data recovery and privacy issues

[Fork Included]

i dont know how, but my external western digital usb drive no longer loads.

instead it clicks..

and now it doesnt even click anymore.

Now, most of the things are replacable, although some are pretty rare softwares that i aquired over the years that may or may not come in handy in the future (mostly auto-diagnostic tools, like the volkswagon dealer-only VAG-COM and a few others)

also i have about 50 gigs of music on there that would be a royal pain in the ass at getting back.


first of all, how expensive IS data recovery

secondly, since most of the crap i have on there would probably violate a few copy right laws, am i protected in anyway, kinda like a doctor-patient confediality?

 

[Shotgun Jesus]

Fuck WD. I've had enough of their shit fail on me.

No one is going to tell on you for your pirated gay porn. Don't worry. My cousin recently but his data back after going to Canada Computers. But it was something like $40. Fuck that noise.

 

[Fork Included]

[quote1270525828=Shotgun Jesus]
Fuck WD. I've had enough of their shit fail on me.

No one is going to tell on you for your pirated gay porn. Don't worry. My cousin recently but his data back after going to Canada Computers. But it was something like $40. Fuck that noise.
[/quote1270525828]

i dunno, this is the first HD to ever fail on me, ive had it for 4 years. Its only like a 128 gigs or something.

 

[Shotgun Jesus]

I'd just scrap the shit if it weren't for the music.

 

[47]

[quote1270528248=Shotgun Jesus]
My cousin recently but his data back after going to Canada Computers. But it was something like $40.
[/quote1270528248]

data recovery for $40 ??? am i understanding this right ?

 

[Fork Included]

[quote1270528353=47]
[quote1270528248=Shotgun Jesus]
My cousin recently but his data back after going to Canada Computers. But it was something like $40.
[/quote1270528248]

data recovery for $40 ??? am i understanding this right ?
[/quote1270528353]

they just assume you had gay porn on there so they give you a CD with more gay porn :/

 

[OG buckshot jr]

$40 is REALLY inexpensive. I've heard it's up to thousands of dollars, plus. Fork, I'm not sure there's ANY consumer confidentiality so who knows what they could do. There's definately privacy laws about them not copying your shit, however that doesn't stop them from "telling" on you.

Try the drive on a mac/linux (I've saved fuckloads of USB sticks and hard drive's through OSX's Disk Utility). Also, I'm sure there could be a number of ways to connect it to a computer "differently"...

 

[skd_mrk]

If it's clicking I doubt hooking it up to anything will recover the data, but give it a shot. Generally the clicking noise is a result of the arm hitting the disk platter.

Recovery services are available for this type of situation, but are very pricey. They generally remove the platter and read it that way. There's been instances of computers having been in fires and the data having been recovered.

Hope you figure something out Fork.

 

[Fork Included]

interesting turn of events

i plugged it into my work computer and it loaded up fine!

hmm

:/

for reference sake, i have another WD at home that is 500gigs and it loaded fine yesterday, so its not the cable or OS

hmm

 

[dead mike]

i highly doubt canada computers did anything for $40 you couldn't do yourself in about 15 minutes. likely they just plugged the drive into a USB port and got lucky. i'd stop using that drive asap if its clicking, failing like that.

secondly the data recovery people would probably outline in their privacy policy what they do, and i doubt they would snitch for the copyrighted stuff, think they would ever get your business again doing that?

anyhow i like BJs anser, ubuntu live cd's can save your ass and an easy way to get access to most hardware.

 

[auron]

If it loaded up rip your shit off of there fast and then just use it for storing bullshit and cross your fingers until it finally does die. Clicking=no good, but I've had this shitty old hard drive in my dads machine that clicks and grinds and makes all kinds of shitty noises but it's been running for like 3 years like that.

 

[Skeptik]

Even when a hard drive crashes, it's still possible to recover data. A few years ago a friend from work had his home hard drive crash, and he had all his financial data on it. I can't remember what software I used, but I was able to recover all his financial data. It was a free open source recover program that I ran from my Linux box (I hooked his drive up to my box). I think there was a windows version too, just can't remember the name.

I'd start here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_recovery

Oh, I should say... If the HD is so bad off that the BIOS doesn't even recognize it, then you're pretty much out of luck.

If you find the utility I'm trying to remember, man!... It can take days or even weeks (depending on how bad the hardware is damaged) to finish the recovery.

 

[Leroy]

Depends what kind and the level of fuckage. I have a 80gig that I might pay ~$1000 to recover. Sometimes its just hte controller that goes (IDE, controller is part of the unit).

However, sometimes the needle actually scratches the disk, and in that case you're probably fucker properly.

I think if its clicking the arm or something has come off.

 

[47]

[quote1270684122=OG buckshot jr]
privacy laws ...... that doesn't stop them from "telling" on you.
[/quote1270684122]

every time somebody says something like this, it makes me wonder, what the FUCK (yes, i wrote it out) do u ppl have on your computers??? u working for the fucking secret service ? or yall pedos with CP ??

lets start to unfuck this dilemma of mine and start explaining what it is that u have on your computer thats so goddamn secretive ?. BJ, u first.

GO !

 

[dead mike]

lol 2.5TB truecrypt volume i forgot the password too

 

[OG buckshot jr]

[quote1270693708=47]
[quote1270684122=OG buckshot jr]
privacy laws ...... that doesn't stop them from "telling" on you.
[/quote1270684122]

every time somebody says something like this, it makes me wonder, what the FUCK (yes, i wrote it out) do u ppl have on your computers??? u working for the fucking secret service ? or yall pedos with CP ??

lets start to unfuck this dilemma of mine and start explaining what it is that u have on your computer thats so goddamn secretive ?. BJ, u first.

GO !
[/quote1270693708]

Sure.
- Illegal Windows 7
- Illegal Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007
- Illegal Fruity Loops XXL Producer Edition
- Illegal WinRAR 3.0 (I THINK 3.0)
- Illegal "Native Instruments: Akoustik Piano" (about $600 music production program)
- ALL of my music is illegally downloaded (of course, I may have a cd here and there from time ago that contains some tracks), but still
- No porn saved, absolutely zero. However, must be LOTS in hidden caches everywhere, who knows fuck. Some of that porn (viewed on websites), just may contain bitches who aren't 18+ - even though the websites say they are - making me a pedo by association.

Nevermind the Mac side of things because that bitch is 100% fraud lol

EDIT: Just the two first programs are enough for serious business. Fucking with Microsoft is hardcore.

 

[[503]Hoggslayer]

It's all good.

 

[Spinny]

M$ can't do SHITE!