Back to Part I: losing all the data on a hard disk, and Part II: the trials and tribulations of paying to get it back. Now we find out what happened, and what you can expect from a data recovery specialist.

Greg, the technician from Iomega Data Recovery, sent back two documents two days later: One was a Word document containing a list of files that were recovered from the disk.

The document had most of my files in it, but some were missing. Many of the files were grouped by file type in an "orphans" folder, meaning that the files were on the disk, but their place in the disk's directory structure was lost. Some files were only named according to their file type, such as "m4p-00195.m4p" and "InDesignCS-00003.indd" because their filenames were gone. I would find out later that some files were copied several times (sometimes as many as six times): once as part of the directory structure, and again in the "orphans" folder. Still: many copies are better than no copies.

They offered to return the data on a new hard disk, but the cost of it is not included in the recovery fee. The second attachment to the tech's email was a price list. I chose the cheapest bare hard disk at the necessary capacity, since I had an enclosure to put it in. They offered (more expensive) USB and FireWire hard disks as options for return as well. So add another $55 to the total price.

Greg also asked for a list of the 20 most critical files that could be used as a test for successful recovery. I emailed him a list of mostly files for work I had in progress during the failure, a brochure for a client of mine that manufactures propellers. He called the next day, walking me through the contents of the InDesign document and its support files. "This one appears to be a picture of a propeller blade. This one has a big headline that says 'simply the best.'" Relief. I was satisfied that everything was recovered, approved the recovery, and thanked Greg.

The next part was the hardest: Paying the invoice. The grand total wasn't as bad as I thought: I was prepared to pay tax on all $1,500, but (in California at least) services aren't taxable. So the only tax I had to pay was $4.54 on the replacement hard disk. The grand total was $1,559.54. I'm writing that off my taxes this year.

Once my payment was processed, which took a day, two drives were overnighted to me: the original (failed) drive, and the new replacement drive. I popped the replacement went into my enclosure, and -- tah dah! -- there were my files.

The most significant casualty of the data recovery, however, was the loss of 10 years of painstakingly collected Mystery Science Theater 3000 videos. Many were videos I had recorded originally on VHS, some had been, uh, acquired by other means -- as youthful indiscretions, shall we say. Thankfully, all my project data and purchased music was safe and sound. Everything that was lost could be replaced.

Files on the replacement disk were painfully disorganized, though, which gave me an idea of just how logically corrupted the volume was. Files that were added to the drive after it had been connected via the AirPort Base Station were mostly in the Orphans folder, apparently scattered hither and yon across the disk's platters. I spent the better part of a day copying files, reorganizing everything, and preparing my new backup strategy that included a brand-new, 1.5TB external disk to use with Time Machine.

I learned my lesson the hard way. I had a good experience, but paid dearly for it.

If this story saves anyone any amount of money for data recovery, then it's done its job. Please: Back up your data. The money you spend on a hard disk for backup is far less than what you'd spend on data recovery.

There is no shortage of stories here on TUAW (and elsewhere) that extol the benefits of backing up your data. Apple even makes it ridiculously easy to do so -- with Mac OS X 10.5, Time Machine, a blank drive, and some spare time, you're set.

Nevertheless, despite your best efforts, there are unforeseen circumstances where you might need to utter those dreaded words: "I need to send this for data recovery." Perhaps your airplane landed in the Hudson river, and your waterlogged laptop was stuck with your luggage. Perhaps an external disk is suffering from a manufacturing defect. Perhaps your backup disk is the disk that failed.

Unfortunately, there is no way to sugar-coat this: Data recovery is a painful, patience-trying, and absurdly expensive process. But if it's the only way to recover mission-critical data, it could be your only option.

It was for me.

Back to Part I of Robert's tale of data recovery. It's a typical geek story: Boy gets data, boy loses data, boy tries to get data back.

Because of my former employer's professional relationship with Iomega, I had sent a disk for recovery to Iomega Data Recovery before, and was confident they'd be able to recover the data. I went to their website, and started a quote.

It's worth mentioning that there are many other services besides Iomega Data Recovery that do excellent work. DriveSavers, for example, had a booth at Macworld where people could walk up, physically damage a disk by scratching it, and -- behold! -- they still could recover the data before your eyes. Other services are available from Total Access, as well as from local technicians who can come to your location.

Starting the quote began with asking for my contact information, along with details about the drive. I tried to be as explicit as possible about how the drive was connected, to see if they would be able to isolate the logical failure that happened on the disk, and recover the data accordingly. They also had an area where you could specify specific files or file types to target for recovery.

Submitting the quote generates a document to print include in the box when you send it to them, and tips for packing the drive securely. I wrapped the drive in foam, put it in a snug-fitting box, and sent it to their lab in Santa Clara, California.

Then, the waiting started.

A technician, the supremely helpful and consummate professional Greg Sabanis, emailed me five days later (there was a weekend in there, if I recall correctly) with an analysis of the damaged drive. He said:

The drive has read errors affecting structures and possibly data files. Based upon this evaluation, we feel that a recovery may be possible. We will have to attempt to manually rebuild the corrupted / invalid file system components, mount the recovered volume(s) and finally determine if some / all of the data you require is intact.

That was something of a relief. Then came the sticker shock: The recovery would cost $1,500, plus tax. The good news (I suppose) was that I didn't have to pay it now: I could see the results of their recovery first, and then determine if it was worth it to spend the money for what they recovered. If Greg couldn't recover any data off the disk, there would be no charge.

Speaking with friends, it's clear that Iomega Data Recovery is average in terms of cost for the size of the disk I sent them. Lower-capacity disks, flash media and removable storage costs less. One thing's for sure: they have you by the huevos, and they're gonna charge you for it.

With client work on that drive, the nascent reputation of my freelance business was on the line. I had no choice but to spend the money. So, I signed their evaluation, faxed it back, and hoped for the best.

Part III: The thrilling conclusion.

All day on December 25, TUAW presents "Now What?" We've got first steps and recommendations for all the Apple gifts you (hopefully!) found under the tree today. Happy holidays! If you're a Mac veteran, send a link to this post to the switcher on your holiday list.

Merry Christmas, new Mac owner. First of all, congratulations! Welcome to the family. There's some eggnog on the table, and feel free to put your coat on the bed. Setting up your new Mac is a famously easy experience. It should take about 10 minutes, depending on the kind of Mac you bought, and where you want to put it.

Once you have your new Mac on your desk, it will take you through a short setup process to personalize your new machine. You'll choose a username, a password, and will be given the option to register your Mac and sign up for MobileMe, if you want. (You can register and sign up for MobileMe later, if you don't do it now.)

If you bought any applications along with your Mac (like Microsoft Office, for example), you can install them very easily. Just insert the disc, and either drag the application to your Applications folder (on your hard disk) or double-click the installer application. You can eject the disc when you're done by dragging it to the Trash, or pressing the eject key on your keyboard.

For Windows compatibility, get your Windows XP (SP2 or SP3) or Windows Vista disc ready, and double click the Boot Camp Assistant in the Utilities folder (it's inside your Applications folder). Boot Camp Assistant will walk you through the process of installing Windows on your Mac. It's not difficult, but it will take a little time. Once Windows is installed, you can hold down the Option key before your computer boots to choose which operating system to run, or select a permanent preference via the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences. You can read more switcher-specific tips in our Switchers category.

If you're switching to the Mac platform from the PC, I might humbly suggest you read Part 1 and Part 2 of my experience introducing my dad to the Mac. He was a hard-core PC user until he fell in love with his Mac mini.

Continue reading for a few best bets about how to extend and protect your new Mac.

As an entertaining Friday afternoon aside to our discussion earlier this week about how to recover data from a dying hard disk, it turns out there's plenty of uses left for the ones that have finally stopped pining for the fjords.

• With this tutorial from HacknMod, you can turn your hard disk into a grinder or sander.

• You can make a windchime and a keychain out of the parts inside the hard disk. Classy!

• You can turn it into a speaker.

• Years ago, my dad used to make clocks out of the huge 14-inch disk platters he used in old HP 3000 minicomputers. Turns out you can do this with the smaller drives of today, too.

• Finally, if you acquire enough expired hard disks, you can make a huge domino set out of them.

Practical? Probably not. But hey, it beats throwing them away.

We've all been there. The external disk you bought three or four years ago, which has been working great so far, starts to click. And it's not a good click ... it's the kind of click that gives you the spinning beach ball of death.

Poopie.

Sounds like it's time to get the data off that disk, and toot sweet, if you pardon my French. You buy a new disk, and you start copying. But then what happens? The Finder throws up an error saying it can't copy a certain file or folder, and it's 20 folders deep in an old archive of client data. The Finder stops the copy, and you have to figure out where the problem is buried, fix it, and try copying again. Meanwhile, seasons pass, civilizations rise and fall, and your fingernails start to grow into your keyboard.

Double poopie.

So what do you do? Believe it or not, the Terminal can be your friend to quickly copy damaged data, and power through disk errors. The data may still be damaged, but heck if it won't try to copy it somewhere safe.

After the jump, find out how to recover your data, and fast.