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Recover laptop's hard drive?

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Jan001
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Recover laptop's hard drive?

#21282

Postby Jan001 » January 8th, 2017, 5:57 pm

The hard drive of my Asus laptop (3-4 years old) has, I think, failed.

Instead of starting up normally when I open the lid, it makes a clicking noise which a bit of googling tells me means that it can't read the hard drive. It hadn't had any bumps or anything, it was just sat on my desk - I closed it one night, and the next morning it wouldn't start up.

I've already treated myself to a new laptop so I'm not wanting to get the old one up and running again, but there are a few things on the hard drive that were added/updated since the last backup and I'm wondering how likely it is that they could be recovered? If it's a possibility, roughly how much is the recovery likely to cost, and where would be the best type of place to approach get it done? (Is PC World any good for this sort of thing?)

Thanks in advance,

Jan

supremetwo
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Re: Recover laptop's hard drive?

#21294

Postby supremetwo » January 8th, 2017, 6:22 pm

Best remove the hard drive and then plug it into a hard drive dock or adaptor cable, which will connect to your new machine via USB.

Or if you (or a savvy friend) has a desktop, plug the hard drive into that.

If you can get the drive to read at all, post back.

Doubt that PC World will have anything more-sophisticated - better a specialised recovery service.

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Re: Recover laptop's hard drive?

#21297

Postby Breelander » January 8th, 2017, 6:25 pm

Jan001 wrote:...it makes a clicking noise ... there are a few things on the hard drive that were added/updated since the last backup and I'm wondering how likely it is that they could be recovered? If it's a possibility, roughly how much is the recovery likely to cost...


Almost anything can be recovered, but the cost may be prohibitive if it's a hardware failure inside the drive...

A faulty actuator arm or more serious mechanical error is characterize by an abnormal clicking noise or a grinding noise... Your best option is to send the drive to a hardware data recovery service.

Hardware data recovery can be expensive because technicians may need to disassemble your hard drive to recover the data...
http://www.recovermyfiles.com/data-reco ... niques.php

If you seriously need the data recovered, then Google finds a number of services such as this one (not a recommendation, just the first 'hit' in Google) http://www.hard-drive-data-recovery.co.uk/data-recovery

At least you had the foresight to make backups...

Jan001
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Re: Recover laptop's hard drive?

#21313

Postby Jan001 » January 8th, 2017, 7:18 pm

Thanks supremetwo and Bree.

Not something I'd attempt myself and I don't know of anyone who would have a go for me.

I looked at the first one on Bree's google search link and I was able to get a (rough) quote online... £195... Hmmm, just have to decide whether it's worth it! I had already done a bit of googling and some places say they can do it for £30, but I'd wonder how trustworthy they are for that price.

Do you think I'd be ok if I look for a local firm that advertises 'data recovery' that I can take the laptop to? I'd prefer to do that than sending it by post/courier.

Jan

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Re: Recover laptop's hard drive?

#21328

Postby Breelander » January 8th, 2017, 8:35 pm

Jan001 wrote:... able to get a (rough) quote online... £195 ... Do you think I'd be ok if I look for a local firm that advertises 'data recovery' that I can take the laptop to? I'd prefer to do that than sending it by post/courier.


If you took up that quote (or another similar one) you'd only need to send them the hard disk drive (HDD). Most laptops are designed for easy removal/replacement of the drive. Usually you just undo a couple of screws to remove a panel, the HDD can then be unplugged. The HDD is probably in a mounting frame, that too can be removed from the HDD with a couple more screws (you'll need to keep this frame anyway if you want to fit a replacement drive). The bare drive would be all you'd need to send away for recovery.

Only you know how valuable the data is to you, and how much you are prepared to pay to get it back. You now have a good idea of the potential work involved in recovery. Bear in mind that you're only going to get the one shot at this, a failed attempt at recovery may make it impossible to 'try again', especially if the drive has been opened up.

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Re: Recover laptop's hard drive?

#21341

Postby quelquod » January 8th, 2017, 9:41 pm

Breelander wrote:Almost anything can be recovered

An interesting comment.
Many (very many) years ago when I worked in a secure environment, the only permissible way to dispose of a disk which had contained classified information was to take it to an approved site where the platter was milled to dust. Made recovery difficult.

Jan001
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Re: Recover laptop's hard drive?

#21385

Postby Jan001 » January 9th, 2017, 1:35 am

Breelander wrote: Bear in mind that you're only going to get the one shot at this, a failed attempt at recovery may make it impossible to 'try again', especially if the drive has been opened up.


Hi Bree,

Yes that's why I wouldn't attempt it myself or ask a well-intentioned but inexpert friend to have a go, and also why I'm being a bit hesitant about which outfit to pick to see if they can recover anything. At least some of them say they don't charge if they're not able to recover any files (hopefully that's a sign of being a reputable "company" - I do wonder if some of these places are just one geeky teenager working from their bedroom) but I am aware that I may only have one shot at it.

Thanks again.

Jan

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Re: Recover laptop's hard drive?

#21413

Postby Dorn1 » January 9th, 2017, 8:21 am

I've found that some will start if given a "gentle" mechanical shock, ie. just knock on the case as if gently knocking on a door. But once started, Disk Image or some such is needed to keep it running a drag the data off.
CD

UncleEbenezer
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Re: Recover laptop's hard drive?

#21464

Postby UncleEbenezer » January 9th, 2017, 11:25 am

Jan001 wrote:Instead of starting up normally when I open the lid, it makes a clicking noise which a bit of googling tells me means that it can't read the hard drive. It hadn't had any bumps or anything, it was just sat on my desk - I closed it one night, and the next morning it wouldn't start up.

OK, first question: did you try booting into recovery mode? If that's possible, you (or a friend who's confident with such things) should find it straightforward to recover data to a USB stick (or floppies, if it's an older laptop). I did a somewhat similar job for a friend only yesterday: I had no idea of what I'd find, but just followed my nose through Lenovo's recovery options.

If that fails, you'd need a genuine recovery service.
quelquod wrote:
Breelander wrote:Almost anything can be recovered

An interesting comment.
Many (very many) years ago when I worked in a secure environment, the only permissible way to dispose of a disk which had contained classified information was to take it to an approved site where the platter was milled to dust. Made recovery difficult.

That's an entirely different scenario.

If you use a utility which overwrites your data as it deletes them, then they can't be recovered. Physically destroying the disc is protecting against someone finding traces that might, for example, have been cached to disc by a tool such as an editor (a secure editor avoids that kind of thing). Appropriate to the most secure and high-value of data.

Recovering data that were never meant to be secure just depends on the data and the medium being intact. In this case it's the medium that's at issue.

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Re: Recover laptop's hard drive?

#21479

Postby swill453 » January 9th, 2017, 11:53 am

Jan001 wrote:The hard drive of my Asus laptop (3-4 years old) has, I think, failed.

Instead of starting up normally when I open the lid, it makes a clicking noise which a bit of googling tells me means that it can't read the hard drive. It hadn't had any bumps or anything, it was just sat on my desk - I closed it one night, and the next morning it wouldn't start up.

If it was a hard disk failure, I'd expect more reaction than that. An error message from the BIOS at least.

Does the screen show anything at all when you power it on? (Don't close and open the lid, use the power switch.)

Scott.

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Re: Recover laptop's hard drive?

#21743

Postby Jan001 » January 10th, 2017, 2:32 am

swill453 wrote:Does the screen show anything at all when you power it on? (Don't close and open the lid, use the power switch.)

Scott.


It was just a black screen but after about a minute of the clicking noise it did display the words 'Attempting Auto Recovery' or something similar for a minute or so, but nothing happened and the message disappeared. The clicking continued for 8-10 minutes and then stopped, but nothing else appeared on the screen.

Jan

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Re: Recover laptop's hard drive?

#21745

Postby Jan001 » January 10th, 2017, 2:47 am

UncleEbenezer wrote:OK, first question: did you try booting into recovery mode?


No I didn't. Press and hold F8 while it's starting up, right? Is that something that would work if it can't physically read the disk at all? I'll try it if you think it might work but otherwise I'm loathe to keep starting it up (I've already tried maybe three or four times in the hope that it might have got better on its own!) in case the disk is getting more damaged and less recoverable each time.

Jan

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Re: Recover laptop's hard drive?

#21746

Postby Jan001 » January 10th, 2017, 2:52 am

Jan001 wrote:
swill453 wrote:Does the screen show anything at all when you power it on? (Don't close and open the lid, use the power switch.)

Scott.


It was just a black screen but after about a minute of the clicking noise it did display the words 'Attempting Auto Recovery' or something similar for a minute or so, but nothing happened and the message disappeared. The clicking continued for 8-10 minutes and then stopped, but nothing else appeared on the screen.


Actually, I think the message was probably 'Attempting Auto Repair' rather than 'Recovery'.

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Re: Recover laptop's hard drive?

#21751

Postby UncleEbenezer » January 10th, 2017, 6:17 am

Jan001 wrote:
UncleEbenezer wrote:OK, first question: did you try booting into recovery mode?


No I didn't. Press and hold F8 while it's starting up, right?

Probably. It's different on different computers, though it's usually some function key.

If the disc is too broken then of course it won't work. I should think the risk of making things worse than they already are is low, but I can't be certain. I think someone already suggested booting from a USB stick to see if you can access the disc at all (or, equivalently, mounting the disc in an external drive to another computer). If you're reluctant to try any of those options then you're into specialist territory where I can't help (but other suggestions in this thread may be worth pursuing).

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Re: Recover laptop's hard drive?

#21774

Postby jfgw » January 10th, 2017, 8:26 am

If the hard drive clicks and it has important data on it, stop immediately and send it to a specialist. A recovery mode or other software solution will not fix a mechanical fault. Even if repeated attempts do not damage the data, if the heads become damaged, you will have a bigger recovery bill.
If the value of the data does not justify the cost of professional recovery, try the risky DIY methods such as giving the drive a sharp tap or lifting the lid to free the heads.

Julian F. G. W.

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Re: Recover laptop's hard drive?

#23177

Postby chas49 » January 15th, 2017, 9:14 am

Jan001 wrote:At least some of them say they don't charge if they're not able to recover any files (hopefully that's a sign of being a reputable "company"


But no guarantee they'll recover the files you need. If they recover any file, you pay.

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Re: Recover laptop's hard drive?

#23206

Postby UncleEbenezer » January 15th, 2017, 10:40 am

chas49 wrote:But no guarantee they'll recover the files you need. If they recover any file, you pay.

I wouldn't assume any such policy to apply universally.

Good wheeze though: "we recovered your WIN.INI, here's the bill".

(n.b. WIN.INI is just something that sounds likely: I don't have a windows machine to check whether it really exists and is universal on windoze boxes).

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Re: Recover laptop's hard drive?

#23219

Postby chas49 » January 15th, 2017, 11:50 am

UncleEbenezer wrote:
chas49 wrote:But no guarantee they'll recover the files you need. If they recover any file, you pay.

I wouldn't assume any such policy to apply universally.

Good wheeze though: "we recovered your WIN.INI, here's the bill".

(n.b. WIN.INI is just something that sounds likely: I don't have a windows machine to check whether it really exists and is universal on windoze boxes).

Yes - I didn't really mean it would definitely apply universally, but just to point out that it wouldn't be a guarantee that the files the OP actually wanted would be recovered :)

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Re: Recover laptop's hard drive?

#23226

Postby didds » January 15th, 2017, 12:02 pm

chas49 wrote:
But no guarantee they'll recover the files you need. If they recover any file, you pay.


This ^^


And IME such companies charge by the size of the DRIVE not how much they recover.

So if you have a 1TB disk but only a single file on it 10 MB big, you pay for 1TB recovery.

didds


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