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Topic Starter Topic: Quake related data recovery issues.

The Afflicted
The Afflicted
Joined: 14 Oct 2001
Posts: 581
PostPosted: 12-10-2018 01:50 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Hi. Am hoping someone can help me out. Not been around for a while because real life has been a bit random. To top off a pretty shit year, my hard drive just died. Apparently the reader is dead. Of course, I’m not backed up, coz stupid. I’ve got 10 years of all my Quake stuff on that drive. Data recovery shops here in Singapore want somewhere between 250 to 500 Singapore dollars to recover data. So my question is, 1) is that reasonable and 2) is there a DIY method I can try first?
Thanks in advance guys.




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Trainee
Trainee
Joined: 17 Dec 2016
Posts: 28
PostPosted: 12-10-2018 03:50 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


I've had a lot of luck with this:-
https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

Depending on the issue/damage, this will either recover your files or you'll end up paying a LOT more than that and likely just get back corrupt junk for your money and time.




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I'm the dude!
I'm the dude!
Joined: 04 Feb 2002
Posts: 12498
PostPosted: 12-10-2018 07:08 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Quote:
Apparently the reader is dead.


Could you elaborate on what this means? Is the drive head dead?

If you have some bad sectors, deleted data, lost partitions, file allocation tables, or other software base error, you can give R-Studio a try. Install it on a different drive or different computer, mount the bad drive and see if it can recover data. Scan takes a long time.

If the drive is physically dead (no power, drive head defective, does not spin up, etc.) then it'll be a much more expensive process and has to go to a specialist. Ballpark you're looking at $1500-$2000 U.S. Your usual local shops will not be able to deal with something like a hardware recovery.



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The Afflicted
The Afflicted
Joined: 14 Oct 2001
Posts: 581
PostPosted: 12-10-2018 08:29 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Thanks for replying.
By reader I meant the read/write head. Sorry, I’m not a hardware person.
I’ve watched a lot of videos about opening the drive and resetting a stuck head, but as a very non expert that seems like a recipe for disaster.
The drive does show up, but apparently can’t be read. I’ll try the software you guys recommended and take it from there.




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I'm the dude!
I'm the dude!
Joined: 04 Feb 2002
Posts: 12498
PostPosted: 12-11-2018 07:42 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Yeah, don’t open a drive - they are hermetically sealed. The gap between the drive platters and read head are measured in microns and the tinyest bit of dust will guarantee a drive failure. If you see the video I linked above, you’ll see that they have to open up a drive in a special clean room to service it.

If the drive mounts then it’s probably not the drive head. Probably a corrupt allocation table, software recovery is possible.

(Data recoveries are part of my profession)



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The Afflicted
The Afflicted
Joined: 14 Oct 2001
Posts: 581
PostPosted: 12-11-2018 08:42 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Thanks for the advice. It’s been a rough year, and the worst possible time of year. If it’s not possible to recover my data myself, I’ll wait until the new year and engage a professional to do it for me.




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