External HDD fell on the floor...

[Leicht]

Hey, do any of the UK people here know any good PC shop that fixes external HDD? My dad's HDD fell on the floor and he told me that all the PC shop back at home cannot repair the HDD or get access to the stuff inside it. He wonders if it can be fixed here?

Thanks

 

[wfooshee]

Data recovery services exist, but they are expensive.

Let me rephrase that:

They are Expensive!!!!!!

As in hundreds, if not thousands of dollars just to make the effort, with no guarantees.

 

[F1GTR]

Was it running/writing when it fell? If not, it *should* be ok. If it's definitely screwed, your dad will have to weigh up the cost vs the value of the contents of the HDD. Regardless, always be sure to make at least two backups of files in the future - one external HDD does not count as backup!

 

[Grayfox]

programs like recuva are free and allow you to run a data recovery scan on the drive

 

[wfooshee]

Assuming the drive even runs..... I have one that I'd like to have some stuff off of. The drive is undamaged physically (as far as I know) but a component near the power connector on the circuit board turned to smoke so the drive won't spin up. On-Track told me it would be $700 dollars to just look at it, maybe more to actually retrieve.

As for not running when it fell.... Not necessarily OK. This drive wasn't running when I "dropped" it. Very hard....

 

[DQuaN]

The first thing to try would be to open it up and remove the drive from its caddy. Sometimes the caddy breaks but the drive is fine. Stick it in a PC and see if you can read any data.

 

[Ibonibo]

^This

External HDD have such bad casings and I/O PCB's, it's astonishing.

I had all my external HDD die on me. Either from age, or as in your case, drops. It happens

Everytime I took them out, connected them via Sata and they work flawless.

Next time buy a HDD cradle + an internal HDD. It's cheaper than an external HDD, and you know what HDD disk you actually bought

Alone firing up you should be able to hear if head an disks inside are okayish. If they not, you lost everything. Maybe the NSA have a safe copy

wfooshee : how tall are you mate?
That looks shattered for a simple fall. My HDD look like that after hammer treatement

 

[wfooshee]

Well, when I say dropped hard, I might mean thrown with all my might onto the driveway pavement...... It was an intentional step to make a customer's drive (from a discarded laptop) absolutely unrecoverable.

 

[Grayfox]

Well, when I say dropped hard, I might mean thrown with all my might onto the driveway pavement...... It was an intentional step to make a customer's drive (from a discarded laptop) absolutely unrecoverable.

There are easier ways.

Getting a hammer and smashing it is one.

If you really want to be secure you can open it and destroy the platter.

My aunt is a tax agent and she gets me to do this do her old HDDs.

 

[wfooshee]

Don't try to take my fun from me!!!! And I destroyed the platter before I opened it!

 

[Leicht]

Thanks for the input guys but can any of you recommend any computer shops in the UK that do the recovery stuff?

 

[BobK]

Here you go!