Hard Drive Recovery Specialist

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alkit

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Hard Drive Data Recovery Specialist

Hi.
We had a power surge and now my hard drive wont function properly.
It keeps restarting the computer whenever it tries to boot off the drive.
Please can you recommend a place in joberg to take my drive to get the data recovered.
Someone who is honest/reliable and has good prices.

Thanks a ton!
 
Last edited:
Does it restart during Windows / OS load or when it's still initialising the disks during POST?

Try not to play around with it if it has very important information.
 
RavenServers said:
Does it restart during Windows / OS load or when it's still initialising the disks during POST?
Click to expand...

It restarts as soon as it tries to boot off the drive. ie-the POST goes fine (and it detects the hard drive correctly). It then tries to boot from cd, then as soon as it tries to boot from the hard drive, the computer reboots.
I tried this drive in 2 other working computers and the same problem happens, so im thinking something must be fried in the drive
 
alkit said:
It restarts as soon as it tries to boot off the drive. ie-the POST goes fine (and it detects the hard drive correctly). It then tries to boot from cd, then as soon as it tries to boot from the hard drive, the computer reboots.
I tried this drive in 2 other working computers and the same problem happens, so im thinking something must be fried in the drive
Click to expand...

What you can do is use a Linux Live CD and see if you can browse the data on the drive.

Again, do not do anything if it is very important data.

Best of luck, keep us updated as to what your course of action becomes.
 
alkit said:
Hi.
We had a power surge and now my hard drive is gone. It keeps restarting the computer whenever it tries to boot off the drive.
Please can you recommend a place in joberg to take my drive to get the data recovered. Someone who is honest/reliable and has good prices.

Thanks a ton!
Click to expand...

These guys are the professionals... but they don't come cheap!

Nobody comes cheap when it comes to Data Recovery. :(

http://www.computerstorageservices.co.za/
 
RavenServers said:
What you can do is use a Linux Live CD and see if you can browse the data on the drive.

Again, do not do anything if it is very important data.

Best of luck, keep us updated as to what your course of action becomes.
Click to expand...

Thanks!
I put the drive into the 2nd IDE port of another computer that I have.

Windows reports the file system as RAW, and available/used space as 0 bytes.

I think data recovery is the only option from here on.

I just need a recommendation of someone who has reasonable prices and wont take me for a ride.

Thanks a ton for all the help up to now!
 
Would a repair not possibly fix this? I think I had a similar problem a while back and a repair from console solved it.
 
Dont pay to fix it; rather do it yourself. With the disk installed as secondary in the other PC:

First check if the disk is basic or dynamic? If it is Dynamic, rescan and import. You can then copy your data off.

If it is basic, then try windows repair. If that does not work try download Hirens boot CD and repair using a tool on that, or a data recovery tool.

But first see if its Dynamic or Basic....
 
alkit said:
It restarts as soon as it tries to boot off the drive. ie-the POST goes fine (and it detects the hard drive correctly). It then tries to boot from cd, then as soon as it tries to boot from the hard drive, the computer reboots.
I tried this drive in 2 other working computers and the same problem happens, so im thinking something must be fried in the drive
Click to expand...

I had the same problem about 2 weeks ago. I took the hard drive out, and put it in my external enclosure to see if i can format it. But when i connected the external drive i could access the drive normally. i might have been lucky, but it's worth a try.
 
Thanks for all the info.
I'm willing to try repair myself, but is there a chance I could make it worse? The data is very important
 
alkit said:
Thanks for all the info.
I'm willing to try repair myself, but is there a chance I could make it worse? The data is very important
Click to expand...
Depending on what caused the failure there is a very real chance that you could.
 
alkit said:
Thanks for all the info.
I'm willing to try repair myself, but is there a chance I could make it worse? The data is very important
Click to expand...

If it is a dynamic disk, then a rescan/import will not damage the disk.

Scandisk could potentially cause a problem; but it is highly unlikely; the same goes for other methods of fixing the disk. Obviously, if you unsure, then rather leave the fixing to somebody else (but do try the rescan/import first)
 
Conradl said:
If it is a dynamic disk, then a rescan/import will not damage the disk.

Scandisk could potentially cause a problem; but it is highly unlikely; the same goes for other methods of fixing the disk. Obviously, if you unsure, then rather leave the fixing to somebody else (but do try the rescan/import first)
Click to expand...

Thanks.
How would I go about doing the rescan/import?
 
Right click "My Computer" > Manage > Right Click disk Disk Management > Rescan.

Right click faulty disk > Import.
 
alkit said:
Thanks for all the info.
I'm willing to try repair myself, but is there a chance I could make it worse? The data is very important
Click to expand...

Yes there is. If you do make it to the data, remember to copy all the important information immediately and assume it will only be temporarily available.

If the information is life or death, such as when I knew someone wrote their thesis and had backups on the same drive, then rather keep it powered down and unmounted and seek a professional.
 
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