Re: Error messages on startup.

Frank Martin wrote:

There is a great deal of data on this E:
drive in the form of photos & movies &
e-books, and I want it all back.

The old damaged drive seems to be damaged on
the printed-circuit cover plate (judging by
the burnt-Bakelite smell) and this is
removable by undoing 6 screws.

Therefore I ask: can these printed-circuit
cover plates be acquired separately from the
HDD, or can I buy another cover plate and
exchange it with the damaged one. The old
HDD seems to be spinning OK?

I am loath to take the damaged unit to some
specialist HDD-recovery firm because of the
sensitive data it contains.

The only way to reliably get data off that drive is to send it to a
professional data recovery company such as Drive Savers (my preference) or
Seagate Data Recovery or the like. General prices run from $500USD on up.
Drive Savers recovered all the data on a failed laptop drive for one of my
clients and it cost $2,700. He thought it was worth the money; only you
know what your data is worth. I understand that some insurance companies
are now covering data recovery charges so check with yours.

Drive Savers - http://www.drivesavers.com
Seagate Data Recovery Services - https://www.seagatedatarecovery.com/

Companies like DriveSavers deal with sensitive data all the time so unless
it is data that will get you sent to prison - and I'm not suggesting it is
- I wouldn't worry about it if you want to get that data back.

You cannot fix this yourself. There have been instances of people purchasing
an identical hard drive and swapping out the control boards, but that is
tricksy and unless you have very strong skills I don't suggest you try. The
boards must be exactly identical and there is no way to determine what is
really wrong with the drive. Every time you spin that drive up you run the
very high risk that you are destroying data. If the data is important, send
it to a professional.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
Don't Panic!
.

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