Hard drive faulty - data recovery options?

[KerryE]

My Dell Inspiron (win8) would not boot up, took it to a shop and they installed new hard drive.

If I put my old HD in a carrier - its a Seagate 500GB - what is the best software I can buy to hopefully recover my files?
The most important files are Quickbooks (.qbw) and ACT data base file.

[Lisa_maree]

Hi Kerry

A lot depends on how badly damaged the hard drive is.
Did the shop diagnose what was causing the drive not to boot ?
If the drive was starting loading windows but stopping before the desktop or logon then free software could recover it.

If you were using a password to log on to windows then you may need software that can access your profile.

If you entered a password when you first started the laptop before windows started loading then you need to do the recovery differently.

Some more detail would really help thanks
 
 

[Geek-9pm]

This topic has been covered over and over again. Here is a link to a large number of prior posts here that might be what  you want.
Data Recovery Options - CH forums.

[KerryE]

The shop tried to get the old hard drive working but there was a snag and they said an entire reload of Windows 8 was necessary which would wipe off all my data files.

So I decided to get a new hard drive and recover files from my old drive at my leisure. While I was at the shop, they let me look at my hard drive which they had set up so that I could drag my files onto another external hard drive. It was at this point I could not find the files I really wanted. Then the shop discovered that we could only actually apparently access the 'recovery partition' part of the hard drive.

So the shop did run some kind of recovery program and told me everything that this program could find they transferred to a memory stick. But my guess is that their program only detects common file types, eg jpg/pdf and the like because I cant find the files I really need (ie Quickbooks and ACT! data files). Also all the files have been renamed with a number, but with the correct extension.

So, what I want to do is download a recovery program which detects all files (well, including Quickbooks and ACT! files at least) and then see if I can recover them myself. What is the best recovery software?

Obviously the hard drive I will have to put in some kind of enclosure.

[Lisa_maree]

Thank you, that really helps.

I would try GetDataBack  from here  https://www.runtime.org/data-recovery-software.htm

You can try it and check that the data is recovered before you buy it.

[KerryE]

I tried GetDataBack, but it was not successful.

I found the Seagate Recovery software online, its a free demo, so I have run a detailed search which took about 10 hours.

It has found folders/files which could be the ones I need, but they all have a red cross through them. I have found it impossible to find a manual online to see what anything actually means, but on the Seatgate FAQ section it says something to the effect 'a red cross means it was possibly deleted but it may/should be recoverable'

Anyone familiar with the Seagate Recovery software or is there another alternative.

Now I could send it to a lab, but I am worried they will not be able to recover and charge me anyway.

[jason2074]

Try here http://html5.litten.com/windows-file-recovery-series-part-4-recover-files-from-a-bad-hard-drive/