>>I have Ghost (came with SystemWorks) and will give it a try. First, though, I am going to see if my data files can be recovered from the external USB drive. The company recommended by Al wanted an arm and a leg but I found a local company that will do it for a lot less. I am off for there in the morning. First, some college football....
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>If it's something as simple as an inadvertent format of an external USB HD a local company can probably do the job for you. But, bear in mind if they make a mistake there's a possibility they may make it so that no-one, not even OnTrack, can recover your data.
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>If your data are critical make sure the local company has a track record, that they can provide you with at least one reference for the type of data recovery you're about to undertake, and that you follow up on that (those) reference(s).


The reference check is a good idea, and one I should have followed ;-) The lady I talked to there, who seems to run the place, seemed all right to me. One of the things I liked was that she literally laughed when I told her what OnTrack wanted to charge. That made me think she understands something about the real effort involved. Also that although she said they can usually get back at least some of the lost data, she was careful not to make any promises. She said they would look at it for an hour for $85 and make an assessment. If the data was recoverable and I wanted to proceed, the cost would be an additional $100 per hour for the number of hours they estimated. They have the drive now and I am expecting a call this afternoon.

For the record, the OnTrack guy I talked to said the cost would be anywhere between $500 and $2500, with the typical amount being between 1200 and 1900. I'm sure a corporation that had lost critical data wouldn't even blink at that but I am a one man shop and this money is coming straight out of my bank account.

One thing I know for sure is this will never happen again, and then I won't have to worry about such decisions. There are going to be multiple forms of backup, including DVDs (Ghost) and offsite storage in the event of fire or burglary.