Help! My Psion 3a has died!

[Thunor]

Hi guys!

Please can anyone help? My Psion series 3a has died!

Went to turn it on yesterday and nothing (I hadnt noticed any battery warnings but...) so I made the "mistake" of removing/replacing ALL batteries - yes MAIN and BACKUP - oops!

So now complete with new batteries it turns on ok but you guessed it - ALL my personal data inputted over MANY years has disappeared!!!

I WOULD be suicidal but for the fact that I have been here once before (last time I WAS suicidal!). A few years ago the exact same thing happened; however I was able to find a "specialist" company who for a large fee and several weeks without my Psion miracously RESTORED all my "LOST" data.

My point then is that whilst to the layman (i.e. me!) it seems as though all is lost the information must STILL be in there, somewhere?

Do any of you computer whizzkids know how I can retrieve the missing data myself rather than me having to part with large wads of cash and having to send it away again for "repair".

Sorry for such a "long-winded" post but I am very worried and would be grateful for any help/advice.

Thanks in advance.

Thunor

[RomeoTangoFoxtrotMike]

My point then is that whilst to the layman (i.e. me!) it seems as though all is lost the information must STILL be in there, somewhere?

Do any of you computer whizzkids know how I can retrieve the missing data myself rather than me having to part with large wads of cash and having to send it away again for "repair".

It's unlikely that you'll be able to do it yourself... although it's possible (as you have discovered), it's non-trivial, to put it mildly :) See, for example, Peter Gutmannhttp://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/secure_del.html (http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/secure_del.html [url)[/URL] or Ross Anderson http://www.ftp.cl.cam.ac.uk/ftp/users/rja14/SISW02.pdf. Hence it's expensive. I'm sure that you don't want to hear me say this, but backups are much cheaper :rolleyes:

[Thunor]

Thanks guys! I think!(?) No seriously I appreciate your replies - it is just as you said RTFM it is "not what I wanted to hear" but at least you have been honest and I always appreciate that.

ASFKAP likewise!

At the end of the day I only have myself to blame - especially having been here once before!

No doubt my friends will remind me when I have missed their birthdays, anniversaries, etc.... (although that is the least of my worries!)

Thanks again.:(

[RomeoTangoFoxtrotMike]

Sorry I couldn't be more help, but hopefully the people who did the clever stuff last time will be able to help you again, even if it costs a fortune -- only you can judge whether that fortune is worth it... :(

I spend a disproportionate amount of both my time and my budget in planning for the systems hardware failures that will occur. The irony is that the better that this job is done, the less that people in big hats percieve the need for it :eek: