Need *HELP* retrieving data off failed hard drive - source..

Joep <j o e p @ d i y d a t a r e c o v e r y . n l> wrote in message
news:cb979$3fd9cf95$3eddca68$11749@nf2.news-service.com...
 > "Stellijer" <howapropos.TakeThisOut@hotmail.nospam.com> wrote in message
 > news:AJiCb.4857$Ob4.3564@bignews2.bellsouth.net...
  > >
  > > I'd appreciate any discussion boards where some experts might hang out or
 > maybe
  > > some COMPREHENSIVE websites dedicated to this. So far I've found a lot of
  > > information but it's all pretty basic and none of it worked. The more
  > > information I can get, the better chance I have.
  > >
 >
 > Maybe see it like this: As there are no web sites with step by step
 > procedures for DIY heart transplants, there aren't websites encouraging
 > people to open up their disks and do head transplants. In the end performing
 > physical repairs on disks that contain important data is risky. Any website
 > suggesting that people should give it a go, by providing instructions are
 > playing with fire. It's probably the reason you don't find any.
 >
 > It seems there are 3 options open:
 >
 > - accept the dataloss
 > - sent disk to professional data recovery
 > - take a risk and start fiddling around yourself, and find that when it goes
 > wrong it's all your own fault, not any website stupid enough to suggest you
 > could do it yourself.


Thanks for the response.

As for the comparison to heart surgery; I'm hardly holding a person's LIFE in my
hands, just my hard drive! Thus if I botch it up, I'm actually no worse off
than when I started, just without the avenue of going to a professional, which
is not cost effective anyway. It's also not quite as daunting as heart surgery


I would hope there would be SOME information on this. It would be rather
arrogant for people with such knowledge to assume no one but them could possibly
put it to use. It's not like sharing information is tantamount to a
recommendation to try it. Heck - I can go to the library and get a book on the
manufacturing of dynamite; it doesn't mean by publishing such information it's
expected we will try it.

It would truly be a shame if those were the only 3 options, considering the
information is obviously out there, somewhere.

It's not THAT difficult a task, depending on what's wrong. The only thing which
makes it risky is a lack of good information. Maybe I'll get lucky and find
some hard disk experts here in this newsgroup.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Need *HELP* retrieving data off failed hard drive - source.. 

If the data is really important, I'd call up Ontrack data recovery and get
a price quote.


"Stellijer" <howapropos.TakeThisOut@hotmail.nospam.com> wrote in
news:AJiCb.4857$Ob4.3564@bignews2.bellsouth.net:

 > Anyone know of any great web sites or discussions boards for reviving
 > hard drives which have failed fir data retrieval?
 >
 > I have two hard drives which failed within 2 weeks of each other
 > before backups could be made of certain data. I'd like to research
 > the best ways to recover the data.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Need *HELP* retrieving data off failed hard drive - source.. 

Mr. Grinch <grinch RemoveThis @hatespam.yucky> wrote in message
news:Xns944F817F4E341grinchhatespamyucksh@24.71.223.159...
 > If the data is really important, I'd call up Ontrack data recovery and get
 > a price quote.


It has some personal value but I checked with a couple data recovery services;
they're WAY too expensive for this kind of data. They start at over $500 and
only go UP from there (usually $1000 a drive). Unless I win the lottery, I will
NOT use one of them.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Need *HELP* retrieving data off failed hard drive - source.. 

On Fri, 12 Dec 2003 15:27:54 -0500, "Stellijer"
<howapropos.DeleteThis@hotmail.nospam.com> wrote:

 >It has some personal value but I checked with a couple data recovery services;
 >they're WAY too expensive for this kind of data. They start at over $500 and
 >only go UP from there (usually $1000 a drive). Unless I win the lottery, I will
 >NOT use one of them.

Also it is not really known what the companies can do, compared to the
price of an evaluation. An example. It is in Danish, but it should be
possible from the videos to figure out why I would see some evidence
that the disk platter read machine works, before I will believe it:

<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.ing.dk/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030926/IT/109260062" target="_blank">http://www.ing.dk/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030926/IT/109260062</a>

--
Svend Olaf<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Need *HELP* retrieving data off failed hard drive - source.. 

"Stellijer" <howapropos DeleteThis @hotmail.nospam.com> wrote in message
news:DwpCb.143$qq.50@bignews1.bellsouth.net...
 >
 > Thanks for the response.
 >
 > As for the comparison to heart surgery; I'm hardly holding a person's LIFE
in my
 > hands, just my hard drive! Thus if I botch it up, I'm actually no worse
off
 > than when I started, just without the avenue of going to a professional,
which
 > is not cost effective anyway. It's also not quite as daunting as heart
surgery
 >

In your case it may not be, however in other cases where important, vital
data is at stake, people may be tempted to try if such information was
available.

It's maybe a bit more like the DIY TV shows, where they show you how they
completely replace an entire kitchen. They take 15 minutes for that. In a
small country like Holland, per year 20 people die, and 30000 are
hospitalized because of performing 'simple' DIY jobs in their houses.
Besides that, many people will find while DIY-ing things are a tad more
difficult than they expected and waste money and have to hire a professional
to undo the damage they did themselves.

 >
 > I would hope there would be SOME information on this. It would be rather
 > arrogant for people with such knowledge to assume no one but them could
possibly
 > put it to use. It's not like sharing information is tantamount to a
 > recommendation to try it.

This I dare to question.

 > Heck - I can go to the library and get a book on the
 > manufacturing of dynamite; it doesn't mean by publishing such information
it's
 > expected we will try it.
 >
 > It would truly be a shame if those were the only 3 options, considering
the
 > information is obviously out there, somewhere.
 >

Sure, it's there probably.

 > It's not THAT difficult a task, depending on what's wrong.

Indeed.

 > The only thing which
 > makes it risky is a lack of good information.

What I tried to illustrate is that depite information it's still risky.

--
Joep<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Need *HELP* retrieving data off failed hard drive - source.. 

"Svend Olaf Mikkelsen" <svolaf.RemoveThis@inet.uni2.dk> wrote in message
news:3fdc3182.27118621@dtext.news.tele.dk...
 >
 > Also it is not really known what the companies can do, compared to the
 > price of an evaluation. An example. It is in Danish, but it should be
 > possible from the videos to figure out why I would see some evidence
 > that the disk platter read machine works, before I will believe it:
 >
<font color=purple> > <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.ing.dk/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030926/IT/109260062</font" target="_blank">http://www.ing.dk/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030926/IT/109260062</font</a>>
 >

Well, there are of course good ones and bad ones. 2 experiences I had with
'well established' data recovery companies:

1. 20 Gb harddisk, to recover all data several 1000 US Dollars would be
charged. The diagnostic 'report' the user received was the piped output of
the fdisk/status command. We found out that the only damage was corrupt
partition table, the disk was partitioned in one big FAT32 partition, it
took a few minutes to repair.

2. RAID 0 array suddenly showed up as 2 seperate disk and the array setup
wanted to re-innit the array. It warned that by doing so data on the disks
would be lost. User decided to try anyway, and indeed, the entire array
appeared as one unpartitioned disk. Both disks were sent to a data recovery
firm which concluded there was physical damage. What damage that would be
was not specified, cost of recovery: $6000 USD. User then consulted us and
decided to take the drives back. We could find no proof of physical damage,
re-inntiting the array took a fraction of a second so we knew data still had
to be there. It took after some examination about 20 minutes to gain access
to the data.

On the other hand, I know a Dutch data recovery firm, and I know they work
with expensive and in the house developed equipment to work with physical
damaged disks. I also know that they deploy advanced techniques to puzzle
back data that goes beyond what commercial data recovery tools can recover,
per case utilities are developed and coded if needed. Noting can beat the
trained and experienced human eye. I think you yourself are a nice
illustration of that as well (meant as a compliment), it's your choice to
help people without charging them, however some deploy their knowledge to
make a living.

--
Regards,
Joep<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Need *HELP* retrieving data off failed hard drive - source.. 

On Fri, 12 Dec 2003 07:45:52 -0500, "Stellijer"
<howapropos.DeleteThis@hotmail.nospam.com> wrote:

 >The first drive is a 40GB Western Digital, 2-1/2 years old. It's been used a
 >lot in the past couple years. Last weekend it quit spinning up. I'd like to
 >get it to spin up JUST ONCE to get the data off. Right now, you can often feel
 >the drive 'jerking' in an attempt to start. Just a little vibration here and
 >there, sometimes hard enough to feel the drive try to rotate in your hand. I've
 >tried twisting the drive as fast as I could by hand to get the platters to spin.
 >While this caused more 'jerking', it didn't spin up. I tapped it as hard as I
 >dared without wanting to cause damage. I put it in the freezer for a while in a
 >static bag without change. Naturally I've tried different power connectors and
 >a different power supply. It behaves the same whether the drive is hooked up to
 >a contoller or just to a power supply alone. I just need ONE good spin-up.

On Fri, 12 Dec 2003 15:27:54 -0500, "Stellijer"
<howapropos.DeleteThis@hotmail.nospam.com> wrote:

 >It has some personal value but I checked with a couple data recovery services;
 >they're WAY too expensive for this kind of data. They start at over $500 and
 >only go UP from there (usually $1000 a drive). Unless I win the lottery, I will
 >NOT use one of them.

I cannot help much in that matter, but:

Do you have the software and another disk ready to copy the disk
sector by sector in the case you can access it? And keep track of how
far the copying is done, for the case that it is interrupted.

If I had a disk, which could not spin, I guess I would try heat in a
working computer before the freezer. Next step would be to open a
similar disk and get some experience about dust and things like that.

It would be kind of fun to try that.
--
Svend Olaf<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Need *HELP* retrieving data off failed hard drive - source.. 

Joep <j o e p @ d i y d a t a r e c o v e r y . n l> wrote in message
news:3be8b$3fda3b44$3eddca68$16528@nf2.news-service.com...
 > "Stellijer" <howapropos.DeleteThis@hotmail.nospam.com> wrote in message
 > news:DwpCb.143$qq.50@bignews1.bellsouth.net...
  > >
  > > Thanks for the response.
  > >
  > > As for the comparison to heart surgery; I'm hardly holding a person's LIFE
 > in my
  > > hands, just my hard drive! Thus if I botch it up, I'm actually no worse
 > off
  > > than when I started, just without the avenue of going to a professional,
 > which
  > > is not cost effective anyway. It's also not quite as daunting as heart
 > surgery
  > >
 >
 > In your case it may not be, however in other cases where important, vital
 > data is at stake, people may be tempted to try if such information was
 > available.
 >
 > It's maybe a bit more like the DIY TV shows, where they show you how they
 > completely replace an entire kitchen. They take 15 minutes for that. In a
 > small country like Holland, per year 20 people die, and 30000 are
 > hospitalized because of performing 'simple' DIY jobs in their houses.
 > Besides that, many people will find while DIY-ing things are a tad more
 > difficult than they expected and waste money and have to hire a professional
 > to undo the damage they did themselves.
 >
  > >
  > > I would hope there would be SOME information on this. It would be rather
  > > arrogant for people with such knowledge to assume no one but them could
 > possibly
  > > put it to use. It's not like sharing information is tantamount to a
  > > recommendation to try it.
 >
 > This I dare to question.
 >
  > > Heck - I can go to the library and get a book on the
  > > manufacturing of dynamite; it doesn't mean by publishing such information
 > it's
  > > expected we will try it.
  > >
  > > It would truly be a shame if those were the only 3 options, considering
 > the
  > > information is obviously out there, somewhere.
  > >
 >
 > Sure, it's there probably.
 >
  > > It's not THAT difficult a task, depending on what's wrong.
 >
 > Indeed.
 >
  > > The only thing which
  > > makes it risky is a lack of good information.
 >
 > What I tried to illustrate is that depite information it's still risky.


Yes; and I understand what you're saying about not advertising information in
terms of "yes, YOU can do hard drive repair yourself despite not being able to
rewire a light switch! Just follow our 12-step program....".

Personally, I understand the risks all too well, hence my desire to LEARN as
much as possible before digging in. I just have been finding it difficult to
come across real, technical information which would make it a REASONABLE risk.
Just digging in without proper knowledge is a fool's errand, given the
sensitivity of these components to various corruptions.

Personally, I know I *WILL* eventually gather enough information to try to
somehow retrieve the data (or I could, potentially, strike it rich in the
meantime but I'm not counting on that) with only a reasonable risk. Until then,
I'm willing to just keep the drives on my shelf until I know enough to proceed
safely.

Now, the only difficulty at the moment is FINDING this elusive data or someone
familiar enough with these drives to be able to elucidate me a modicum....<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Need *HELP* retrieving data off failed hard drive - source.. 

Joep <j o e p @ d i y d a t a r e c o v e r y . n l> wrote in message
news:d900$3fda3cb7$3eddca68$16964@nf2.news-service.com...
 > "Svend Olaf Mikkelsen" <svolaf.TakeThisOut@inet.uni2.dk> wrote in message
 > news:3fdc3182.27118621@dtext.news.tele.dk...
  > >
  > > Also it is not really known what the companies can do, compared to the
  > > price of an evaluation. An example. It is in Danish, but it should be
  > > possible from the videos to figure out why I would see some evidence
  > > that the disk platter read machine works, before I will believe it:
  > >
<font color=green>  > > <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.ing.dk/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030926/IT/109260062</font" target="_blank">http://www.ing.dk/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030926/IT/109260062</font</a>>
  > >
 >
 > Well, there are of course good ones and bad ones. 2 experiences I had with
 > 'well established' data recovery companies:
 >
 > 1. 20 Gb harddisk, to recover all data several 1000 US Dollars would be
 > charged. The diagnostic 'report' the user received was the piped output of
 > the fdisk/status command. We found out that the only damage was corrupt
 > partition table, the disk was partitioned in one big FAT32 partition, it
 > took a few minutes to repair.
 >
 > 2. RAID 0 array suddenly showed up as 2 seperate disk and the array setup
 > wanted to re-innit the array. It warned that by doing so data on the disks
 > would be lost. User decided to try anyway, and indeed, the entire array
 > appeared as one unpartitioned disk. Both disks were sent to a data recovery
 > firm which concluded there was physical damage. What damage that would be
 > was not specified, cost of recovery: $6000 USD. User then consulted us and
 > decided to take the drives back. We could find no proof of physical damage,
 > re-inntiting the array took a fraction of a second so we knew data still had
 > to be there. It took after some examination about 20 minutes to gain access
 > to the data.
 >
 > On the other hand, I know a Dutch data recovery firm, and I know they work
 > with expensive and in the house developed equipment to work with physical
 > damaged disks. I also know that they deploy advanced techniques to puzzle
 > back data that goes beyond what commercial data recovery tools can recover,
 > per case utilities are developed and coded if needed. Noting can beat the
 > trained and experienced human eye. I think you yourself are a nice
 > illustration of that as well (meant as a compliment), it's your choice to
 > help people without charging them, however some deploy their knowledge to
 > make a living.


As you pointed out, some of these data recovery houses charge an obscene fee for
potentially an easy fix. The scenario is one of people with expensive data on
drives who are caught in desperate situations. It's like an auto mechanic;
sometimes you get an honest fix for a fair fee. Sometimes that desperation is
exploited.

As for "deploying knowledge", that's the POINT of such forums as this! People
spend their time here to learn as well as to advise. The people who withhold
information simply because they feel they could use that knowledge to make money
in some circumstances are the ones whom potential clients should avoid. If that
was the prevailing attitude, no one would ever know how to change a spark plug
or rewire a batroom on their own.

There's a difference between asking someone to walk you through the specifics of
an operation, step by step, and simply asking some advice such as "what are the
most likely causes of these symptoms"?<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Need *HELP* retrieving data off failed hard drive - source.. 

Svend Olaf Mikkelsen <svolaf DeleteThis @inet.uni2.dk> wrote in message
news:3fdc53a6.35859842@dtext.news.tele.dk...

 > I cannot help much in that matter, but:
 >
 > Do you have the software and another disk ready to copy the disk
 > sector by sector in the case you can access it? And keep track of how
 > far the copying is done, for the case that it is interrupted.

Yes, I'm all set with that in the case I can access the drive and the data is
not recognizable. Nonetheless, I'm not expecting the data to be damaged unless
a lot more went wrong, physically, with the drive than I expect at the moment.
In THAT 'worst case', however, the prospects are rather dismal of getting much
of anything anyway.



 > If I had a disk, which could not spin, I guess I would try heat in a
 > working computer before the freezer. Next step would be to open a
 > similar disk and get some experience about dust and things like that.

I tried heat (to a limited degree) as well as cold. And yes, I also dissected a
similar dead drive (not exactly the same but similar and by the same mfr) to get
some knowledge about how they work and the 'feel' of the components.


 > It would be kind of fun to try that.

I will find it more amusing once my data is safe and backed up <!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Need *HELP* retrieving data off failed hard drive - source.. 

Joep <j o e p @ d i y d a t a r e c o v e r y . n l> wrote in message
news:3be8b$3fda3b44$3eddca68$16528@nf2.news-service.com...
 > Stellijer <howapropos RemoveThis @hotmail.nospam.com> wrote

  >> As for the comparison to heart surgery; I'm hardly
  >> holding a person's LIFE in my hands, just my hard
  >> drive! Thus if I botch it up, I'm actually no worse off
  >> than when I started, just without the avenue of going
  >> to a professional, which is not cost effective anyway.
  >> It's also not quite as daunting as heart surgery

 > In your case it may not be, however in other cases
 > where important, vital data is at stake, people may
 > be tempted to try if such information was available.

Yes, but that can be adequately dealt with by sufficient warnings.

Its never going to be viable to attempt to censor any
information that can result in an undesirable outcome now.

That hasnt been feasible ever since the invention of the printing press.

 > It's maybe a bit more like the DIY TV shows,

Yep, a much more sensible analogy. Or a DIY web site, anyway.

 > where they show you how they completely replace
 > an entire kitchen. They take 15 minutes for that.

And you are welcome to use the alternatives like books and magazines
and other sources that can provide a more comprehensive coverage.

 > In a small country like Holland, per year 20 people die, and 30000 are
 > hospitalized because of performing 'simple' DIY jobs in their houses.

So ? Likely just as many end up with that result when gardening
too. Makes absolutely no sense to be telling people that they
should always employ professional gardeners instead.

The only thing that makes any sense
is to point out where the dangers are.

True in spades with sports, far more than 20 a year die
when playing sport or getting exercise, 30K hospitalised too.

 > Besides that, many people will find while DIY-ing things are
 > a tad more difficult than they expected and waste money and
 > have to hire a professional to undo the damage they did themselves.

And plenty do a very decent job too.

And some build their entire house from scratch, including me.

Plenty build light aircraft and boats too.

Plenty do their own car maintenance too.

  >> I would hope there would be SOME information on this.
  >> It would be rather arrogant for people with such knowledge
  >> to assume no one but them could possibly put it to use. It's not
  >> like sharing information is tantamount to a recommendation to try it.

 > This I dare to question.

Doesnt change a thing.

  >> Heck - I can go to the library and get a book on
  >> the manufacturing of dynamite; it doesn't mean by
  >> publishing such information it's expected we will try it.

He does have a point.

  >> It would truly be a shame if those were the only 3 options,
  >> considering the information is obviously out there, somewhere.

 > Sure, it's there probably.

  >> It's not THAT difficult a task, depending on what's wrong.

 > Indeed.

  >> The only thing which makes it risky is a lack of good information.

 > What I tried to illustrate is that depite information it's still risky.

Sure, but in some situations, most obviously where the
cost of pro data recovery isnt going to be paid, its better
to try the obvious approaches than do nothing at all.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Need *HELP* retrieving data off failed hard drive - source.. 

Rod Speed <rod_speed.TakeThisOut@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:brdjcr$28thi$1@ID-69072.news.uni-berlin.de...
 >
 > Joep <j o e p @ d i y d a t a r e c o v e r y . n l> wrote in message
 > news:3be8b$3fda3b44$3eddca68$16528@nf2.news-service.com...
  > > Stellijer <howapropos.TakeThisOut@hotmail.nospam.com> wrote
 >
   > >> As for the comparison to heart surgery; I'm hardly
   > >> holding a person's LIFE in my hands, just my hard
   > >> drive! Thus if I botch it up, I'm actually no worse off
   > >> than when I started, just without the avenue of going
   > >> to a professional, which is not cost effective anyway.
   > >> It's also not quite as daunting as heart surgery
 >
  > > In your case it may not be, however in other cases
  > > where important, vital data is at stake, people may
  > > be tempted to try if such information was available.
 >
 > Yes, but that can be adequately dealt with by sufficient warnings.
 >
 > Its never going to be viable to attempt to censor any
 > information that can result in an undesirable outcome now.
 >
 > That hasnt been feasible ever since the invention of the printing press.
 >
  > > It's maybe a bit more like the DIY TV shows,
 >
 > Yep, a much more sensible analogy. Or a DIY web site, anyway.
 >
  > > where they show you how they completely replace
  > > an entire kitchen. They take 15 minutes for that.
 >
 > And you are welcome to use the alternatives like books and magazines
 > and other sources that can provide a more comprehensive coverage.
 >
  > > In a small country like Holland, per year 20 people die, and 30000 are
  > > hospitalized because of performing 'simple' DIY jobs in their houses.
 >
 > So ? Likely just as many end up with that result when gardening
 > too. Makes absolutely no sense to be telling people that they
 > should always employ professional gardeners instead.
 >
 > The only thing that makes any sense
 > is to point out where the dangers are.
 >
 > True in spades with sports, far more than 20 a year die
 > when playing sport or getting exercise, 30K hospitalised too.
 >
  > > Besides that, many people will find while DIY-ing things are
  > > a tad more difficult than they expected and waste money and
  > > have to hire a professional to undo the damage they did themselves.
 >
 > And plenty do a very decent job too.
 >
 > And some build their entire house from scratch, including me.
 >
 > Plenty build light aircraft and boats too.
 >
 > Plenty do their own car maintenance too.
 >
   > >> I would hope there would be SOME information on this.
   > >> It would be rather arrogant for people with such knowledge
   > >> to assume no one but them could possibly put it to use. It's not
   > >> like sharing information is tantamount to a recommendation to try it.
 >
  > > This I dare to question.
 >
 > Doesnt change a thing.
 >
   > >> Heck - I can go to the library and get a book on
   > >> the manufacturing of dynamite; it doesn't mean by
   > >> publishing such information it's expected we will try it.
 >
 > He does have a point.
 >
   > >> It would truly be a shame if those were the only 3 options,
   > >> considering the information is obviously out there, somewhere.
 >
  > > Sure, it's there probably.
 >
   > >> It's not THAT difficult a task, depending on what's wrong.
 >
  > > Indeed.
 >
   > >> The only thing which makes it risky is a lack of good information.
 >
  > > What I tried to illustrate is that depite information it's still risky.
 >
 > Sure, but in some situations, most obviously where the
 > cost of pro data recovery isnt going to be paid, its better
 > to try the obvious approaches than do nothing at all.


Thanks for the comments.

Yes, indeed, it's interesting to look at DIY projects. Personally, I've built
most everything in a house from pouring foundations to roofing, from hardwood
flooring to installing skylights. It's very true that not everyone is cut out
to do it. I just got lucky enough to have a nack for it.

Now... the big difference here is that I was always able to find books or people
to teach me how to pour concrete and frame a house; as well as what the dangers
and cautions are. I only wish the same was true for the hard drive scenario.

Bottom line - you're right. The point is that for this data, there's no chance
I will pay $1000+ to a company to recover this data unless I win the lottery or
my penny stocks become another Amazon or Yahoo. So, it only makes sense to
attempt some data recovery. I have all the faith in the world that with the
proper knowledge and information, I would have a decent shot IF it could be done
outside of a $1000 recovery job at all. Since I am not prepared to pay $1000+
for the data, I'm not really risking all that much.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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"Rod Speed" <rod_speed RemoveThis @yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:brdjcr$28thi$1@ID-69072.news.uni-berlin.de...
[Snip]

You make good points Rod! Surely shifted my opinion. Maybe I was a little
too much influenced by my own experiences: I have seen so many times, that
despite all sorts of warnings people did stupid things. But you are right,
in the end it was their choice to ignore warnings.

--
Kind regards,
Joep
 >> Stay informed about: Need *HELP* retrieving data off failed hard drive - source..