place but they start at $500 and go up from their.

Would anyone have any "cheaper" recomendations or anything that I could look into?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: PakRatJR,

What are the specs for your drive?

Form Factor? 2.5in, or 3.5 in.?
File structure? (FAT, NTFS, Linux extended, etc)?
Gigs per second transfer rate?
SCSI, SATA, IDE, or what interface?
Manufacturer? Model?
What is the nature of the failure? Any noises coming from the drive? Does it heat up to almost too hot to touch?
Does it even spin up when powered?
If the size is 4096MB, then you will have to provide a USB or other media to copy data too. That's even if a recovery is possible.

I know a guy on SIGforum that has done work on drives on the cheap for members only. He will want the above questions answered to assess the recovery potential.

H&K-Guy

Yes, the nature of the "failure" is paramount. If it is the electronics, i.e. the controller board screwed to the drive, data recovery should be relatively inexpensive, in the hundreds of dollars, similar if it is a motor or head malfunction. If it is a fault with the spinning media itself, add a zero, or two, or even three with no guarantee of recovery.

Even if you can get the bits off the drive, you're not home free. Most commercial data recovery places these days will make the recovered data available on a cloud server not neccesarily in a structured format (meaning no file names or folders). The job of making sense of it is the customer's. Think of it as a 2 billion piece jigsaw puzzle (assuming a full 4TB drive) with edges that don't obviously mate, and some pieces missing.

The drive is a 4TB Seagate 3.5in. Windows 8.1 non boot drive. Standard desktop drive. ST4000DX001

No noises. I had a couple power outages in the last couple days. Flickering on/off. Actually went out for a while yesterday.

I am fairly sure it was working yesterday after the outage and into last night. I don't know about this morning.

Right now the drive does not show in BIOS. I pulled it and put it in a external USB and it is not seen their eather. I can't tell if it is spinning or not.

The two places I have talked to so far have both said it "sounds" like it "should" be the board. One place does offer free evaluation and no charge if I say no.

Right now I am pretty much thinking I will just do it as their are quite a few things on it that I can't replace.

P-RAT,

You don't seem to have an email address in your profile. Email me at the email address in my profile and we can discuss a few things. I have some "thoughts" on the matter.

H&K-Guy

A few years ago my external hard drive failed, and it was the main repository of my data. I used a local agency who sent it off to some place in Ohio. They recovered all the data and put it on a new 1TB drive for a few hundred bucks.

flashguy

H&K-Guy thanks. Wierd, I thought I had my email set. Oh well, I did add it. And email on the way.

quote:

Originally posted by PakRatJR:
I have a 4TB hard drive that has apparently failed at some point today.

Normally I guess it wouldn't be a big problem, except that this is my main data drive for my computer. ALL my data...Docs, Pics, Music, Movies, CAD, Games...ect....EVERYTHING from the last several years.

I have done backups but unfortunately it hasen't been for a while.

I found a local place but they start at $500 and go up from their.

Would anyone have any "cheaper" recomendations or anything that I could look into?

A few years ago I had a client had their main company drive die with no backup.
He had to have the data and nothing I could do with my software.
I had to send it out to Ontrack for data recovery - price $2800 ... ouch!
If it is only a booting or partition issue I have been able to recover data but not when the whole drive dies (electronics).
They have to take it apart and reassemble in their lab to recover which is obviously pricey.
Now days it is a litte cheaper especially for SSD recovery but still unnecessary and expensive.
Live and learn.
Five bills to fix is a bargain.

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:


A few years ago I had a client had their main company drive die with no backup.
He had to have the data and nothing I could do with my software.
I had to send it out to Ontrack for data recovery - price $2800 ... ouch!
If it is only a booting or partition issue I have been able to recover data but not when the whole drive dies (electronics).
They have to take it apart and reassemble in their lab to recover which is obviously pricey.
Now days it is a litte cheaper especially for SSD recovery but still unnecessary and expensive.
Live and learn.
Five bills to fix is a bargain.

Yea, that is definitely a ouch price. If the drive were still functioning, I have been able to fix things myself occasionally as well, but with it not even being recognized, I am at a loss.

Some of the stuff on it, if it was lost...sucks but oh well I guess, but their is a lot of things that I have no way to get back that I can't really loose. If it ended up being the lower end of the repair price I guess I would be ok with it but getting up close to the $1000 or more....I really don't know.

Think about it this way...

You didn't pay for an online backup subscription for a bunch of years, or an array of hard drives to use as network attached storage. That's saved you hundreds of dollars in "insurance".

Spend the money you saved to recover your data (and buy a cheap hard drive and some automatic software to backup your files).

Put it in the freezer.

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:
Put it in the freezer.

Yeah, that is really a myth.

Just had my drive fail this morning.

3.5in HDD Seagate Barracuda 2000GB

Spins up, you can hear a few attempts from the arms (almost a buzz/beep) then it spins down and will not be recognized.
Not sure if it's electronics, or hardware? Either way it's not worth the price of a new comp for the recovery, but curious if any home solutions might even be an option?

$$$. smschulz mentioned ontrack. I have worked for companies that used them with good results but get your checkbook out.

Just got the call from the recovery place. The initial $700-$900 was a bit off sadly. Their is apparently a few more issues with the drive than was thought. Basically clean room work with new parts and whatnot. New estimate is closer to $2000.....8 to 10 days for repair amd recovery and will only estimate about 90% recovery. Crap!!!!

Update on this if anyone was curious.


%@#(&&@%$&^ GRRRR

Just got a call from the recovery place. Sad news. They were able to fix the hardware issue but their was also a corrupted firmware issue. It is something that is "normally" fixable...BUT...Seagate is apparently being a major SOB and will under no circumstances release their firmware for that particular model drive to anyone...proprietary or intellectual property or some crap... Basically my drive is unrecoverable "at this time" because of that.

I am able to get the drive back from them. I can eather pick it up or pay for the shipping for them to send it. I WILL be getting it back. No way I am just scrapping it.

Dammitall!!!

well that sucks to hear, sorry about your data.

quote:

Originally posted by FenderBender:
well that sucks to hear, sorry about your data.

Thanks. Yup it does. I am not giving up tho. I will be calling more places to see if something can be done elsewhere or if it is a "industry" issue.

I am doing what I can right now to try and rebuild whatever I can from some of my older drives but, the "important" stuff is unfortunately no longer on any of them and most of what is there is a few years old at best.

This really bites.

Can you send the drive to Seagate?

flashguy

if you really MUST have the data, these guys CAN get it.

https://drivesaversdatarecovery.com