You should know first and foremost there is no guarantee of successful data recovery in a case like that.
I have done it on many an occasion. Most times I have gotten off data.
I ask the following questions:
What brand/model/size drive? IDE or SATA?
Does the drive even spin up? (If not, hard luck. He'll have to send that to some expensive data recovery company in foreign if he wants the data that badly)
Does BIOS recognize drive? Do you get a SMART Failure warning in BIOS startup screen?
Does windows recognize drive? Is it possible to browse drive in windows at all?
Describe the failure (is it making the classic intermittent knocking sound, high pitched sound, etc?)
How many GB if data needs to be recovered? Which data is most important to him? Location of data on drive (which folders?)
I use a few data recovery software tools for my method. They've helped me many time in the past. I not messing around with opening a drive or changing circuit board on drive at all. If that has to be done, ship it foreign yes!
I reside in Diego, but I can meet you to pickup the drive. You'll have give me a few days (up to 2 weeks!) to perform recovery.
If you are interested, I'll PM you a cost. I ent want to buss price on nobody. (admittedly HDD data recovery is a pricey job)
