My LaCie hard drive crashed... literally!
Hello! 
I did something stupid, like I am wont to at certain times of the day.
I kept my 250 GB hard disk on one bed and my Mac on the other. I was burning some data from the drive onto a DVD and when I was trying to step over the wire connecting the drive to my FireWire port, my lazy leg hit the wire and the drive came crashing to the ground. Ouch. I could have sworn that I had raised my leg above the level of the wire but I don't know how it could still have come in the way. 
Now the drive is making a lot of grinding noise when I connect it to the Mac and though the computer can see the two partitions on the drive, it does not mount either partition. I feared that I would only do more damage if I tried to use the drive so I disconnected it. LaCie will replace it for free (of course they don't need to know how exactly the drive crashed; I guess they wouldn't be too happy to hear that) but they will not do any data recovery for me. And if I try to get it repaired myself, the technician will have to break the seal to gain access to the innards and that will void my warranty. Bloody suckers!
So what should I do? The drive was chock full of my glorious high definition movies, a full-blown bootable backup of my Mac and a lot of Windows and Mac applications. I cannot let all that precious data go down the drain. If I try to repair it, there's a chance I might end up without the data and the drive too (not to mention, the repair charges). I am so frustrated! Please help me! What should I do?
And if I needed any more reason, this is it. I am never, ever going to consider a computer from any other company. The MagSafe adapter is a total life-saver. You only recognise the value of something once you've suffered a loss. If it hadn't been for that nifty little magnetic connector, my notebook might not have been in usable condition today. Thank you, Apple!
(But I do hate this patents system which restricts any other company from incorporating this sort of magnetic connector in their electronic products. It is such a great feature, it should be there in every product that connects to a wire.)
I did something stupid, like I am wont to at certain times of the day.
I kept my 250 GB hard disk on one bed and my Mac on the other. I was burning some data from the drive onto a DVD and when I was trying to step over the wire connecting the drive to my FireWire port, my lazy leg hit the wire and the drive came crashing to the ground. Ouch. I could have sworn that I had raised my leg above the level of the wire but I don't know how it could still have come in the way. Now the drive is making a lot of grinding noise when I connect it to the Mac and though the computer can see the two partitions on the drive, it does not mount either partition. I feared that I would only do more damage if I tried to use the drive so I disconnected it. LaCie will replace it for free (of course they don't need to know how exactly the drive crashed; I guess they wouldn't be too happy to hear that) but they will not do any data recovery for me. And if I try to get it repaired myself, the technician will have to break the seal to gain access to the innards and that will void my warranty. Bloody suckers!
So what should I do? The drive was chock full of my glorious high definition movies, a full-blown bootable backup of my Mac and a lot of Windows and Mac applications. I cannot let all that precious data go down the drain. If I try to repair it, there's a chance I might end up without the data and the drive too (not to mention, the repair charges). I am so frustrated! Please help me! What should I do?
And if I needed any more reason, this is it. I am never, ever going to consider a computer from any other company. The MagSafe adapter is a total life-saver. You only recognise the value of something once you've suffered a loss. If it hadn't been for that nifty little magnetic connector, my notebook might not have been in usable condition today. Thank you, Apple!
(But I do hate this patents system which restricts any other company from incorporating this sort of magnetic connector in their electronic products. It is such a great feature, it should be there in every product that connects to a wire.)
Comments
I just wanted to know is there a good chance of recovering the data? And whether there is something I could do myself to try and rescue the data?
Well take this for what its worth but I've had quite a bit of experience when it comes to drives that go south.
Software related drive problems or simple 'bad sector' issues have a very good chance at data recovery using off the shelve software products - just find 'the best' you can find - something that's a moving target from year to year / OS rev to OS rev. Unfortunately this isn't what your specific drive is suffering from.
Board related drive problems - where the circuit board found on the bottom of every drive goes bad are usually NOT something you would attempt to fix on your own - unless that is you have access to the same EXACT type of drive where you can remove the board from one drive and transplant it to the other. Data recovery companies usually have a stockpile of just about every common drive made so finding an exact match is usually easier for them. This **could** be what your drive is suffering from but I have my doubts...
Major trauma (head/plater damage), more than likely what your drive is suffering from - Using off the shelve software can OFTEN cause more damage - in fact, sometimes damage enough where 'professional data recovery' is TOTALY impossible now the flip side of that coin is...
Even if you don't run or attempt ANY data recovery on your own much of the time when it comes to 'major trauma' (head crashing down on the platters) sending the drive out to data recovery usually gets you two thing...
1 - A very big bill (usually many times more than the cost of the drive)
2 - A handfull of DVDs containing mostly indistinguishable data.
The beauty part of running a data recovery shop is THEY always get paid...
Sorry I couldn't offer you better news but this is how just about every data recovery effort I had the pleasure to be involved in has turned out. (again when it comes to trauma induced HD failures).
Dave
I'll see what I can do.
Sure does suck though, my sympathies fella