Yeah, and my CNC computer was dead at the same time. I was away, so no clue what happened here. The CNC machine was off, but not unplugged. The Server was on. Fortunately it didn't fry the controller for my NSK spindle. There would be no way around that expense.
Need Computer Data Recovery Help
- Thread starter Tony Zinzola
- Start date
Yeah, and my CNC computer was dead at the same time. I was away, so no clue what happened here. The CNC machine was off, but not unplugged. The Server was on. Fortunately it didn't fry the controller for my NSK spindle. There would be no way around that expense.
Data recovery services are expensive because they treat all cases the same, whether you're trying to recover data from HD in airplane blackbox, pics from last week's pool match. In IT, they're usually the last resort option, or until the effort of troubleshooting exceeds the price of DRS.
If you want to go to the last resort option, Data Recovery Service, then we can skip some diagnostics.
All Windows computers have system log files, check the log and it will tell you when the RAID array failed and why.
Since you mentioned that the you have mirrored the hard drives (RAID 1), then each drive should have a duplicate copy. Assuming you're using Windows, you'll need to go into Computer Management and disable RAID, this will break the mirroring. Then you can assign new drive letters to the partitions on each drive, this will allow you to access the drive volumes.
Another option is to take out the Hard Drive and mount it in an external HD case, and see if you can mount and read it that way. If you have a faulty RAID controller in your computer, this method will tell you right away. You'll need to know what type of Hard drive you have, SCSI, ATA, etc, to get the right case.
If you want to go to the last resort option, Data Recovery Service, then we can skip some diagnostics.
All Windows computers have system log files, check the log and it will tell you when the RAID array failed and why.
Since you mentioned that the you have mirrored the hard drives (RAID 1), then each drive should have a duplicate copy. Assuming you're using Windows, you'll need to go into Computer Management and disable RAID, this will break the mirroring. Then you can assign new drive letters to the partitions on each drive, this will allow you to access the drive volumes.
Another option is to take out the Hard Drive and mount it in an external HD case, and see if you can mount and read it that way. If you have a faulty RAID controller in your computer, this method will tell you right away. You'll need to know what type of Hard drive you have, SCSI, ATA, etc, to get the right case.
Tony that's rough, the freezer usually does the trick. There's always the "hit it even harder" method haha.
I recently got a solid state drive and love it. They're pretty new so I can't say how reliable they are, but I think they should prove to be extremely long-lasting... no moving parts. Something to consider for your next drive. They're too expensive as a backup but I'd use one for my main drive and an inexpensive IDE drive for backup.
One more idea, try the drive in a different PC. I guess the theory is a slight difference in voltage gets it moving where it otherwise is too sluggish? I've read testimonials where someone swears a drive never spins up in one PC but it came up in another.
I recently got a solid state drive and love it. They're pretty new so I can't say how reliable they are, but I think they should prove to be extremely long-lasting... no moving parts. Something to consider for your next drive. They're too expensive as a backup but I'd use one for my main drive and an inexpensive IDE drive for backup.
One more idea, try the drive in a different PC. I guess the theory is a slight difference in voltage gets it moving where it otherwise is too sluggish? I've read testimonials where someone swears a drive never spins up in one PC but it came up in another.
We have about 2 or 3 dozen solid state drives at work. Unless you buy the "enterprise" level ones, they are just as unreliable as normal drives. The "enterprise" class ones tend to cost 4-5x the cost of the consumer ones. So, you can get an 80G enterprise level SSD for like $1.5k, or, a 1TB consumer level platter based HD for $60...
Brian
Here's a link to the SpinRite site. You might get lucky this time. http://www.grc.com/spinrite.htm
Tony, If you have a RAID setup going on , DO NOT TAKE OUT THE DRIVES until you have clearly maked which is Drive 0 and which is Drive 1. If you don't know how to do that, wait for your friend to arrive and make sure he knows how to do that. Years ago, a company I worked for lost $millions of dollars of data because he switched the drives and corrupted the data when he tried to restore a drive array to a different server. This was on a very old server....It's better with today's hardware and software.
If your drive is already make clicking sounds. Do not keep turning it on and off. This might cause further mechanical damage to the drives. Wait for your friend to arrive before you turn it on again.
I've done plenty of Data recovery on single drives. RAID configs are a different story...go to a pro if you want your DATA back. $2000 versus your valuable time re-creating all your drawings? Which can you afford to do?
I would ask, if they will guarantee data recovery...Otherwise, pay only ~$100 diagnosis fee if they can't recover any data.
My 2 cents...
Good luck!
Tony,
Do you happen to have one of these or can you get one: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2329300&CatId=3770 ? Its a kit to to connect a hard drive to a USB so you can read them off of other computers. It makes the hard drive look like a removeable drive, kind of like a flash drive. From there you can scan the drive for viruses, and pull data off it if the drive is good, from a working PC. If it can't pull up the drive then the drive is definitely bad. This just eliminates other variables that could be bad in your server.
I have used the freezer trick successfully in the past, but I froze it for several hours, maybe 12-24, in a Zip Lock baggie of course.
Do you happen to have one of these or can you get one: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2329300&CatId=3770 ? Its a kit to to connect a hard drive to a USB so you can read them off of other computers. It makes the hard drive look like a removeable drive, kind of like a flash drive. From there you can scan the drive for viruses, and pull data off it if the drive is good, from a working PC. If it can't pull up the drive then the drive is definitely bad. This just eliminates other variables that could be bad in your server.
I have used the freezer trick successfully in the past, but I froze it for several hours, maybe 12-24, in a Zip Lock baggie of course.
I don't have anything recovered yet. The drives are going to have to be opened.
I am sending them out to Brian and hopefully he will be able to help me.
I spent all day yesterday recreating some of my drawings. I have what I need to get back to work. Fortunately, I had some EPS files that I had emailed to Cyrex for him to use on my case. I was able to convert them to dxf's and quickly resize them to the exact dimensions as before, based on the fact that anything I have a radius on, it's .005", so I just did the math to resize them.
I needed that fancy fleur de lis I just did and spent about 4 hours last night redrawing it. It won't be identical to the one before, but it doesn't have to be. It's going in a different cue and it's not part of ringwork.
I also had a few drawings on a different computer. I was going to start cutting out some parts today and retesting things, but the kids are home due to the snow.
I am sending them out to Brian and hopefully he will be able to help me.
I spent all day yesterday recreating some of my drawings. I have what I need to get back to work. Fortunately, I had some EPS files that I had emailed to Cyrex for him to use on my case. I was able to convert them to dxf's and quickly resize them to the exact dimensions as before, based on the fact that anything I have a radius on, it's .005", so I just did the math to resize them.
I needed that fancy fleur de lis I just did and spent about 4 hours last night redrawing it. It won't be identical to the one before, but it doesn't have to be. It's going in a different cue and it's not part of ringwork.
I also had a few drawings on a different computer. I was going to start cutting out some parts today and retesting things, but the kids are home due to the snow.