Don't you just hate it when ..

:cry: :cry:

That's bad news mate,

Every machine I build has two hard drives in it. One to use and one just to back up data on. Stuff I really couldn't bear to lose gets backed up on something completely separate as well. Smaller, older drives are often OK for the job as you don't usually need to back up every single thing.

I used to use removable 'trays' (which look a bit like drawers) for the backup drive. They're handy in that you can remove them and either take them with you or lock them away for added security, but they can get a bit flaky over time.

Backup can be a pain, so you need something simple otherwise you won't do it anyway.

Hope you can get some of your stuff back off the drive. You usually can, but it sometimes gets down to whether the cost is worth it.

Chris

Sorry to hear that Trev, it happened to me last year, I lost everything on my laptop including my university work, luckily I'm a computing student and kept backups of important stuff. It still meant that I lost all my music (almost 4 Gigs) plus lots of photographs, saved emails etc.

We have a saying in the UK; "Chin up"....bit more optimistic :)

Pete

As part of my job I get data back from dead drives all the time. I can figure out who sent what, where they moved the files, to what brand of USB key or CD, when they moved them and what they were wearing at the time. Although a lot of your stuff is time sensitive I could probably help you get back the rest of it. I'd have to check export laws for some of the software tools I use, but still it probably could be done. If you haven't already rebuilt the PC let me know.

By the way, some friendly professional advice, the problem isn't losing data, it's getting rid of it. Deleted means no such thing. Hard deleting emails means I have to click two more buttons to get it back. Wiping your hard drive means I can get it from the Mail server. Format your drive and I can get it back in minutes. FDISK it and it will take me and hour. Hard drive that fail go to the lab to have the platters moved to a working drive. Even DOD wipes can be undone. Think about what you store and what you send. Websurfing, Email and IM from within your firm is logged. Big Brother is watching.

...and now back to your regular program.

As part of my job I get data back from dead drives all the time. I can figure out who sent what, where they moved the files, to what brand of USB key or CD, when they moved them and what they were wearing at the time.

Geez, I'm going to have to start dressing better when I sit in front of the computer. :shock:

It is amazing what can be retrieved though.

I've had quite a few 'failures' over 20 years, but they've nearly all been just file corruptions that caused problems booting the drive. I was able to get the data back off using very basic strategies.

When my one real 'dead disk' happened a few months ago I thought long and hard before returning it for a replacement, because I know they only repair them, wipe them, and put them back on the market. But I had everything backed up, and in the end I thought it unlikely that anybody would be bothered trawling through gigabytes of other people's rubbish, when they must get hundreds of disks back every week. No banking details, passwords or anything of any real outside interest on that drive, so I don't think I was running much of a risk. Hope not...... :?

What tools and programs do you use Nick? Are they generally available or is it specialised stuff?

And can you recommend any wiping/overwriting tools for any disks/machines that get sold on please?

Cheers,

Chris

As part of my job I get data back from dead drives all the time. I can figure out who sent what, where they moved the files, to what brand of USB key or CD, when they moved them and what they were wearing at the time. Although a lot of your stuff is time sensitive I could probably help you get back the rest of it. I'd have to check export laws for some of the software tools I use, but still it probably could be done. If you haven't already rebuilt the PC let me know.

By the way, some friendly professional advice, the problem isn't losing data, it's getting rid of it. Deleted means no such thing. Hard deleting emails means I have to click two more buttons to get it back. Wiping your hard drive means I can get it from the Mail server. Format your drive and I can get it back in minutes. FDISK it and it will take me and hour. Hard drive that fail go to the lab to have the platters moved to a working drive. Even DOD wipes can be undone. Think about what you store and what you send. Websurfing, Email and IM from within your firm is logged. Big Brother is watching.

...and now back to your regular program.

What about that drive I smashed up and buried in ten pieces around my backyard? It's people like you that are the reason I wear tinfoil underwear, I hope you're happy.

I've heard of drives with sensitive data being melted down with thermite.

Did you guys ever watch the SCREENSAVERS TV show. The host Kevin Rose used to find wild ways of destroying hard drives. Im not sure if he ever used thermite, but he did make some pretty big fires. Another thing that he did was to put the drive in some kind of acid.

That poor guy started digg.com and now he is probably RICH. oh well, good for him.