As title suggests my 3-4 year old Acer laptop packed up last week so took it to a mate who works in IT installing computers/cables etc. He has informed that it looks like the hard drive has gone down and I will have lost all my contents i.e. thousands of photos. Yes I know I should have backed them all up,and the really annoying thing is that I had put aside a whole day the weekend after it did it to sort out my photos and store them to an external hard drive. Is there any way of retrieving them,or anyone that knows a compant local to me (N. Lincolnshire) that could do anything with it. Also would it be better for the old hard drive to still be in the laptop?
Please don't berate me for not backing it up to an external device. I know I'm a dipstick. There were some photos of the Vulcan bomber that I was very proud of that could be gone forever
Thanks in advance,Robin.
Think of a hard drive in the same way as an old VHS video tape. Anything you originally recorded on the tape will be still there until you "tape over" with a new recording. Hard drives a bit like that, delete anything and it is really still there on the hard drive, the software just tells it to mark the deleted file for "taping over". So if you start installing new software, downloading a lot (specially media like MP3 music or MPEG-4 movies), moving your files around, reinstalling Windows, etc., then your photos will sooner or later become lost for real. The way you talked about your problem, it sounds like it is the cassette itself that is broken, not the programme on the tape.
Therefore stop using your computer. I strongly advise you to follow Landwomble's advice which he said "
if this is a mechanical failure you run the risk of worsening the problem"
It is great that your friend is an IT specialist
but you said "installing computers/cables etc." That sounds like he can only fix hardware problems, install and set up software, etc. I would also strongly advise you to follow EightBitTony and Landwomble's suggest of trying the links they gave to you. I haven't checked those websites, but those members are suggesting
data recovery specialist who could still take off your files from the wonky hard drive and save them to other means.
Just image that (only in theory): Your friend suggest you replace the tape cassette with a new one, so you lost your recording, but data recovery specialist maybe remove the tape out of the cassette and put it in a new cassette so you could still use it. There is a big difference between an IT specialist in installing computers and an IT specialist in recovering data, same as there is a difference between a heart specialist doctor and a brain specialist doctor.
If you have to, you may have to stop thinking of looking local and think of having a go booking the services of data recovery specialist outside of your area, yes it may cost more, but hey, it's the price you pay for not backing up. Somewhat similar effects for some people who drove too fast, paid their fines, said "never again" and suddenly they drive carefully.
Your friend is a heart specialist, you need a brain specialist, so try the other member's suggests of websites for data recovery IT guys.
(to the general points, not the recommendation as I don't know him.)
Trust me,if I could turn back the clock I would. Its just one of those jobs I never get round to doing. I will post an update when I found out more,and if I use a recovery device or service I will put feedback on here to help other idiots like me who are blase' with 4 years worth of photos.
