tony@scotty.dccs.upenn.edu (Anthony Olejnik) (01/17/90)
I've noticed in some magazinse such as Computer Shopper that there are
places that repair hard disks. They charge about $75 for repair of
20Meg drives.
I have a drive that is bad, and I'm in the process of either buying a
new one, or getting the original repaired.
So, I'm asking the net:
1.) Has anyone used any of these places?
If so, what are your comments?
2.) Is $75 a good price for the repair of a 20Meg drive?
If not, what is a good price?
3.) It this a good way to go for hard disk repair?
(would I be better off spending the money and
getting a new drive).
I already have my disk backed up, so that if it should completely die
right now, I'm covered.
Any thoughs would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
--tony olejnik
University of Pennsylvania
tony@dccs.upenn.edubcw@rti.UUCP (Bruce Wright) (01/18/90)
In article <19095@netnews.upenn.edu>, tony@scotty.dccs.upenn.edu (Anthony Olejnik) writes: > > I've noticed in some magazinse such as Computer Shopper that there are > places that repair hard disks. They charge about $75 for repair of > 20Meg drives. > > So, I'm asking the net: > 1.) Has anyone used any of these places? > If so, what are your comments? We have had several drives repaired. They generally don't last very long after being processed by a hard disk repair facility -- 6 mo to a year at most. Usually just after their warranty period. We have had experience with several repair houses so I don't think it was an problem with just one repair house. > 2.) Is $75 a good price for the repair of a 20Meg drive? > If not, what is a good price? That's probably about as good a price as you will find. As noted above however it would probably not be worth it. > 3.) It this a good way to go for hard disk repair? > (would I be better off spending the money and > getting a new drive). In my opinion, it would be better to either send the drive back to the manufacturer (if they have a drive trade-in plan) or to buy a new drive. Our experience with such things (although not a scientific sample) suggests that: New drives > Manufacturer replacement drives > "repaired" drives Generally the manufacturer trade-in $ required are sufficiently large (almost as much as a new drive) that it doesn't seem to me that it justifies the reduced reliability vis-a-vis a new drive. Remember that the manufacturer replacement drives are generally "rebuilt" drives, but generally rebuilt to a higher quality control than most of the repair houses can maintain. Unless you really can't afford it or your time isn't worth anything, a new drive is the only way to go. Bruce C. Wright
simpson@Xylogics.COM (Reid Simpson) (01/18/90)
If you don't care about the data, you ought to return it to the manufacturer (especially under warrantee!) But if you need the data, you have to go to a recovery shop. These facilities essentially repair your drive to a point at which they can spin it up and read the data off to some floppies. They then return the drive and the recovered data to you. This procedure voids all manufacturer's warrantees, so you have to buy a new drive (or pay for real repairs, since the recovery shop doesn't fully recondition the drive). Depends on which is worth more to you, data or drive. Reid. simpson@Xylogics.COM (PS. I intentionally didn't mention any recovery shops since I haven't actually used their services. Prices were high enough that I couldn't afford to recover my data for my home PC, so I just swapped my hard drive. Email me if you want an address, or call the drive manufacturer and ask for a recommended data recovery shop.)