External Hard Drive Recovery

[JThompson]

I have had my personal pictures and videos on one single external hard drive for a couple years now. My to-do list says to back them up. I kept finding "more important" things to do and it finally happened. I can't even open the hard drive anymore. I sent it to our local computer expert and he had no luck extracting any files. I don't want to give up. It has everything from when I was in high school to my wedding and my kids right after they were born. 

Any suggestions as to what I could do or where I could send it? 

[Brian]

I recommend these guys:

https://www.gillware.com/

Budget: $1500. Data recovery isn't cheap. Also, the worst thing to do is to keep messing with the EHD. The more you dork around with it, the less of a chance you have in getting stuff back. 

[JThompson]

Thanks so much Brian! The local guy that I sent it to also recommended a company called Drive Savers. Have you heard of them? 

[Brian]

Nope. Never heard of them. A friend of mine used Gillware. They are a honest company. They were unable to recover my friend's data due to the HD heads coming into contact with the platers and there was nothing but aluminum dust. (Almost like sanded drywall compound dust,) inside the HD. 3 kids worth of baby photos, 10 years of important milestones...gone forever. Hopefully it will turn out better for you.

Keep in mind that extreme data recovery usually invokes a clean room, people in special suits and the transplant of the HD platters from one HD case to another. It's not cheap. It takes a special skill set and equipment/knowledge to do it correctly. 

Gillware didn't charge her and felt really bad for her. They are an honest company. That's why I recommend them. Keep in mind, the various vendors that I recommend here in AB 2.0, I would use myself and I'm not endorsed by anyone.