Yes yes, once again I have recovered data from a dead on delivery hard drive. This one was particularly challenging because the more I used the drive, the worse it got.
When I got the drive, it couldn't be read. Blast. I popped it out of its enclosure, dissasembled my laptop and popped it in. Then promptly realized that I missed a screw and went to remove the drive... it... stuck... AGHAGAHGAHGAHAHGGAHAGAHA! Stupid 'almost' form factor drives AGH! With great anticipation I wriggled and buffeted the drive for nearly 15 minutes before I could remove it. I will NEVER forget a single screw again.
When I started up the computer I got the typical error message that causes all in IT to despair... that's right... corrupted ntos...
So what then? SpinRite diagnosis of course! A quick scan showed that the drive was in poor shape with multiple physical damage areas. Ooof. This eliminates all of the Stellar suite (my favorite data recovery tool). Refreshing with sprinrite isn't an option either because you can hear the scraping... bad news.
And so he realized that his typical recovery arsenal wasn't going to cut it. Off to the everpresent crawler of the web he went with high hopes and eager spirit.
Hey, this is my blog! Keep your digital comments to yourself.
Ok Dave. *computer snickers* I hope you like the blue screen, it's my NEW favorite companion.
Oh brother! Upgrade or something *lays the smackdown on computer: ctrl+alt+SMACKDOWN*
Where was I? Oh yeah google.. I searched for a linux livecd with windows networking capabilities and local NTFS rw. The first result took the cake by far, I highly recommend getting this tool for emergencies if you don't have it yet: http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page
A little zsh manipulation and I was off and running. The data streamed off the broken drive onto my stable desktop while I slept (between 3am and 7am). When I woke up, I burned the 18 gigs of data to DVDs and scooted off to work.
Booyah! I can even recover laptop hard drives! To think that the person had been quoted at $800 for what I did in one evening. Wait, maybe I could do this on the side...
Do you or does anyone you know, have data recovery needs? (Lost/deleted files, corrupt hard drives, dods)?
What do you think? Could anyone benefit from this service?
P.S. Does anyone know of a good way to create polls?
3 comments:
OMgosh - dave - seriuosly, a friend of mine (you might know her) had deleted something really personal. Can you recover it off an NTFS windows drive? it's on a laptop...?
u r 1337
People will tell tales of you at Lawrence family functions forever.
Thanks!
Actually, yes. A friend of mine seems to have killified his hard drive the other day, and while I can probably make do with that CD you linked to, I'll let you know if it doesn't suffice.
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