Question Cost/possibility of repairing dead HDD’s

[Mattimanden]

Edit: wrote data and not sata by mistake

TL;DR - PSU cables mixed by accident, two HDD’s not being detected. A local well trusted recovery company says they can with about 85% security recover my data, but that it will cost 975 USD for EACH drive. Is this a fair price? I feel like it is insane.

So, I recently swapped hardware from a friends pc, and in the process used a sata cable for my new EVGA Supernova G6 1000 which stemmed from my previous Corsair RX750. After endless hours of troubleshooting i discovered that this apparently is a huge no-no. How I can have built around 10 PC’a and watches countless PC building guides/talks on YT and never heard of this baffles me. But to my question:

I read that some HDD’s have a “ TVS diode” which acts like a breaker of sorts if the voltage is incorrect, which is replaceable. I went to a local company which does data recovery for their opinion. They are well respected in this area. He told me today, that it is not that diode but a more critical error (which error he did not specify, hopefully I can get it in writing when I pick up the drives on Friday). He then said that he, with around 85% guarantee can recovery most data, but that it will cost what I consider to be an insane amount of 975 USD for EACH drive. Is that really a normal price for HDD recovery? I of course am no professional and have no clue what amount of work this takes. Lastly, does someone know how I could test the diode or have other ideas?

I am open for any suggestions and please don’t hold back with comments roasting me on my cable swap. I have asked everyone I know that have built pc’a and no-one has ever heard of this. Non- the less I still feel like a complete baboon.

 

[USAFRet]

This is specifically what a good backup routine is for.

And, NOT mixing your PSU cables.


There are a couple of denizens around here who might walk you through the TVS diode thing.
I'll leave any "fixing" up to them.

But this was easily preventable, for almost $0.

 

[Mattimanden]

This is specifically what a good backup routine is for.

And, NOT mixing your PSU cables.


There are a couple of denizens around here who might walk you through the TVS diode thing.
I'll leave any "fixing" up to them.

But this was easily preventable, for almost $0.

I know.. and I’ve for all three of my SSD’s and two M2 backed up, but have been too good at neglecting the HDD’s.

Could you point me in their direction?

 

[fzabkar]

This incident can usually be repaired at zero cost by the user. It depends on the model, though. Hopefully your data recovery company has not "tampered" with your drives.

What are the model numbers?