[Very OT, but somewhat urgent] Data-recovery from bad HD?

[Tsyr]

Ok, here is the situation. My HD went... errr... bellyup (Typing from a laptop right now). It's a physical problem of some sort... makes funny click-click noise. Anyhow, on that drive is some unrecoverable data that I hadn't got backed up. Stuff that I rather badly need, and am unable to replace (It's a project I've been working on). And I need it bad enough I am willing to pay to send the drive to a data recovery place. I know such places exist, but I know next to nothing about them... including what they are actualy called. I have no idea how to get in touch with one, either. Does anyone know of one of these, in America, that deals with individuals?

Thanks...

Laptop Bound Tsyr

 

[Chroma]

Ouch! Drive loss always hurts! You might want to try these guys.

http://www.drivesavers.com/

Good luck!

 

[V-2]

It sounds as if you're having the exact same problem that I had a few months ago. Strange clicking noise, and a screen that says "Operating system not found." Right?

In my case it meant the HD had to be replaced, but I was able to recover the data myself--not via Windows but on the DOS level. In order to do that you need a startup floppy. It may have come with your PC.

I'm not a techie and can't walk you through this, though it's not hard... the best bet may be to call your PC manufacturer's support line, and pay them the $50 or so that they might be asking in case your warranty has expired.

AFAIK, this process (the DOS recovery) is way cheaper than having the data retrieved from the HD by experts. I was told this can cost hundreds, minimum.

If I'm off the mark here, I hope some techie who reads this will correct me. Good luck.

 

[Tsyr]

Yeah, that's the problem.

I'll give it a shot in a couple days... I've got a new hard drive comming anyhow (computer warenty provides new parts without having to send the old back). I'll see what I can do.

Man, I hate this laptop... old one, only a pentium (Not 2, not 3, just a pentium...)... No USB, so I can't use my cable modem, but rather an old dialup acccount... grrrr... slooooooow.

 

[Tsyr]

Yeah, it strangely doesn't start clicking untill windows tries to load up. The hard drive itself doesn't seem to make the noise, just when it tries to run windows.