These are the best people to use
http://www.krollontrack.co.uk/
NASA used them after the space shuttle disaster. (pdf below)
http://istcolloq.gsfc.nasa.gov/fall2008/presentations/pederson.pdf
They diagnose the fault on the drive and send you a verifile report, you install a small program to view the report and you browse the file where you can see your folders and data as if viewing on your own hard drive. It shows you the chances of recovering each file from good (green) to bad (red) partial recovery of file.
http://www.krollontrack.co.uk/resource-library/product-demos/verifile/index.html
They used to charge £50 (may be free now, you will need to check) and should you wish to continue it was around £495 to recover the data. If after the diagnosis you decide NOT to continue you ONLY pay the diagnosis fee (£50 or free if it is) plus the shipping cost to return your hard drive to you.
BUT you do get your OLD hard drive back using Ontrack (some companies charge hundreds even if NO data is recovered and DO NOT return your old hard drive.)
Having used Ontrack data recovery I would not use anyone else as they are very professional, I went to their office at:
The Pavilions
1 Weston Road, Kiln Lane
Epsom KT17 1JG
It is a real company (not a collection point address used for a courier pick up as some of the dodgy outfits use to disguise who they are) I trust nonone, hence why I wanted to see where they were.
They do have a collection point here also:
Conference House, 152
Morrison Street, The Exchange
Edinburgh EH3 8EB
After one customer paid hundreds of pounds for a firm who failed to recover ANY DATA (including £150 for hard drive to be reassembled and returned to them)
I advised he use Ontrack who for £495 (not sure what price is now) they recovered over 295GB of data. Everything they wanted was recovered whereas the other company got ZERO back.
The recovered data was returned on an external hard drive (supplied by Ontrack) with the data encrypted using TrueCrypt and an email sent with the password to unlock the data, so no chance of the data being stolen as well as the old broken drive returned to you.
I cannot comment on the other companies recommended as I have never used them, but after using Ontrack with their progress update by email, cheap or free diagnosis for you to decide if you wish to continue it is the only people I would use myself.
If you use anyone else ask first:
1: How much do you charge if no data is recovered?
2: Do I get my old hard drive back?
3: How much do I pay to get my old drive back in same condition as I sent it to you? (In case you want to try someone else)
