cheap(er) headstack replacement advice on hard disk
Hi, I have a 3.5 inch Toshiba STOR.E ALU 2S USB 3.0 1-terabyte hard disk. Like a numpty, I turned it off at the mains whilst the disk was still on. Now I have the click of death. I have sent it off to a data recovery lab, who said what it needs is a head stack replacement and quoted me £600. Now if I get a donor disk myself, is there not a cheaper way to do the job? When I look at youtube videos there are plenty advocating doing it yourself!
I would prefer not to do it myself and was hoping there are enthusiasts who would attempt this and at a lower cost to the above, if I supply donor disk and a new disk to put the recovered data on. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work and I would still be happy to pay. Can anybody put me in touch with any enthusiast(s) so I could pursue this? I'm based in UK but would be happy to send to say USA if there was going to be a cost saving.
Or failing that, has anybody tried sending off a disk to say India, where it would surely, just by exchange rate differences, be a lot cheaper? Again, any recommendations/links would be most welcome.
Any advice appreciated. Thanks.
I would prefer not to do it myself and was hoping there are enthusiasts who would attempt this and at a lower cost to the above, if I supply donor disk and a new disk to put the recovered data on. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work and I would still be happy to pay. Can anybody put me in touch with any enthusiast(s) so I could pursue this? I'm based in UK but would be happy to send to say USA if there was going to be a cost saving.
Or failing that, has anybody tried sending off a disk to say India, where it would surely, just by exchange rate differences, be a lot cheaper? Again, any recommendations/links would be most welcome.
Any advice appreciated. Thanks.
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Then let them do it. Not some enthusiast or "good friend who knows himself in computers" but a professional recovery service. If you want to make it cheaper - you can buy yourself a donor drive and offer it to the recovery service. Still, the data recovery is expensive thing, unfortunately. Thus backup backup and backup.
ASKER
yep, boy I am kicking myself about not backing that disk up onto another disk. It has my entire life's' music collection as mp3 as well as a lot of other things.
I am sorry to hear about it. I've burnt my fingers as well once the same way. My university diploma thesis which I had in a single copy on internal drive. And no backup :) This was the first and last time I used recovery service. Since then - everything is being backed up.
i also say use the recovery service; but if you are willing to risk loosing all, you can try to do it yourself
note that this is not intended to have an 100% operational drive - only for getting the data off
what model is the disk ?
note that this is not intended to have an 100% operational drive - only for getting the data off
what model is the disk ?
ASKER
Ok, thanks guys for your views.
ASKER