If you’ve been visiting the blog lately, you have noticed that I’ve been tinkering around with the look of the blog. While I recognize that content is the most important component of any blog, I feel strongly that the look and feel can affect a reader’s interest. What I particularly liked about this theme was that it was clean and each reader can adjust the text size to his or her liking.

Now, back to the real work of putting my thoughts into posts. I hope you will continue to stick around, and that I may author pieces that interest you and stimulates dialog.

Cheers!
Matthew

design

I bought a Seagate FreeAgent 1.5TB drive this summer (yes…just a few months ago) because my Western Digital 320g  drive was full. I was so excited to pick up the drive because I made the commitment to shoot only in RAW, so file storage space is a paramount. After transferring all my images and music from my Western Digital drive, as well as transferring files residing on my laptop harddrive, and subsequent image files, I quickly filled up about 1/2 of the drive.  No worries. I still have over 750GB of storage left on this one drive. Sweet!

Or, so I thought.

I suspect some of you may have experienced the horror that follows.

Last night, I went to pull some images from the external drive. I plugged the power adapter into the wall and immediately heard a dull “beep…beep…beep.” Hmmm, that doesn’t sound good. My anxiety level went up a few more notches when I noticed that the drive was not recognized on my computer. Now while I like to fancy myself as an advanced amateur IT guy, I had no clue what to do next other than unplug the power supply and plug it back in.

“beep…beep…beep “

Ah man…this is NOT good.  Even though ALL my image files are saved on this drive, I decided not to panic. I will do some research, and solicit help from my friends. Sure enough, within moments, I had a couple of photography friends on Twitter as well as a workplace friend offer advice and recommendations. Before consulting some of the “third party” services for data recovery, I thought, “Why not contact Seagate? It’s their faulty hard drive that is the source of my angst.”

I will let the chat with the service support person speak for itself:

Michael Carter: Thank you for contacting i365, A Seagate Company – Professional Services , my name is Michael Carter. How may I help you today?
matthew : Hi. I have a FreeAgent 1.5 TB external drive that is beeping when connected to a power supply and not showing up on my computer. I fear the drive is damaged in some way. Before sending it back, I wanted to inquire about data recovery.
Communication with the RightNow Chat service has been lost. Please wait while attempts are made to restore the connection.
Disconnection in 240 seconds.
Connection resumed.
Michael Carter: We can certainly help you recover the data off the drive however be informed that data recovery is a premium paid service which is not covered under warranty.
Michael Carter: May I know your geographical location and phone number?
matthew : I understand that it’s not covered under warranty. I am in Washington DC. My number is _______
Michael Carter: Thank you.
Michael Carter: To understand it better and to help you with this issue, may I ask you few questions ?
matthew : certainly
Michael Carter: May I know if your Computer can still view the Storage device?
matthew : no
matthew : it doesn’t show up
Michael Carter: Does Bios recognize it when the computer boots?
matthew : I can’t recall. Unfortunately, I am not at my personal computer and external Seagate drive at the moment.
Michael Carter: Is the drive making any Abnormal? eg: clicking or grinding noise.
matthew : it makes a steady, muted beeping noise about every 2 seconds. it will do this for a while and then it appears the drive shuts down.
Michael Carter: Is it a Single hard drive or is it connected to a network of Server ?
matthew : single hard drive. it’s the Seagate FREEAGENT DESK drive 7200-RPM USB2.0 1500 GB
Michael Carter: Was the hard drive opened by any other Data Recovery Center or Was there any Recovery Attempt made ?
matthew : no. yesterday was the first time it didn’t work, and i am exploring options for data recovery before sending the unite back for warranty replacement.
Michael Carter: Which Operating system do you use ?
matthew : Windows Vista
Michael Carter: May I know if this data is for Personal or Business needs ?
Michael Carter: Thank you for all the information.
matthew : both
Michael Carter: Based on the information given, there should have been some sort of physical damage occurred to the hard drive.
Michael Carter: We have two services a priority is where you get the data in 2-5 Business days economy it is 2-4 weeks.
Michael Carter: We are looking at a Range of $399- $2500 depending on the questions answered I will give you a fixed quote.
matthew : wow! what determines where the cost begins on that scale (other than priority)? There’s a variance of $2,100.
Michael Carter: The economy service would cost you $1,600.00 USD and the priority service is $2,300.00 USD.
Michael Carter: We always offer a “no data, no charge” guarantee – if we can’t recover your data, there is absolutely no charge to you.
matthew : what happened to $399?
Michael Carter: The $399 quote is only applicable if the drive is recognized by the computer and does not make any abnormal sound.
matthew : ok. well, that should have been ruled out based on my responses. Is there service level between $399 and $1600? Seems like a big leap
Michael Carter: There is a form online which you to fill and submit.
Michael Carter: The inlab range starts from $700 – $2500 USD, for a physically damaged drive $1600 USD is the starting price.
matthew : what if the drive is just malfunctioning…no fault of mine. you’re saying that i have to pay extra for Seagate’s bad drive?
Michael Carter: I understand your concern Mathew, Seagate can replace the drive free of cost if drive is under warranty but not the data on it.
Michael Carter: I can walk you through the paperwork to proceed with the in-lab recovery.
matthew : right, but do you see my issue here? I’m trying to give you a hard time, but I’m at a loss as to why I am paying for data recovery on a faulty drive, not to mention having to cover the extra cost for damaged drive repair.
matthew : i meant to say that I am NOT trying to give you a hard time
matthew : it’s just unnerving to think I have a malfunctioning drive (Seagate’s issue), but I am responsible for footing up to $2500 to recover my data from this failed product.
Michael Carter: Due to highly expensive nature of the service and the infrastructure it needs data recovery is a paid service.
matthew : I appreciate your time explaining what’s available. I think that I will shop around for other data recovery services before committing.
Michael Carter: Sure, you can take your time to decide on it, but ensure the drive is not opened by any other data recovery as the cost could go much higher.
Michael Carter: I can also send you an email with the instructions to submit the form.
matthew : go higher with your services right? Will do. I plan to have this drive opened, and recovered, only once. Thanks. Please shoot me the email in the event I chose to use Seagate’s data recover service.
Michael Carter: That is correct.
Michael Carter: I confirm your email as ___________.
matthew : that’s correct.
Michael Carter: Sure will send an email.
Michael Carter: Is there anything else that I may help you with?
matthew : No. That’s it. Thanks for sharing the services and costs
Michael Carter: Thank you for contacting i365, Have a great day.
Michael Carter: Bye.
matthew : You too. Bye.

computers, technology