Dead hard drive, options?

[Optimus Rhyme]

My hard drive just died last night in my Macbook, so I had to put in an old hard drive to get going again. I don't have much that I want on the drive, but there are a few things I wouldn't mind getting off it. I've tried connecting it via external usb drive enclosure, with no luck. This leads me to believe that I need to take the drive to a professional to get it done.

Here's my problem. All of the ones I've seen in my area (Vancouver, BC) they say around 400 dollars for under 130 gigs, but anything higher is usually double that. That's far more than I care for this data, as quite a lot was backed up.

Does anyone know of a low cost alternative? Does Best Buy do this kind of thing, or some other stores, or am I stuck going to a professional and paying an arm and a leg?

Thanks.

 

[robbieduncan]

Data recovery from a dead hard drive is a specialist service that needs professionals. Best Buy and other similar box shifters are not going to be able to help.

 

[macworkerbee]

Others may know of some cheap options for you but I'm pretty sure you are SOL. Good thing most of it is backed up.

 

[toolbox]

How dead is it? No power, clicking ?

If there is no power to the drive, you will need to seek professional data recovery. If it's clicking, you might be able get some data off it. Put the drive in a static bag, make sure you seal it well with tape. Put it in a freezer bag seal that one up to and put the drive in the freezer over night see if it fires up. I have recovered data this way many times .

 

[Optimus Rhyme]

How dead is it? No power, clicking ?

If there is no power to the drive, you will need to seek professional data recovery. If it's clicking, you might be able get some data off it. Put the drive in a static bag, make sure you seal it well with tape. Put it in a freezer bag seal that one up to and put the drive in the freezer over night see if it fires up. I have recovered data this way many times .

Thanks for the tip!

The drive has power, it's just clicking away every second or two. I've had drives do this in the past, and have gotten data I wanted off them and then purchased a new one. This one won't show up on my computer at all, but I'm going to give your suggestion a go.

What kind of static bag? Like the one you get when you purchase a drive? I may not have one, but may be able to find one. I have glad zip lock bags, if those would do. Do I try to connect the drive while it's frozen, or do I let it thaw out a bit?

 

[toolbox]

What kind of static bag? Like the one you get when you purchase a drive? I may not have one, but may be able to find one. I have glad zip lock bags, if those would do. Do I try to connect the drive while it's frozen, or do I let it thaw out a bit?

Just use a normal one that comes with Motherboard or HDD. No soon as you get it out of the freezer, chuck in in a external caddy and try and see if the mac reads it. If it does get copying. I have actually one day had to keep the drive running (powered) in the freezer with the door shut to keep it cold while i got the data off.!!