manual repairs to failed HD?

[abarton]

hey, so my HD has failed, the clicks the scrapes the whole deal. Problem is, my re-writable stopped writing some months ago and my data is stuck on the HD with no recent backups.

The problem with my (and most, it seems) failed HD's is certainly mechanical, the scrapes give it away. As such, does anyone have any tips/skill/knowledge regarding attempts to fix the mechanical failure without employing the skill of these $500 a shot professional data scalpers?

I have a feeling that if they can do it, so can I...or am i wrong?

thanks,

alex

[abarton]

also, if such a manual repair is not a viable option, does anyone have a reco as to a company that might do so, at a price that actually reflects the value?

[glc]

If the drive is still recognized by the bios, you may be able to slave it into a working computer and get some data off it, you may need the assistance of data recovery software. $500 is actually cheap for recovering data off a mechanically failed drive, I charge that much for a full recovery off a drive that can be read by data recovery software, it is very time consuming. If it's unable to be seen by the bios or doesn't spin up, it has to be disassembled in a clean room and the platters put into a bench fixture to get the data off, bit by bit. They don't "fix" the drive, they just get the data off it. When we have to use professional services, we use Ontrack. They will be a lot more than $500.