Repairer needed in Wellington for WD Passport hard drive

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indapie2000

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Topic # 240115 21-Aug-2018 14:35

Would anyone be able to recommend any good hard drive repairer/data recovery place in Wellington?

My external WD Passport powers on but it sounds like the mechanics inside are broken/stuck (can hear it boot up and sounds like it's trying to spin but gets stuck)

I tried to take it to PB Tech and they said that Western Digital use a different connector (kit standard SATA) for their external hard drives so they wouldn't be able to access.
They said I'd need a place that specialises in WD hard drives....

xpd

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Reply # 2076858 21-Aug-2018 14:43

You'd probably be looking at a data recovery specialist..... if youre brave enough, crack into the case anyway and check the connector, they dont always use non-SATA connector depending on the drive etc. But if as you say, its the drive itself failing, not much you can do yourself.

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Dynamic

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Reply # 2076867 21-Aug-2018 15:00

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For advanced data recover like this, we use and recommend these guys: https://www.datalab.co.nz/

With any professional data recovery, prepare yourself for a significant bill. These guys are very up front about costs, and in my experience are cost-effective.

The less you touch (try to use) the drive, the better the chances of successful data recovery.

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networkn

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Reply # 2076870 21-Aug-2018 15:08

If you go through an authorized reseller, you can get fixed price single drive recovery, no recovery, no fee (excludes urgent) through Datalab.

1101

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Reply # 2076875 21-Aug-2018 15:21

indapie2000: (can hear it boot up and sounds like it's trying to spin but gets stuck)

Take it straight to a data recovery SPECIALIST (eg datalab) ... NOT a PC seller/repairer

Expect to pay over $500, could run over $1000
do not plug it in or let anyone play around with it .... thats very important

Theres a chance that every time it powers up, it can be scratching up the platters making recovery harder if not near impossible.
If serious , dont muck about. I know of drives that were made unrecoverable just from powering it up to try & get it to work too many times.

From memory , the passport drives dont have internal Sata connectors . No point in cracking open the case for a try .

Lias

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Reply # 2076950 21-Aug-2018 16:19

As above.. There are no wellington based data recovery specialists I am aware of, although I think Datalab have an office / drop off location, the work will actually be done in Auckland.

+1 for using Datalab by the way.

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indapie2000

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Reply # 2076968 21-Aug-2018 17:23

Thanks for the suggestion for Datalab, they're just around the corner from my work so I'll check them out tomorrow.

Also thanks for the tips about not powering on etc to limit any potential damage!!! Definitely don't wanna loose the data on that, it's my entire music collection for 10+ years 😬

wellygary

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Reply # 2076971 21-Aug-2018 17:26

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indapie2000: Definitely don't wanna loose the data on that, it's my entire music collection for 10+ years 😬

If/When you get a result, go and buy 2 new disks, one to replicate whatever you get off and one as a backup...

- friends don't let friends maintain single copies of files....

amiga500

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Reply # 2077141 21-Aug-2018 23:22

I have seen at least one Youtube video where a guy is warning that the small portable drives made by WD do not have a standard SATA connector.