Camcorder: Sony HDR-XR260E
Hard drive: Toshiba 160gb 1.8", model: mk1639gsl, interface 24pin Lif cable
What happened? It stopped working on the 2nd last day of my UK holiday. No back up :(
I've connected the hard drive directly to the computer and tried it in an identical camcorder. It is not recognised by either device. It sounds like it's trying to spin, makes a slight clicking sound then powers down. It repeats this a few times.
Does anyone know of any reasonably priced recovery centers?
Can you actually remove the harddrive from the camcorder? Gotta be some screws somewhere.
I would try and find an adapter for the connection interface and directly connect it to a computer to see if it works. Should be adapters on eBay.
I tried that. I got a 24pin lif to sata adapter off ebay. The computer didn't recognise it. I'm pretty sure the drive is faulty. It's likely bad firmware, faulty heads, or a faulty PCB or a combination of these. I'd pull the drive apart myself, but I don't have a clean room.
The click of death usually means a head crash, in which case connecting it directly to a pc wont do anything, as the head can't get into position.
Unfortunately that means your only options are expensive data recovery services, as scrimshaw said these are never cheap, or accept the loss of data and move on.
I emailed several recovery centers yesterday. I have 4 replies.
Shop 1
The cost to recover is $297 from the external hard drive provided there is no internal damage, if there is an assessment is required to determine the fault in order to provide a firm quote and duration to recover. For internal damage (as per your description it is likely to have internal damage) the cost will vary from $490 to $980 dependent on the extent of the damage and must include the donor drive which must be an exact match. We offer a free no obligation inspection.
Our pricing is based on the drive capacity and the operating system and the final cost is based on the complexity of the recovery and the final recovery results.
Shop 2
We will need to have a look at the drive to determine the extent of damage/corruption it has suffered. A software/basic recovery (where the drive does not need to be opened or have extensive hardware related work done on it) is from $200, a hardware/complex recovery (where the drive needs to be opened or have parts replaced etc.) is from $500. Once we have completed the free initial inspection we can come back to you with a quotation or if it will be a complex/hardware recovery we will come back to you with a report and get your go-ahead with next steps.
Shop 3
We cannot provide a quote based on your description as it can indicate several type of faults like bad sectors, bad firmware, faulty heads and faulty PCB or combination of few of them.
We charge $50.00 as diagnostic fee where we check what the problems are with the drive and provide you a quote and you can decide if you want to proceed or not with the recovery.
In case you decide to proceed we take the $50.00 off the recovery price.
Most chances that the drive cannot be repaired for regular usage, we repair it temporarily in most cases for the purpose of data recovery and extraction using forensic tools. in 15% of the cases data is not recoverable due to massive damage of the magnetic platters.
Further info can be found on our website in related to common problems and pricing.
Shop 4
We will need to evaluate the drive and determine exactly what is wrong with the drive, this is a free evaluation and can let you know exact cost before any work is done,
If you decide not to proceed there is no charge, we only charge if data can be successfully recovered so if data is not recoverable there is no charge.
Time for you to put a price on the value of your photos/videos/memories from that holiday I think.
I had similar problem a few years back but it was a portable hard drive drive. Attempted to spin and then stopped. Put it in the freezer overnight in a freezer bag. Apparently it can shrink the plates enough allowing them to spin freely for a short time. Enough to get my data files off before disposing the hard drive. Worth a shot and its free
http://lifehacker.com/5515337/save-a-failed-hard-drive-in-yo…
Data recovery is expensive. I was quoted $7000 dollars for a 120GB hard drive, and they also told me that not all files can be recoverable (still pay $7k regardless of whether the files are readable or not).
My jaw just dropped and I decided to just learn to always create redundant copies of anything that was important.
If you are hoping for an easy job that costs less than a grand, tough luck man, data recovery usually costs more than that.
I would try recovering the data yourself, Get Data Back is what I use at work to recover data.