My Seagate SSHD 1TB laptop hard drive failed suddenly tonight in a manner I've never seen before. I was playing Minecraft on EMC and AFK while browsing a news website. All of a sudden my Windows 7 desktop became completely unresponsive and I attempted to reboot in Safe Mode. After doing so, the hybrid hard drive is no longer recognized so there may have been a mechanical failure. Most of my data was backed up but I'm considering sending the drive off for recovery to attempt retrieval of some documents and recent family pictures and videos. Does anybody have any suggestions of recovery services with which they have had a successful experience? I had a different PC hard drive fail several years ago which was completely unrecoverable. The customer service offered by the company I used was extremely poor. Thanks in advance.
Before you try anything else.... Get a plastic bag, put the drive in, put it in the fridge (not the freezer, just the fridge) for approx. 24hrs and then try again. No: I am not joking, dead serious here. It's what I always do and so far I've almost every time managed to get results. If that doesn't work, then yeah, you might want to look into providers. But... that's not going to be cheap.
Before you take ShelLuser's suggestion, see if you can get into the BIOS. If you can't then give Shel's idea a shot as the alternative means you got a completely fried hard drive. If you can get into the BIOS, reset the boot order so the first thing to boot is USB. Then install Ubuntu to a flash drive, plug it in, and start. IF you can get in and access your files, then that means your operating system is corrupted but the overall hard drive (and files by default) are fine. From there you can plug an external hard drive in and move critical files off one at a time, then you can either attempt a repair on the OS or wipe the hard drive completely and start over.
Yes, I have heard of the method Shell has mentioned above, and it has worked for me on a few occasions, however, if it does not succeed, here is an actual site to consider : https://www.300dollardatarecovery.com/ When I worked for a local computer store here in town, we used this place several times with a great success rate, and the cost is much cheaper than most. Once in particular a lady had been writing a novel, and desperately needed to get her info back, and this worked for her. Also if you browse around on their site they also discuss the freezer / fridge method mentioned above. Sorry to hear this happened. It is cool that you had most backed up, however, as many people do not do regular backups. Actually, I should probably consider doing one myself I hope it all works out for you no matter what route you take to arrive at a solution. Good Luck KnightZer0ne Tempered Outpost Founder
You're overcomplicating stuff IMO. Why not simply burn a CD and boot with that? Too many people have major issues with USB booting whereas a CDR always works. But if his Windows stopped recognizing the drive (and I also assume he rebooted) then I don't see this working in all honesty. Won't hurt to try though.
True but there are a large number of computers these days that are forgoing the CD Drive. For some people with newer computers that are laptops, like me, CDs may not be an option. I've had this method work in the past on my windows laptop as well as a couple other laptops when their OS bit the farm, all of various ages. It's one of the reasons I maintain a flash drive with a bootable copy of ubuntu.
Actually booting from a USB is better than booting from a CD as it's much faster than CD. There's even a handy tool called Rufus that burns OS ISO's to USB for you. It's really not as complicated as it sounds.
Yep, any computer in the last 5-ish years at least should be able to boot form a USB drive. Edit: Boot not boost.
I've done it on a computer from 2008, but it was a higher end laptop at the time (odd saying that considering it was only a dual core gaming computer).
I've also done it on a computer that was from 2006-2008. As long it has a USB port you're ready to go.
Thanks for all the info. A bit of clarification, when my desktop became unresponsive I brought up my task manager and attempted to reboot. After doing so, the drive was no longer detected by BIOS. The hard drive appears to have been in a state of ongoing failure and fully kicked the bucket during the reboot. On the odd chance I was experiencing a motherboard issue or faulty data cable I placed the drive into a static bag and brought it to work this morning. After trying a few additional tricks to access it, it does indeed appear to have been a sudden failure of the SSD. So I guess it now comes down to how much we value the data which wasn't backed up and what I'm willing to spend to try and get it. What's potentially lost is of more sentimental value than essential information and only from the last couple of months. We also have a laptop I can use in the interim until I get a replacement. Ultimately though my wife will have the final say. Thanks for the referral, KnightZerone. I'll look into them. I also got the names of a couple of other places to consider from the IT guys at my office. Any additional recommendations would be welcomed.
If you are opting for the recovery option I'd recommend www.werecoverdata.com Although I've never personally used them, I've heard good things.
