> Subramanya Sastry wrote: > Hi folks, > > I just had the misfortune of having my hard drive crash on me ... it seems > like a mechanical failure ... horrible clicking noises ... > > There is some data on there that I haven't backed up recently, plus, I had > used this drive as a backup for data on some other hard drive ... while > this is not catastrophic data loss, I was wondering if folks had any > suggestions for recovering data in the face of mechanical failure ... or > what it might cost if I paid some service for data recovery in the twin > cities. > > It is a ext3 file system .. though not sure that matters ... > > Thanks, > Subbu. > Subbu, There seems to be a few techniques for drive repair. There's the freezer trick (never worked for me), and swapping the controller board. I've swapped out the controller board on a variety of brands and sizes of hard drives. I have had very good success with data recovery. While I am no drive expert, I have even fixed the infamous 'click of death'. You definitely need an identical drive, eBay is a great source. Generally you can pick up a used drive for $5 to $25. And if the controller board fixes the problem, it sure is a lot cheaper than Ontrack. Generally the controller boards are very simple to swap. Somewhat self-explanatory if you stare at it long enough. Of course, any minute you have the drive back up and running is a gift, so my standard recommendation is to do your recovery quickly (providing your fix worked) and pitch that drive! Of the dozen or so I have fixed, all of them were fixed to the point of at least 90% recovery. One friend continued to use the repaired drive for years afterwards, against doctor's advice. Best of luck to you. -- Kevin Hinze ------------- rudie at sihope.com rudie at rudie.net rudie at google.com