4 ms·

I saw this post when the author submitted it to /r/bitcoin several hours ago: http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1t5fgr/i_wrote_a_tool_to_pull_private_bit

I saw this post when the author submitted it to /r/bitcoin several hours ago: http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1t5fgr/i_wrote_a_tool_to_pull_private_bitcoin_keys_off/ http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1t5fgr/i_wrote_a_to... Frustratingly, the author titled his post "Bitcoin Private Key Necromancy" but titled his Reddit submission "I wrote a tool to pull private bitcoin keys off dead harddrives" which is a far better title. He recovered about 46 coins.

kubiiii 13y ago
If the hardrive wont power on but the filesystem is ok you can still send it to a recovery company for something like a few hundred bucks. -Hi i've just received the data you recovered from my hard disk, thanks, but I can't find my wallet ... -Dont know what you are talking about.
- johnchristopher 13y ago
  Last time I checked it was more in the thousands bucks range than in the hundreds unless you are only talking about damage controller.
  - kubiiii 13y ago
    I had a quotation for a 500 GB HD recovery a few months back, it was 400 euros (France). It was a flat rate, problem could be the controller or mechanical : same price. But I guess it depends on the company, didn't try it anyway so I dont know if it was reliable or not (no BTC on this drive!).
    - yardie 13y ago
      I've got 2 HDDs sitting in the bottom of my freezer (notorious, Seagate 7200.9s) waiting to be recovered. If you have that contact please send it to me. I'm only finding 1500-2000euro quotes.
      - kubiiii 13y ago
        Sorry I checked through my emails, no way to get it. 1500-2000 sounds very expensive though. Maybe 400 euros is not possible today, I had the quotation 2 or 3 years ago.
      - _rmp_ 13y ago
        Many hard drive failures are caused by its PCB and can be easily solved just by replacing it with a new one. Finding a Matching Hard Drive PCB: http://www.hddzone.com/conditions.html http://www.hddzone.com/conditions.html For physical problems: http://www.wikihow.com/Fix-a-Physically-Broken-Hard-Drive http://www.wikihow.com/Fix-a-Physically-Broken-Hard-Drive I assume you already knew this, as you keep them on your freezer... and that this may not be applicable to your case, but this could be useful for other people anyway.
        yardie 13y ago
        I'll give it a shot. In this series Seagate changed the platter coating. So after around 3 years the coating starts to flake off and get jammed between the head and surface.
        xtreme777 13y ago
        It is pointless to swap a PCB on Seagate drives these days. Most likely it will not help. The odds are 1:50 that a compatible PCB will be a good match. There is a procedure that is a procedure to perform the proper swap and that requires tools, recovery equipment and knowledge of PCB architecture. On certain drives (some Seagate models ver IV or V) you should never swap a PCB. If you do, the drive will be toast. Same applies to some Hitachi / IBM drives. If data is critical - do not experiment.
        sounds 13y ago
        This. (@yardie: I tried to get in touch with you) Do not replace the controller on a Seagate. You may have better luck with other manufacturers. If there is valuable data on there, and it sounds like there is, pay the price to have it professionally recovered. They have insurance.
  - eitland 13y ago
    Some insurance companies will pay for recovery. Last I heard you had to have a backup to be eligible for this and they will pay to get the files that are updated since last backup.(!) Of course, once a recovery lab is on the case they will most likely give you everything there is. Point in case: Have some kind of backup, anything is better than nothing, it might worth something even it is a couple of months old.
    - deleted 13y ago
      [deleted]

kubiiii 13y ago

If the hardrive wont power on but the filesystem is ok you can still send it to a recovery company for something like a few hundred bucks. -Hi i've just received the data you recovered from my hard disk, thanks, but I can't find my wallet ... -Dont know what you are talking about.

johnchristopher 13y ago
Last time I checked it was more in the thousands bucks range than in the hundreds unless you are only talking about damage controller.
- kubiiii 13y ago
  I had a quotation for a 500 GB HD recovery a few months back, it was 400 euros (France). It was a flat rate, problem could be the controller or mechanical : same price. But I guess it depends on the company, didn't try it anyway so I dont know if it was reliable or not (no BTC on this drive!).
  - yardie 13y ago
    I've got 2 HDDs sitting in the bottom of my freezer (notorious, Seagate 7200.9s) waiting to be recovered. If you have that contact please send it to me. I'm only finding 1500-2000euro quotes.
    - kubiiii 13y ago
      Sorry I checked through my emails, no way to get it. 1500-2000 sounds very expensive though. Maybe 400 euros is not possible today, I had the quotation 2 or 3 years ago.
    - _rmp_ 13y ago
      Many hard drive failures are caused by its PCB and can be easily solved just by replacing it with a new one. Finding a Matching Hard Drive PCB: http://www.hddzone.com/conditions.html http://www.hddzone.com/conditions.html For physical problems: http://www.wikihow.com/Fix-a-Physically-Broken-Hard-Drive http://www.wikihow.com/Fix-a-Physically-Broken-Hard-Drive I assume you already knew this, as you keep them on your freezer... and that this may not be applicable to your case, but this could be useful for other people anyway.
      - yardie 13y ago
        I'll give it a shot. In this series Seagate changed the platter coating. So after around 3 years the coating starts to flake off and get jammed between the head and surface.
        xtreme777 13y ago
        It is pointless to swap a PCB on Seagate drives these days. Most likely it will not help. The odds are 1:50 that a compatible PCB will be a good match. There is a procedure that is a procedure to perform the proper swap and that requires tools, recovery equipment and knowledge of PCB architecture. On certain drives (some Seagate models ver IV or V) you should never swap a PCB. If you do, the drive will be toast. Same applies to some Hitachi / IBM drives. If data is critical - do not experiment.
        sounds 13y ago
        This. (@yardie: I tried to get in touch with you) Do not replace the controller on a Seagate. You may have better luck with other manufacturers. If there is valuable data on there, and it sounds like there is, pay the price to have it professionally recovered. They have insurance.
- eitland 13y ago
  Some insurance companies will pay for recovery. Last I heard you had to have a backup to be eligible for this and they will pay to get the files that are updated since last backup.(!) Of course, once a recovery lab is on the case they will most likely give you everything there is. Point in case: Have some kind of backup, anything is better than nothing, it might worth something even it is a couple of months old.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]