Member Avatar for dlh6213

Does anyone here know of a reasonably priced, reliable data recovery service? I have a drive that won't boot anymore, I put it in an external USB drive bay and was able to recover only a few files. It has approximately 5GB of data on it, stuff I'd like to have, but not important enough to spend hundreds of dollars on it.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by unistal408

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Immediate triage: stop any further writes to the failing disk. The fact that a USB bay returned a few files means some sectors are readable, but USB-to-disk bridges can mask drive errors and time out — direct internal connection or a powered SATA/IDE dock is generally better for recovery attempts.

Recommended safe workflow (work on a copy, not the original)

  1. Use a healthy machine and a second drive at least as large as the damaged one.

  2. Boot a Linux live USB (read-only environment) and create a full image of the failing disk. Use GNU ddrescue so bad sectors are tracked in a logfile and work can be resumed. Example sequence:

    sudo ddrescue -f -n /dev/sdX /media/backup/fail.img /media/backup/fail.log
sudo ddrescue -d -r3 /dev/sdX /media/backup/fail.img /media/backup/fail.log

    Replace /dev/sdX and target paths as needed; the logfile is essential.

  3. Mount the image read-only (loopback) and run recovery on the image, not the original. Free tools like TestDisk/PhotoRec or other file-recovery utilities operate safely on images.

Key cautions and checks

  • Do not run chkdsk or filesystem repair on the original drive before imaging — these can overwrite metadata and make recovery harder.
  • Check SMART data (smartctl) for clues, but avoid write-repair operations until an image exists.
  • If the drive makes repeated clicking, grinding, or fails to spin up, stop attempts and consider professional clean‑room recovery — mechanical failures require specialists.

Notes on earlier replies: several members suggested using recovery software; that’s a sensible, low-cost first step but always after making an image. If imaging and free/consumer tools fail, professional services are the final option and are typically the only route for serious mechanical damage.

Recommended Answers

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Member Avatar for JR85023

I used Ontrack Easy Recovery and it worked like a champ. Check out the free trial you wont be able to recover the files but u can see it they can be recovered with the software. By the way it cost about $90 for the basic version. ;)

Member Avatar for Bear

Have you looked HERE? HTH

Member Avatar for unistal408

Here a One of more products to resolve your problem

And I think this is the best data recovery site becoz i am already use there site's software and this is secure software.

Member Avatar for DimaYasny

I use r-studio. not expensive and very efficient

Member Avatar for unistal408

Wel! But we are used already products there are best & easy to get back my deleted data from Linux on Linux partition.

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