Recovering Data on a Failing Hard Drive

Hey guys. I've got a real problem on my hands. Basically all my work
for the last 4 years at University, along with countless amounts of
data I've accumulated over the years stored on my hard drive might be
lost. The drive suddenly stopped working properly 2 nights ago, and
I've spent the weekend since trying ot recover what data I can.

The first thing I should address is the issue of backups. Any
meaningful backup has simply not been possible due to the high volume
of data, and the very finite budget I live on as a student
constraining me to only having one hard drive. A conveneient place to
store around 9GB of data just doesn't exist for me. I guess hindsight
is a wonderful thing, but at the moment I'm stuck without my data.

Anyway, recovery of my work is of course a top priority, so I could do
with some advice on how I should proceed from here? Firstly, I'll
explain the situation in more detail:

Causes for Concern:
------------------------------

- I get a "Disk Read Error" whenever I try to boot up the hard drive
as a Master.

- When I boot it up as a Slave, I can boot into XP from the other hard
drive, but it takes a very long time to boot up and load XP. Once in
XP, I cannot read the contents of the drive (which I can verify as
I've just given it one last try) and I get a message telling me to
format the drive.

Causes for Optimism:
--------------------------------

- On occassion the drive has been more co-operative and I have been
able to copy over a small fraction of my work with the drive as a
slave either in XP or in DOS. However, very quickly the operating
system comes up against a file it cannot read, and eventually gives up
the copying.

- The drive is always detected by the BIOS

- There are no clicking noises or other strange noises coming from the
hard drive, which suggests to me the fault may not be mechanical.

Going Forward
----------------------

A friend of mine who has more experience with PC repair ran a program
called Restorer2000, but the drive contents couldn't be read by
Windows, so the program didn't have much success either. However, it
was able to read a few files from my Windows partition, but my work
partition was completly unavailable. A number of read errors were
quoted in locations. These locations were given as a string of
numbers, either about 7-8 digits long, and 11 digits long. The exact
values I can't recall.

My next step has been to look for some companies that specialise in
data recovery and see if they will have more luck by perhaps taking
the drive apart and extracting data from the platters themseleves.

Anyway, the main point of this post is to gain some a better idea of
what has happened to my hard drive, based upon the above symptoms.
From there I can see if paying ~£500 to recover a 40GB partition is
likely to be successful.

The drive is a Western Digital WD800JB 80GB ATA hard drive.

Kind Regards,

Matthew Boulton

Matt <mattb95@hotmail.com> wrote:

> Hey guys. I've got a real problem on my hands.

Yep, the main problem is between your ears.

> Basically all my work for the last 4 years at University, along with countless
> amounts of data I've accumulated over the years stored on my hard drive
> might be lost. The drive suddenly stopped working properly 2 nights ago,

Pretty smart move not having that backed up.

> and I've spent the weekend since trying ot recover what data I can.

Pretty smart move risking making things worse.

> The first thing I should address is the issue of backups.

Yep.

> Any meaningful backup has simply not been possible due to the high volume of data,

Pig ignorant lie.

> and the very finite budget I live on as a student
> constraining me to only having one hard drive.

Another pig ignorant lie.

> A conveneient place to store around 9GB of data just doesn't exist for me.

Another pig ignorant lie. Thats only a couple of DVDs.

> I guess hindsight is a wonderful thing,

And so is having enough of a clue to work out what fits fine on a couple of DVDs.

> but at the moment I'm stuck without my data.

Then its stupid to be risking making things even worse.

> Anyway, recovery of my work is of course a top priority, so I
> could do with some advice on how I should proceed from here?

The only thing that makes any sense at all is professional recovery.

> Firstly, I'll explain the situation in more detail:

> Causes for Concern:
> ------------------------------

Nothing viable between the ears.

> - I get a "Disk Read Error" whenever I try
> to boot up the hard drive as a Master.

> - When I boot it up as a Slave, I can boot into XP from the other hard drive,

Hang on, you just claimed that you could only afford one drive.

> but it takes a very long time to boot up and load XP.
> Once in XP, I cannot read the contents of the drive
> (which I can verify as I've just given it one last try)
> and I get a message telling me to format the drive.

> Causes for Optimism:
> --------------------------------

> - On occassion the drive has been more co-operative and
> I have been able to copy over a small fraction of my work
> with the drive as a slave either in XP or in DOS. However,
> very quickly the operating system comes up against a file
> it cannot read, and eventually gives up the copying.

Thats normal with any drive that has quite a few bads.

Thats not a cause for optimism at all.

> - The drive is always detected by the BIOS

All that means is that it isnt completely dead.

In some ways thats a better prospect because a logic card swap can be all you need.

> - There are no clicking noises or other strange noises coming from
> the hard drive, which suggests to me the fault may not be mechanical.

Nope, all that means is that that drive recalibrates quietly.

> Going Forward
> ----------------------

> A friend of mine who has more experience with PC repair ran a
> program called Restorer2000, but the drive contents couldn't be
> read by Windows, so the program didn't have much success either.

> However, it was able to read a few files from my Windows
> partition, but my work partition was completly unavailable.

> A number of read errors were quoted in locations. These
> locations were given as a string of numbers, either about
> 7-8 digits long, and 11 digits long. The exact values I can't recall.

What matters is how reproducible the numbers are. If they vary every
time you try that, there is either loose material floating around inside
the sealed chamber or there is a bad connection to the heads etc.

> My next step has been to look for some companies that specialise in
> data recovery and see if they will have more luck by perhaps taking
> the drive apart and extracting data from the platters themseleves.

Thats what you should have tried first given that
you have no backup and the data is so important.

> Anyway, the main point of this post is to gain some a better idea of
> what has happened to my hard drive, based upon the above symptoms.

Its either had a head crash and so there is loose material floating around
in the sealed chamber, or there is a flakey connection to the heads etc.

> From there I can see if paying ~£500 to recover a 40GB partition is likely to be successful.

Nope.

> The drive is a Western Digital WD800JB 80GB ATA hard drive.

How repeatable are the read error locations ?

> > Any meaningful backup has simply not been possible due to the high volume of data,
>
> Pig ignorant lie.
>
> > and the very finite budget I live on as a student
> > constraining me to only having one hard drive.
>
> Another pig ignorant lie.

I understand you're not in my position, but I take it you're not used
to living on £4,000 a year to make a comment like that.

>
> > A conveneient place to store around 9GB of data just doesn't exist for me.
>
> Another pig ignorant lie. Thats only a couple of DVDs.

DVD's aren't something I can update conveniently on an minute-by-
minute basis (or any kind of regular basis), which is how often this
data is beibng updated when I'm working. Also I don't have a DVD
recorder.

> Hang on, you just claimed that you could only afford one drive.

The other drive is my parents 20GB drive from their computer.

>
> > Anyway, the main point of this post is to gain some a better idea of
> > what has happened to my hard drive, based upon the above symptoms.
>
> Its either had a head crash and so there is loose material floating around
> in the sealed chamber, or there is a flakey connection to the heads etc.

> How repeatable are the read error locations ?

They were very repeatable, it was always the same locations that
couldn't be read.

I agree with your earlier comments that the drive should be left well
alone now before I hand it over to a professional firm, and I wish I
had done so earlier. But the prospect of being able to recover my
data, given I had no idea how severe this was, so I could make a
backup to my parents hard drive made sense at the time. Paying £500
isn't something I can do without a second thought.

Do you recommend any firms that have done good work for you in the
past?

Kind Regards,

Matt

Matt <mattb95@hotmail.com> wrote:

>Anyway, recovery of my work is of course a top priority, so I could do
>with some advice on how I should proceed from here? Firstly, I'll
>explain the situation in more detail:

Install the HD as secondary - and another HD to copy recovered files
to.

Then use one of the Boot CD's below to recover your files, each has
the tools you need (I like the Hiren's CD)

Hiren's Boot CD
http://thepiratebay.org/search/hiren/0/99/0

Or

Ultimateboot cd
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/
--
http://www.theonion.com/content/fil...020.article.jpg

Matt <mattb95@hotmail.com> wrote:

>>> Any meaningful backup has simply not been possible due to the high volume of data,

>> Pig ignorant lie.

>>> and the very finite budget I live on as a student
>>> constraining me to only having one hard drive.

>> Another pig ignorant lie.

> I understand you're not in my position, but I take it you're not
> used to living on £4,000 a year to make a comment like that.

You're wrong. And anyone with a clue can backup
to DVD when living on that sort of income.

>>> A conveneient place to store around 9GB of data just doesn't exist for me.

>> Another pig ignorant lie. Thats only a couple of DVDs.

> DVD's aren't something I can update conveniently on an minute-by-minute basis

You dont need to do anything like that to have a viable backup.

> (or any kind of regular basis),

Bare faced lie.

> which is how often this data is beibng updated when I'm working.

Even if you only backup say once a week, the most you will
lose is one week of data, not the entire 4 YEARS of data.

> Also I don't have a DVD recorder.

They cost peanuts. Buy one, stupid.

>> Hang on, you just claimed that you could only afford one drive.

> The other drive is my parents 20GB drive from their computer.

And anyone with a clue could have backed up to that.

>>> Anyway, the main point of this post is to gain some a better idea of
>>> what has happened to my hard drive, based upon the above symptoms.

>> Its either had a head crash and so there is loose material floating around
>> in the sealed chamber, or there is a flakey connection to the heads etc.

>> How repeatable are the read error locations ?

> They were very repeatable, it was always the same locations that couldn't be read.

Thats bad news, because it means there is no simple fix that will eliminate the errors.

Professional recovery can certainly recover what is recoverable in that situation.

> I agree with your earlier comments that the drive should be left well
> alone now before I hand it over to a professional firm, and I wish I
> had done so earlier. But the prospect of being able to recover my
> data, given I had no idea how severe this was, so I could make a
> backup to my parents hard drive made sense at the time. Paying
> £500 isn't something I can do without a second thought.

Sure, but you should have had that further thought and realised that
when you have no backups at all for 4 years of irreplaceable data,
its very risky to try recovering it yourself with data that important.

> Do you recommend any firms that have done good work for you in the past?

I've never needed to use anyone because I always have full backups.
And havent even needed to use them except for convenience either.

Matt wrote:
>
> Hey guys. I've got a real problem on my hands. Basically all my work
> for the last 4 years at University, along with countless amounts of
> data I've accumulated over the years stored on my hard drive might be
> lost. The drive suddenly stopped working properly 2 nights ago, and
> I've spent the weekend since trying ot recover what data I can.
>
> The first thing I should address is the issue of backups. Any
> meaningful backup has simply not been possible due to the high volume
> of data, and the very finite budget I live on as a student
> constraining me to only having one hard drive. A conveneient place to
> store around 9GB of data just doesn't exist for me. I guess hindsight
> is a wonderful thing, but at the moment I'm stuck without my data.
>
> Anyway, recovery of my work is of course a top priority, so I could do
> with some advice on how I should proceed from here? Firstly, I'll
> explain the situation in more detail:
>
> Causes for Concern:
> ------------------------------
>
> - I get a "Disk Read Error" whenever I try to boot up the hard drive
> as a Master.
>
> - When I boot it up as a Slave, I can boot into XP from the other hard
> drive, but it takes a very long time to boot up and load XP. Once in
> XP, I cannot read the contents of the drive (which I can verify as
> I've just given it one last try) and I get a message telling me to
> format the drive.
>
> Causes for Optimism:
> --------------------------------
>
> - On occassion the drive has been more co-operative and I have been
> able to copy over a small fraction of my work with the drive as a
> slave either in XP or in DOS. However, very quickly the operating
> system comes up against a file it cannot read, and eventually gives up
> the copying.
>
> - The drive is always detected by the BIOS
>
> - There are no clicking noises or other strange noises coming from the
> hard drive, which suggests to me the fault may not be mechanical.
>
> Going Forward
> ----------------------
>
> A friend of mine who has more experience with PC repair ran a program
> called Restorer2000, but the drive contents couldn't be read by
> Windows, so the program didn't have much success either. However, it
> was able to read a few files from my Windows partition, but my work
> partition was completly unavailable. A number of read errors were
> quoted in locations. These locations were given as a string of
> numbers, either about 7-8 digits long, and 11 digits long. The exact
> values I can't recall.
>
> My next step has been to look for some companies that specialise in
> data recovery and see if they will have more luck by perhaps taking
> the drive apart and extracting data from the platters themseleves.
>
> Anyway, the main point of this post is to gain some a better idea of
> what has happened to my hard drive, based upon the above symptoms.
> From there I can see if paying ~£500 to recover a 40GB partition is
> likely to be successful.
>
> The drive is a Western Digital WD800JB 80GB ATA hard drive.
>
> Kind Regards,
>
> Matthew Boulton

Matt,

The more you play around with that drive (which has bad sectors and
possibly failing read/write heads) the WORSE you are going to make it.

Those "strings of numbers" you see are the sector location where bad
media has been located.

Switch the drive off, keep it powered off, and get it to someone who
knows what they are doing.

Spinrite and its ilk are fine if you have a _purely_ logical problem;
for all other causes of failure, you'd best be buying some snake oil.

I see countless drives come in for recovery that have been obliterated
due to the owner taking advice from another who has absolutely no real
knowlegde of data recovery.

Switch that drive off immediately, and it it done professionally.


Duncan
--
Retrodata
www.retrodata.co.uk
Globally Local Data Recovery Experts

On 30 Mar 2008 Odie Ferrous wrote in 24hoursupport.helpdesk

> Matt wrote:
>>
>> Hey guys. I've got a real problem on my hands. Basically all my work
>> for the last 4 years at University, along with countless amounts of
>> data I've accumulated over the years stored on my hard drive might be
>> lost. The drive suddenly stopped working properly 2 nights ago, and
>> I've spent the weekend since trying ot recover what data I can.
>>
>> The first thing I should address is the issue of backups. Any
>> meaningful backup has simply not been possible due to the high volume
>> of data, and the very finite budget I live on as a student
>> constraining me to only having one hard drive. A conveneient place to
>> store around 9GB of data just doesn't exist for me. I guess hindsight
>> is a wonderful thing, but at the moment I'm stuck without my data.
>>
>> Anyway, recovery of my work is of course a top priority, so I could do
>> with some advice on how I should proceed from here? Firstly, I'll
>> explain the situation in more detail:
>>
>> Causes for Concern:
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> - I get a "Disk Read Error" whenever I try to boot up the hard drive
>> as a Master.
>>
>> - When I boot it up as a Slave, I can boot into XP from the other hard
>> drive, but it takes a very long time to boot up and load XP. Once in
>> XP, I cannot read the contents of the drive (which I can verify as
>> I've just given it one last try) and I get a message telling me to
>> format the drive.
>>
>> Causes for Optimism:
>> --------------------------------
>>
>> - On occassion the drive has been more co-operative and I have been
>> able to copy over a small fraction of my work with the drive as a
>> slave either in XP or in DOS. However, very quickly the operating
>> system comes up against a file it cannot read, and eventually gives up
>> the copying.
>>
>> - The drive is always detected by the BIOS
>>
>> - There are no clicking noises or other strange noises coming from the
>> hard drive, which suggests to me the fault may not be mechanical.
>>
>> Going Forward
>> ----------------------
>>
>> A friend of mine who has more experience with PC repair ran a program
>> called Restorer2000, but the drive contents couldn't be read by
>> Windows, so the program didn't have much success either. However, it
>> was able to read a few files from my Windows partition, but my work
>> partition was completly unavailable. A number of read errors were
>> quoted in locations. These locations were given as a string of
>> numbers, either about 7-8 digits long, and 11 digits long. The exact
>> values I can't recall.
>>
>> My next step has been to look for some companies that specialise in
>> data recovery and see if they will have more luck by perhaps taking
>> the drive apart and extracting data from the platters themseleves.
>>
>> Anyway, the main point of this post is to gain some a better idea of
>> what has happened to my hard drive, based upon the above symptoms.
>> From there I can see if paying ~£500 to recover a 40GB partition is
>> likely to be successful.
>>
>> The drive is a Western Digital WD800JB 80GB ATA hard drive.
>>
>> Kind Regards,
>>
>> Matthew Boulton
>
> Matt,
>
> The more you play around with that drive (which has bad sectors and
> possibly failing read/write heads) the WORSE you are going to make it.
>
> Those "strings of numbers" you see are the sector location where bad
> media has been located.
>
> Switch the drive off, keep it powered off, and get it to someone who
> knows what they are doing.
>
> Spinrite and its ilk are fine if you have a _purely_ logical problem;
> for all other causes of failure, you'd best be buying some snake oil.
>
> I see countless drives come in for recovery that have been obliterated
> due to the owner taking advice from another who has absolutely no real
> knowlegde of data recovery.
>
> Switch that drive off immediately, and it it done professionally.
>
>
> Duncan

You could just redo your last 4 years at University.



--
D?

"Matt" <mattb95@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:5674c845-7de9-47b0-9eb4-3e2dd1c0bfed@c26g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
Hey guys. I've got a real problem on my hands. Basically all my work
for the last 4 years at University, along with countless amounts of
data I've accumulated over the years stored on my hard drive might be
lost. The drive suddenly stopped working properly 2 nights ago, and
I've spent the weekend since trying ot recover what data I can.

The first thing I should address is the issue of backups. Any
meaningful backup has simply not been possible due to the high volume
of data, and the very finite budget I live on as a student
constraining me to only having one hard drive. A conveneient place to
store around 9GB of data just doesn't exist for me. I guess hindsight
is a wonderful thing, but at the moment I'm stuck without my data.

Anyway, recovery of my work is of course a top priority, so I could do
with some advice on how I should proceed from here? Firstly, I'll
explain the situation in more detail:

Causes for Concern:
------------------------------

- I get a "Disk Read Error" whenever I try to boot up the hard drive
as a Master.

- When I boot it up as a Slave, I can boot into XP from the other hard
drive, but it takes a very long time to boot up and load XP. Once in
XP, I cannot read the contents of the drive (which I can verify as
I've just given it one last try) and I get a message telling me to
format the drive.

Causes for Optimism:
--------------------------------

- On occassion the drive has been more co-operative and I have been
able to copy over a small fraction of my work with the drive as a
slave either in XP or in DOS. However, very quickly the operating
system comes up against a file it cannot read, and eventually gives up
the copying.

- The drive is always detected by the BIOS

- There are no clicking noises or other strange noises coming from the
hard drive, which suggests to me the fault may not be mechanical.

Going Forward
----------------------

A friend of mine who has more experience with PC repair ran a program
called Restorer2000, but the drive contents couldn't be read by
Windows, so the program didn't have much success either. However, it
was able to read a few files from my Windows partition, but my work
partition was completly unavailable. A number of read errors were
quoted in locations. These locations were given as a string of
numbers, either about 7-8 digits long, and 11 digits long. The exact
values I can't recall.

My next step has been to look for some companies that specialise in
data recovery and see if they will have more luck by perhaps taking
the drive apart and extracting data from the platters themseleves.

Anyway, the main point of this post is to gain some a better idea of
what has happened to my hard drive, based upon the above symptoms.
From there I can see if paying ~£500 to recover a 40GB partition is
likely to be successful.

The drive is a Western Digital WD800JB 80GB ATA hard drive.

Kind Regards,

Matthew Boulton

*********************************************************************

Matt

Please please please don't stuff around, unplug the drive and get it to a
professional data recovery specialist 'now'
The more you stuff around trying to recover it yourself the sicker the drive
is going to get.

And as for the cost, may I ask how much you have invested in your University
degree?
Tens of thousands of £'s no doubt if not more.
As a portion of that investment the recovery fee is going to be cheap.
Got a Stereo, TV, iPod ? sell them.
Especially if the loss of the data means another year at Uni or no Masters.

Then when you've got it all back on stream make some money by learning how
to backup and selling that knowledge to other students as a 'leave it to me
I'll set it up for a fee' service.

Best
Paul.

Matt <mattb95@hotmail.com> wrote in
news:5674c845-7de9-47b0-9eb4-3e2dd1c0bfed@c26g2000prf.googlegr
oups.com:

<SNIP>

Well, I won't (extensively) lecture you, but you have been
rather stupid. Less than £50 could have bought you a burner and
enough blank discs to backup all your stuff. Live and learn.

You have 3 options:

1.
Pay a professional co. (like the one that replied in this
thread) between £100 and £500 to recover what they can.

2.
Buy a data recovery program that will do the same, they are
/quite/ expensive and no free ones exist that I know of (do not
confuse what happened with "undelete" programs of which there
/are/ some free ones, different thing entirely). Spin Rite is
/relatively/ cheap and some people say it's the best and some
people say it's bullshit. Some people just hate Steve Gibson. I
have no opinion.

3.
Go to a warez newsgroup and DL a cracked data recovery program,
there are quite a few and they are posted to those groups on a
fairly regular basis. I have DL's hundreds of warez (I refuse to
spend 50 or 500 dollars on something I am just moderately
curious about and will delete after 10 minutes of looking at its
ugly interface) and I only ever /once/ found a call-home file.
So don't be concerned about spyware/viruses etc. Of course, you
SHOULD scan the download just in case, but I DO mean "just in
case".

Like other respondents said, LEAVE THE DRIVE ALONE until you can
do one of the 3 things above. You'll only make it worse.

Also, not even the £500 professionals will be able to recover
ALL of your stuff. Life sucks and then you die, as we say over
here.

--
Savagery of the relationships between people. Here, everyone is
on the make, all of them doing their damndest to take someone
else by surprise, to relieve this man of his property, to enjoy
that girl's flesh. There is no gentleness, there are only
pleasures. Eyes which already devour the easy prey offered them,
eyes which seek out the chink in the armour, the weak point, the
little patch of pale skin into which the nails can sink and
bring blood spurting out. Spying eyes, fierce eyes, sharp eyes
which loathe and wound. A look which passes summary judgment, a
knowing look, one which wants, not to understand, but to keep at
a distance, to consume at a distance. A kind of tentacle, eye-
sucker clamped to the intellect's stomach. The world is not
pure. The world is free, roamed by wild animals, inhabited by
greedy, hate-filled monsters. Loneliness, indifference: hatred.

J.M.G. LeClézio

I was going to suggest that but hopefully he'll buy a seagate hard drive
instead of a western digital one when he repeats those 4 years.

Duende wrote:

> On 30 Mar 2008 Odie Ferrous wrote in 24hoursupport.helpdesk
>
> > Matt wrote:
> >>
> >> Hey guys. I've got a real problem on my hands. Basically all my work
> >> for the last 4 years at University, along with countless amounts of
> >> data I've accumulated over the years stored on my hard drive might be
> >> lost. The drive suddenly stopped working properly 2 nights ago, and
> >> I've spent the weekend since trying ot recover what data I can.
> >>
> >> The first thing I should address is the issue of backups. Any
> >> meaningful backup has simply not been possible due to the high volume
> >> of data, and the very finite budget I live on as a student
> >> constraining me to only having one hard drive. A conveneient place to
> >> store around 9GB of data just doesn't exist for me. I guess hindsight
> >> is a wonderful thing, but at the moment I'm stuck without my data.
> >>
> >> Anyway, recovery of my work is of course a top priority, so I could do
> >> with some advice on how I should proceed from here? Firstly, I'll
> >> explain the situation in more detail:
> >>
> >> Causes for Concern:
> >> ------------------------------
> >>
> >> - I get a "Disk Read Error" whenever I try to boot up the hard drive
> >> as a Master.
> >>
> >> - When I boot it up as a Slave, I can boot into XP from the other hard
> >> drive, but it takes a very long time to boot up and load XP. Once in
> >> XP, I cannot read the contents of the drive (which I can verify as
> >> I've just given it one last try) and I get a message telling me to
> >> format the drive.
> >>
> >> Causes for Optimism:
> >> --------------------------------
> >>
> >> - On occassion the drive has been more co-operative and I have been
> >> able to copy over a small fraction of my work with the drive as a
> >> slave either in XP or in DOS. However, very quickly the operating
> >> system comes up against a file it cannot read, and eventually gives up
> >> the copying.
> >>
> >> - The drive is always detected by the BIOS
> >>
> >> - There are no clicking noises or other strange noises coming from the
> >> hard drive, which suggests to me the fault may not be mechanical.
> >>
> >> Going Forward
> >> ----------------------
> >>
> >> A friend of mine who has more experience with PC repair ran a program
> >> called Restorer2000, but the drive contents couldn't be read by
> >> Windows, so the program didn't have much success either. However, it
> >> was able to read a few files from my Windows partition, but my work
> >> partition was completly unavailable. A number of read errors were
> >> quoted in locations. These locations were given as a string of
> >> numbers, either about 7-8 digits long, and 11 digits long. The exact
> >> values I can't recall.
> >>
> >> My next step has been to look for some companies that specialise in
> >> data recovery and see if they will have more luck by perhaps taking
> >> the drive apart and extracting data from the platters themseleves.
> >>
> >> Anyway, the main point of this post is to gain some a better idea of
> >> what has happened to my hard drive, based upon the above symptoms.
> >> From there I can see if paying ~£500 to recover a 40GB partition is
> >> likely to be successful.
> >>
> >> The drive is a Western Digital WD800JB 80GB ATA hard drive.
> >>
> >> Kind Regards,
> >>
> >> Matthew Boulton
> >
> > Matt,
> >
> > The more you play around with that drive (which has bad sectors and
> > possibly failing read/write heads) the WORSE you are going to make it.
> >
> > Those "strings of numbers" you see are the sector location where bad
> > media has been located.
> >
> > Switch the drive off, keep it powered off, and get it to someone who
> > knows what they are doing.
> >
> > Spinrite and its ilk are fine if you have a _purely_ logical problem;
> > for all other causes of failure, you'd best be buying some snake oil.
> >
> > I see countless drives come in for recovery that have been obliterated
> > due to the owner taking advice from another who has absolutely no real
> > knowlegde of data recovery.
> >
> > Switch that drive off immediately, and it it done professionally.
> >
> >
> > Duncan
>
> You could just redo your last 4 years at University.
>
> --
> D?

--
Regards Tony... Making usenet better for everyone everyday