Recover files from a broken hard drive?

Question

I have a new computer that had all my quickbooks files saved to it and then the hard drive failed. I only have backups to a certain point in time and what I dont have saved is the most vital. I know it was stupid not to back up regularly and now I'm paying but I'm trying everything I can to solve this problem without loosing all the data. If anyone out there knows anything on how to successfully retrive data from a broken hard drive please tell me here I'm really in a tough spot. Please again, and thanks!

Answer 1

I'm not sure precisely what you mean by a "broken hard drive". It makes a big difference in how you approach the data recovery. Is the hard drive able to spin up at all? If yes it may be just corrupted system files or some such.In this case a Knoppix Live CD could rescue your data. If the hard drive has bad sectors and can't get past them a program such as Spin Rite could very well repair it enough to recover the data. I have heard stories of people putting a dead hard drive in the freezer for a few hours and getting it to spin up again. I even heard one story of a guy putting a hard drive in the oven and warming it a little and so getting it to start one more time (I don't recommend this).



If the drive is mechanically damaged and indeed dead the only option left is a data recovery company. This can get very, very expensive.



It would help to know what you mean by "broken hard drive".

Good luck!

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

Well if your data can be recreated i would take that route and save yourself some money, but if you want to use a data recovery place i would try to find one that doesnt charge if they dont recover your data, that way you dont pay for nothing. The best place I know of for that is H&H Data Recovery. They dont charge you if the data in un-recoverable and if they do recover it its only $299. Here is the link if you want to go this route.



http://hhdatarecovery.com

Answer 4

If all else fails there are outfits that specialize in retrieving data from failed hard drives. Keep in mind their services are very expensive so if the data isn't all that important chalk it up to experience.

Answer 5

If your drive will spin up when power is applied, connect it to another computer with a USB IDE/SATA adapter. You should then be able to transfer your data. Good luck.



wdw

Answer 6

How is it hard drive broken?

Answer 7

It can't be fixed, sorry!