[olug] Local Data Recovery

[Ben Watson]

Question:

Does anyone on the list have any recommendations for a local(ish) data
recovery company that can pull data from a damaged HDD?

Background:

My friend/colleague informed me he could no longer access his 2nd HDD in
his machine (his "data drive").  I brought it home and powered it on and
heard (from what I've researched) the "click of death" sound.  You can
definitely hear the armature repeatedly trying to park itself.  No OS
(Windows or Linux) will detect/mount the drive.

In an attempt to cheaply recover the data myself, we purchased two donor
drives from eBay, hoping that the controller board was the issue and that a
swap might save the day.  They are nearly identical to the damaged drive:
same make/model, same site manufacturing code, and similar firmware codes.

I verified the donor drives were in good working order, then one-by-one
tried swapping the controller boards only to hear the same "click of
death".  Thus, I suspect this to be a mechanical problem and I lack the
environment ("clean room") and knowledge to crack the case open and proceed
further.

Conclusion:

Please recommend a local(ish) company you have had a positive experience
with first/second hand.  +1 if you can recall pricing, turn-around time,
etc.

Respectfully,

Ben