My Hard Drive died

[offthewall]

hello, i have a black macbook. The other day it up and died. i have no back up, the main thing i need off it is my stored e-mails, they are no longer on the sever.I can't get it into recovery mode or target disc mode.  Anyway long story short, where is the best place to get data recovery in ottawa and how much does it cost. Any help would be great.

thanks,

Patrick

[z-mac]

I assume you're certain that it is a disk failure.

Take your computer to an Apple store if it is still under warranty. If there's no warranty, it isn't difficult to take apart the computer yourself:
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook-Polycarbonate-Unibody/1239/1

[Dan Millar]

Data recovery services are mighty expensive. If your MacBook won't allow you to access the hard drive from either a) the install CD/DVD your Mac came with, or b) through the firewire target mode, then your HD has truly failed. Be certain that neither of these methods are working for you before proceeding to a data recovery service. Data recovery specialists will disassemble you hard drive in a clean-room environment to determine whether its an electronic problem with the controller or physical problem with the mechanics, and proceed to attempt the appropriate recovery. At some companies there is a flat rate just for trying, and all companies charge per-kilobyte on top of that if they are successful. Here's a few recommended service providers in the area:

www.datarecoveryservices.com (Tunstall&Tunstall)
www.capitaldatarecovery.com
www.doctordata.ca
www.datainsight.ca

If you do get any response from the HD using either method a or b, you have a good shot at recovering the data yourself, or through a non-Apple store Apple store - i.e The Apple Store does NOT offer data recovery services, but others, like Carbon Computing or Computer Concepts may. If you know what you're doing, you can purchase the excellent Data Rescue 3 from ProSoft Engineering for US$99, taxes, S&H, etc., check it out at:

http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php

Good luck - and while you're shopping for a new HD, consider getting an external HD the same size or bigger, for backups of course - they're cheap and very re-assuring!

Happy Mac'ing!

Dan

[offthewall]

thank-you for all of the great info, it looks like the ipad is going to be put on hold.

thanks again,

Patrick