[X4U] file recovery software

[Randy B.Singer]

Philip J Robar said:

>> If you need a referral to a data recovery service that won't charge  
>> outrageous fees, let me know.
>
>I have a relative with a physically unresponsive drive so any  
>recommendations would be appreciated.


Before you go to expense of using a drive recovery service, are you sure 
that the drive has died?  Can you still hear it spin up when you turn it 
on?  If so, have you tried a good disk repair utility such as Disk 
Warrior?  
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/index.html 
Or a data recovery utility such as Data Rescue?
http://tinyurl.com/az2zo

Data recovery services usually open your failed hard drive under clean 
room conditions, take out the platter, and put it into a device that can 
read it.  It really isn't hard for them to recover your data, but they 
sure do charge a lot of money to do so.  Usually in the thousands of 
dollars range.

Drive Savers is the best known of the drive recovery companies that 
specialize in the Macintosh, but they are far from the least expensive.
http://www.drivesavers.com/

I do know of a reasonably priced hard drive data recovery service.  Vogon 
International has created an "end user program" so that regular users 
have access to data recovery at better rates than businesses would be 
charged.

The program is called AuthenTec. It is only for individuals, or very 
small home businesses. 

There are 4 conditions to meet to take advantage of this program.

1. One drive per recovery.
2. The Disk can't have been taken anywhere else, or the mechanism opened.
3. Can't have weird operating system, Windows or Mac only. (no linux)
4. It has to be an individual or very small home business.

They have a two stage recovery program. Recovery using the consumer 
AuthenTec process is what they jokingly call "The slow boat to China" 
program.  (It isn't fast, but it is less expensive than their ordinary 
service.)

Stage 1 is free, and is the Diagnosis. You will be quoted a price to 
recover your data, it can take up to 1 week for diagnosis. Since you are 
getting a "best efforts" and a "when we can fit it in" recovery, you 
won't get overnight service, but if you need that, you can pay the full 
price.

Stage 2 is after you accept their quote. When you get their quote, which 
is usually between $350 and $700 dollars, depending on the complexity of 
the recovery, you can accept it, or have them send your disk back to you 
untouched. if you accept their quote, it will take about a week, worst 
case 2 weeks, to get your disk recovered. So most recoveries will take 
between 2 weeks to 3 weeks to get your data back. 

The good news is that, at this price, the same Vogon engineers 
that do professional recovery for large corporations work on your drive, 
using the same clean rooms, etc., it is just that they don't do the 
recovery on a priority basis.

Their phone number is:
1 800 392 5373
http://www.vogon.us

Vogon International LLC
Riverside Center
Suite 2623/2625
2600 Van Buren
Norman, OK 73072, USA
Tel:	+1 405 321 2585
Fax:	+1 405 364 8242
Toll Free: 1-800 392-5373 
Email: data.recovery at vogon.us 





Randy B. Singer
Co-Author of: The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th and 6th editions)

Routine OS X Maintenance and Generic Troubleshooting
http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html