RE: Data restore services - worth it ?

["White, Peter" <peter.white@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sent again since I didn't see it appear yesterday....

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From: White, Peter=20
Sent: 28 July 2006 14:13
To: 'ukha_d@xxxxxxx'
Subject: RE: [ukha_d] Data restore services - worth it ?


Unlucky.
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We refer a lot of customer to the data recovery specialists, but you're
right, the costs are often =A3500+.  On the upside, they do tend to recover
the HD more often than not.
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If there are 2 drives inside, and there's still no noise from the enclosure
with the new PSU, I would think that strongly suggests that something on
th=
e
internal power track or control board has failed, as opposed to the HD's
themselves.  It's almost impossible that 2 drives would fail at the same
time, unless you've had a severe power-spike.
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My first step would be to contact Lacie again, tell them the external PSU
didn't work, and you need a new enclosure, as you feel something on the
internal control boards have failed.  Whether they'll entertain this idea
o=
r
not I don't know.
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Failing that, you've probably got as far as you can with Lacie, so you've
nothing to loose from breaking the seal.  Most of the recovery firms use
th=
e
same tools (until you get to the really tough stuff, i.e. data recovery
after a format, multiple deletes etc), so there's really no need to go to
a=
n
'approved' agent, as it doesn't give you anything apart from a bigger bill.
It's a pain that the data is striped, though it could still be worth
plugging one of the drives into an IDE cable to see if it spins up.
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If they spin up, then buying a new enclosure and swapping the disks out
would probably be the least painful way to fix things.  The firmware threat
may be true, but to be honest unlikely; Lacie use various HD manufactures
depending on the price they get, so although the firmware might be newer,
I'd still expect it to work, unless they're using some sort of proprietary
striping technique that's tied into the firmware.  You might even find one
on eBay that's a similar age.
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If all else fails then find a recovery agent, but if you're reasonably
competent handling hardware then I'd try and fix it first. Good luck.
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Pete
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From: noughtomate [mailto:balraj_jassal@xxxxxxx]=20
Sent: 28 July 2006 12:57
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: [ukha_d] Data restore services - worth it ?



Hi,

My 500GB external Lacie d2 drive has died on me (triple interface=20
connectivity)

I had a back up of the data which is also corrupt, so restoring is=20
not an option to me.

Basically, the drive refuses to power up. I'm still within my=20
Warranty period and have received a replacement external power=20
supply, but this has had no effect. This leads me to beleive there's=20
a fault with the actual enclosure.

To me this implies that there's a fault with the disks or the=20
controller within the enclosure.=20

I have 3 options to restore my data :=20
a) Physically open the enclosure myself (which invalidates the=20
warranty) and manually try to mount the disks in a seperate=20
enclosure myself
b) Use Lacie's approved professinal data restoration companies.=20
I've had quotes ranging between =A3495 to =A3995!
c) Seek a non Lacie approved professional restoration company,=20
which is cheaper (which invalidates the warranty)

I wouldn't mind opening the disk enclosure up myself, however I=20
think the 500GB logical drive is made up of 2 x 250GB physical=20
drives, so the data is likely to be striped across both. This would=20
mean that restoring the data myself would not be straight forward.

I had thought about buying a cheaper version of the Enclosure and=20
moving the disks from the faulty one to the new one, but according=20
to the restoration company, there are firmware issues that I need to=20
take into account. I'm not sure if they're feeding me BS.

I own another 500GB Lacie disk which I bought more recently, but=20
it's enclosure size is smaller which leads me to beleive it contains=20
one physical disk rather than the two on my faulty drive.

Could anyone advise what the best possible option is ?
If it costs money for a professional service- fine, but I'd like to=20
hear your opinions of such services.=20

I have possibly lost 3000+ photos of my son from new born to 2 years=20
of age!

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks



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