PC Repair shops, should I be this cynical?

Cloudwolfe

So the HDD in my current main PC is failing/failed.

I have no other desktop to serve as a Master/Slave to transfer the data. Before ordering a new HDD I went to 3 PC Repair shops to check their prices on:

Installing a new HDD.
Installing XP as an OS. (I have the discs)
Transferring the data.

First shop: 170 euro.
Second: 245 euro.
Third. 255 euro.



Let's take a look at the HDD I would like.


Seagate, 3.5 inch Barracuda, 500 GB, 7200rpm SATA Drive with 16MB Buffer.

€34.40 from Amazon, currently free delivery.

2 SATA power adapter cables, 2 Sata Data Cables, for hooking up the HDD to the motherboard.

€2 from Amazon. Not sure on delivery rate if bought with the HDD.


Installing the HDD.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbb9xrR49d8&feature=relmfu

Video is 11 minutes long, half of it is explaining the difference between different drives including SSD, RAID, SATA etc.


Installing an OS. (XP in my case, as I have the discs for it)

This can take 20-60 minutes to do on a modern PC with Broadband (for downloading the security updates).


Transferring the Data.

Depending on the level of damage to an old HDD it can be as simple as using it as a Slave drive (a second drive in your PC) to paying a large amount for physically damaged drives to be recovered. A physically damaged drive is highly noticeable as the noises that it makes inside the PC will indicate that it is damaged.


One thing I will give to my argument is that I don't know the extent of the damage. It isn't physical but it will not boot, into safe mode or otherwise and access to the recovery console is blocked by an OEM (Original equipment manufacturer) Admin password which I couldn't obtain from Dell.

But then again, these 3 shops haven't had access to the HDD, so they don't know the extent of the damage either.



Am I right to be sceptical of these seemingly insane prices, €170-255 to do the above, or am I being naive?

mp22

Boot the pc from a linux live cd,transfer data to a usb key,install new hd.

Agent Smith

If your in dublin, I can give you a hand for the cost a few pints

Overheal

Cloudwolfe wrote: »

Am I right to be sceptical of these seemingly insane prices, €170-255 to do the above, or am I being naive?

A little from a column A a little from column B. They're businesses, they make profit, they have bills, and liabilities, and store fronts. If you're techinically savvy it's better to do this sort of thing youself and save the money, but in all fairness I work with technically challenged customers every other say, that still have trouble with the difference between RAM and a Hard Drive, or those who have trouble fathoming an SD card has replaced camcorder tape and cringe when they think about taking photos off those cards. Had one lady that just kept buying new SD cards because she didnt know what else to do, she must have 3 dozen of them by now.

Those are the variety of people who would be terrified to attempt the sort of repair you're talking about so they go to a repair shop to have someone who is far more comfortable and competent do the work, and at the same time can guarantee the labor too: cos if Jimmy your 2nd cousin ****s up the fix, it's SOL and you have no idea what he tried to do. I had to sit and cringe the other week at the story of a woman's 42 year old son who tried to fix her computer by clicking every internet ad and popup under the sun that promised to remove all her viruses and speed up her email >_< she said he was at it non stop for 3 days until he finally gave up. But that was when the PC stopped booting.

The prices you were quoted cover costs, profit margins, and ultimately (to most of their clientele) Value. It's just that, knowing how to do this sort of thing, or being brave enough to try, for you those services have a diminished value. That's all.