Article Author :Ian Date : 17th Jun 2004 Comments :6
Conclusion
There is no doubt that hard drives have a finite life, and failures do happen even after only a few years of normal usage. In this case, prevention is better than cure, as it can be difficult and costly to restore data once it is lost.
The most common drive errors such as corrupt MBRs and bad sectors are fairly straight forward to resolve. If you have a mechanical failure, your only hope are the methods suggested within the article, unless you are willing to create a hybrid drive using working components from an identical drive (not recommended unless you have patience, a steady hand and a clean room!).
If the data you have is of great value and you cannot retrieve the data using the aforementioned methods, the only remaining option is a data recovery specialist. The cost will often be as much as 10 times the original cost of the drive, but with a "no recovery, no fee" policy.
