Recently, my wife experienced a major setback when her external hard drive, filled with cherished travel photos, suddenly failed. We weren't together at the time, so she promptly took it to a local computer shop where they managed to recover about half the data, but unfortunately, not the rest. She then sought help from a second, more specialized data recovery service that took weeks and claimed to need special parts, but in the end, they said the drive was ruined—citing that the first shop had let dust in which damaged it further. This situation is complicated by the fact that we were overseas, and while there are skilled technicians out there, finding a trustworthy one is challenging. Given these setbacks, I'm wondering—do we have any chances left to recover the lost data, or is it time to accept it's gone? How resilient are hard drives really? Should we keep looking for more professionals, or is that a lost cause?
5 Answers
This is a tough situation. Ideally, recovery should happen in a clean room, which limits dust exposure. When dust gets inside, it can ruin the drive heads and platters, making recovery much harder. Some companies might salvage data by using donor parts from similar drives or by meticulously spinning up the platters in a controlled environment. Keep in mind that these services can be very expensive, and you need to decide how much you're willing to invest for recovery. If you can afford it, seeking out a reputable specialist could still be worthwhile.
From my experience, if they already swapped out parts, the odds of getting much more data are low. It's hard to ensure anything else is salvageable now. In the future, make sure to have backups—preferably online. Losing precious data is just the worst!
It sounds like you've done what you can to recover the data. While there are still professionals out there who might offer help, the chances of them succeeding after two recoveries are pretty slim. Honestly, hard drives can be surprisingly temperamental; they often fail without warning. That's why backups are so crucial—having a second drive or a cloud service would usually save you from such a predicament. Investing in recovery services can get pricey, so weigh your options carefully before diving back in.
You might still find someone who can help, but expect those services to be pricey. Years ago, I paid $3,500 for data recovery from a RAID array. It’s a similar situation; many recovery centers might just plug in the drives and hope for the best. Honestly, investing in cloud storage options is crucial moving forward. Services like Backblaze or Google Photos can keep your future data safe automatically. Don't let it happen again, it's stressful losing important memories!
It seems like they did manage to get a good portion of the data, so it might be that the rest is just too far gone. Have you checked cloud services like OneDrive to see if any of the photos were saved there? It’s worth checking what accounts were synced before, just in case.
DriveSavers is a company we've had success with in the past. They’ve been reliable for years, and while their services can be costly, they often deliver results that other places might miss.