HD data recovery?

Hi,

How hard is it to retrieve data from a dead hard drive?

I don't know what the fault with it is, I've just had it replaced, but still need the data on the old one.

Will it cost me a fortune to have it retrieved?

Just how dead is it?! It can range from free (Disk Utility) to freaking horrendous (more than 3000 bucks). What happened that you had to replace it? What Mac do you have?

I've got a powerbook - and I have no idea what the problem was, I took it to a company and they said it was knackered and it would have to replaced - which they've done.

Basically it had trouble starting up, on grey screen, and then after a few more attempts wouldn't boot up at all.

You have a few options. One would be to put it into another system as a second hard drive and see if the system can access it, sometimes this works enough to get files off. Another similar option would be to use an external adapter to plug the drive into a USB drive (either using an external HDD enclosure, or a USB/IDE adapter). There are some various utilities or Linux Live CDs for disk repair like Sherman mentioned, and finally there are data retrieval services which charge you a lot (also as Sherman mentioned).

Also, see if you can find a local computer forensics guru. They may have access to hard-core investigative applications, like Encase, which can be used to recover the drive. With Encase, as long as the drive spins, it will get something.

If you work for a publicly-traded company that has an IT Security department, I can almost guarantee they've got access to that. Especially if they are in a regulated industry.

Good luck

If it won't spin up, it will be expensive. More expensive than most individuals wish to spend. Now, you could get lucky and only have sections of the drive be bad. Tossing it in an external chassis would allow you to access it then.