recovering from a Disk failure

[ragsug]

Hi
I have a 20 Gig IBM laptop drive which has failed completely. I can see it as a slave on a laptop. The moment I click on it, it gives a clicking noise. I can see the data but cannot access the same. I even tried ghosting but it reports read failures. Is there a way I can salvage this data. I have been to Drivesavers in the past but they are very expensive. Any pointers will be appreciated.
Ragu

 

[Lemon13]

if it´s reported in bios and available in windows you can try file inspector at

http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/UK/welcome.htm,

but the clicking noise might mean there are problems with positioning the head (might be gone already). it´s freeware, so give it a try.

 

[mijan]

It sounds as though the disk is on its last legs. the clicking is for certain because you trying to access damaged part of disk. I am afraid the suggestion above may kill the drive completely. you may have to try a data recovery company, try

http://www.computer-recovery.com

or

http://www.zienex.com

both from what i know can deal with problems like yours.

 

[ragsug]

Thx for your replies. Mijan is probably right if any attempt to repair makes it worse. I have asked for a quote from computer-recovery.com but in the past I know that these guys are very expensive. The last time for a similar issue, I paid 2 Grand for DriveSavers. They did recover the data fully. This time, the user is not very, very desperate but 4 years of work is in that drive. Thx
Ragu