My External Hard Drive died... badly.... its at a data place atm... 50% chance of getting my photos back...
stupid i know, i should back up...
and I DO... but apparently my back ups from last July til now hadn't worked and i hadn't noticed. FFS!
so i have all my photos up until last June... nothing from July to this March (thankfully i got the last few months off my iCloud)...
Its going to cost me $800 only if it works!!!!!
Its 2 bdays and xmas...
I cant catch a break!
also, hence my lack of posting of late im cranky and upset about these photos!
I once paid $70 bucks and 5 hours of my time to recover the images from a friends harddrive after I thought I had wiped them all, they were shots of a family outing to a themepark and not much else. When I told them what a nightmare it was to get them back, they shrugged their shoulders and said "no biggy"...
Ugh! I am so very sorry! I am quite crazy about my pics, back up in several places, but I recently found myself in what I thought was the same position you are in. I honestly felt physically ill! Thankfully all was fine. I would definitely pay, but like I said I am a bit of a hoarder when it comes to pictures.
Heres the info
"We have inspected the WD 2.5” 500GB External HDD serial number WX51A10A6071 and it has been found to have internal damage (spindle motor seizure).
There is a 50% chance of recovering all the data from the faulty HDD. Data Detect cannot guarantee that the data will be recovered until the HDD is repaired, the data duplicated and integrity checked. The recovery is complex and time consuming and anticipated to be completed in 3-5 working days after quote acceptance and the recovered data will be transferred to the destination HDD provided by provided by Data Detect at additional cost (500GB USB @ $109) or one can be provided by you.."
So on top of the $800 its also the cost of a new HDD and a pile of DVD's to get burning so my back ups are on disc not data...!!!
That price seems fairly reasonable -- data recovery from a physical failure is a complex and time-consuming process. To be honest I'm quite impressed they're only going to charge if they're successful, as most of the work will need to be done in either case.
Remember that writable CDs and DVDs can suffer from disc rot, a chemical degradation that can make the discs unreadable after a certain period of time. If you go down that route for backups, make sure you buy high-quality discs by a reputable manufacturer -- paying a little extra over the no-name cheapest brand you can find is a sensible investment for data that matters. You should also instigate a regular checking regime, where at least once every two years you check a random selection of files across a random selection of discs to ensure they can all be read correctly. By doing this process regularly, any degradation will be spotted early on, and you'll be able to retain most of the data by re-burning it to new discs.
Oh I feel your pain. I'd pay. I have a number of back ups of my photos. I have a drive that I keep in the safe deposit box at the back. A drive that I keep in the safe at the house and my external drive that I use all the time. At most I would lose 1 weeks photos as that's kind of my rotation but when I photograph something special I do all the back ups immediately. I have a few photos that are those shots that would destroy my life if I lost on a skydrive but I dont pay for that space so it is limited. If the Skynet that Aaron @grizzlysghost uses is guaranteed then I think I might start paying for storage.
@Cheesebiscuit Absolutely!! Especially that I have some that will be up for sale soon.. if they go then that's it haha. Some recommend 2 places and some 3. I'll go with 2 for now... ext. HD and an "offsite".
Mine go onto a USB stick at the end of each month. So far it's worked ok - it's quite useful reviewing the month's worth at the end of four weeks and realizing how many I've taken and pruning the lot...
I would pay for them. I use Carbonite to back up. It is an online service that keeps a constant mirror image of your hard drive. It is not "storage" ...it just keeps an image so if you delete a photo, it deletes at Carbonite too. They even have a way of joining so if your computer dies, they will ship you a hard drive with your "Stuff" on it within two days. I think the level I joined I pay $150 a year for that service. It is worth it to me. Then I back up on external my super favoritie pics...in case Carbonite somehow failed me..but people who use them say they work...I know a guy whose computer hard drive has died twice and Carbonite comes through for him and he has a replacement fast.
Be glad you have some. I feel your pain. We were burglarized and they took computers, cameras, lens, backup memory etc. Lost 35000 pictures. Sorry it's costing so much. I would be cranky also. Hang in there
Most definitely, I would pay to recover them. I have an external HD, but am considering using an online service, too. Every time the tornado sirens go off around here, I grab my external HD on the way to the basement. My family makes fun of me, but some things can't be replaced.
@grizzlysghost What is Skynet? I did a search and couldn't find it.
I feel your pain, my hard drive failed me and I have lost five years worth of pictures. Its my fault that I was stupid and didn't back up my back up but I has me so depressed I have been half a**-ing my photography now. I need to smack myself out of it but I cant.
My tecky son recommended Squirrelsave to me when I began to get seriously into photography. It's £5 a month with a small discount if you buy several months up front. It quietly backs everything up, including any changes made to documents already backed up. Hope you get your photos back.
It has happened to me twice. One the drive failed. The other time I formatted it accidently. Each time I was able to recover my data. Took some time but I did it. There are a number of data recovery softwares available that will do it for you. But apparently it works only if you have not written anything on it since it failed or was formatted.
Let me know if you need more info, as in, name of software I used etc
@abhijit unfortunately because its internal damage (from over heating) software wont get it back because cant even been recognised by the computer :( thanks though...
also only a 50% chance of getting it back even with these guys :/ sigh!
@dolphin WIll look into it thanks!! x @christabug Oh im SOO in that rut with you!!! how bad is it!! :/
@aponi yup i miss film! LoL @grizzlysghost errr... i googled it too ;) @lisabell I dont blame you! i'd do the same!!! x @wadazomo OMG.... they never caught them or found your photos? I'd be beyond shattered thats SOOOOO crappy :( @espyetta will look into that!! thanks heaps! @mercuria I should split mine up properly but as its an iphoto library its all in one with events for each month... i might have to do the usb thing because i cant fit a month worth onto a DVD!! @k1w1 that was my plan... only loosing a weeks worth... but my back ups didnt work :( sigh... @luvmynynix lol ditto! @bobfoto "no biggy!" PFFT!
@espyetta Wow Mary Beth that seems like an awesome service and well worth $150. Maybe we could back up our second computer to our first computer then have a mirror image of both.
I think I will look into that.
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"We have inspected the WD 2.5” 500GB External HDD serial number WX51A10A6071 and it has been found to have internal damage (spindle motor seizure).
There is a 50% chance of recovering all the data from the faulty HDD. Data Detect cannot guarantee that the data will be recovered until the HDD is repaired, the data duplicated and integrity checked. The recovery is complex and time consuming and anticipated to be completed in 3-5 working days after quote acceptance and the recovered data will be transferred to the destination HDD provided by provided by Data Detect at additional cost (500GB USB @ $109) or one can be provided by you.."
So on top of the $800 its also the cost of a new HDD and a pile of DVD's to get burning so my back ups are on disc not data...!!!
Remember that writable CDs and DVDs can suffer from disc rot, a chemical degradation that can make the discs unreadable after a certain period of time. If you go down that route for backups, make sure you buy high-quality discs by a reputable manufacturer -- paying a little extra over the no-name cheapest brand you can find is a sensible investment for data that matters. You should also instigate a regular checking regime, where at least once every two years you check a random selection of files across a random selection of discs to ensure they can all be read correctly. By doing this process regularly, any degradation will be spotted early on, and you'll be able to retain most of the data by re-burning it to new discs.
If that HD was my ONLY source of where my photos were stored, I think I'd pay.
@sam_cr I feel your pain! I was lucky and my HDD was easily recoverable for about $AU100. Good luck!
@Cheesebiscuit Absolutely!! Especially that I have some that will be up for sale soon.. if they go then that's it haha. Some recommend 2 places and some 3. I'll go with 2 for now... ext. HD and an "offsite".
@grizzlysghost What is Skynet? I did a search and couldn't find it.
sorry about the drive
I both love and hate computers
Let me know if you need more info, as in, name of software I used etc
also only a 50% chance of getting it back even with these guys :/ sigh!
@dolphin WIll look into it thanks!! x
@christabug Oh im SOO in that rut with you!!! how bad is it!! :/
@aponi yup i miss film! LoL
@grizzlysghost errr... i googled it too ;)
@lisabell I dont blame you! i'd do the same!!! x
@wadazomo OMG.... they never caught them or found your photos? I'd be beyond shattered thats SOOOOO crappy :(
@espyetta will look into that!! thanks heaps!
@mercuria I should split mine up properly but as its an iphoto library its all in one with events for each month... i might have to do the usb thing because i cant fit a month worth onto a DVD!!
@k1w1 that was my plan... only loosing a weeks worth... but my back ups didnt work :( sigh...
@luvmynynix lol ditto!
@bobfoto "no biggy!" PFFT!
I think I will look into that.
$889 for the data and a new hard drive... which he said to handle like it was an egg... all hhd are precious he says.
So now, to pay :/ and get it back!!!!!
Also to buy about 100 DVD's and get my ass burning back up's so this NEVER happens again.