Data Recovery

Data recovery services for failed or damaged hard drives.

Due to the nature of hard drive failures, what classifies as successful can be different in each case. 

1. Sometimes the entire disk can be rescued and copied to a new hard drive and the computer boot up as normal.
2. Sometimes some or most of the user data can be recovered but a new operating system needs to be install due to corruptions on the disk preventing this information from being copied.
3. The worst case scenario is when little or none of the user data can be recovered from the old disk. 

There is never a Guarantee that data can be recovered from a problematic drive! Hard drives should be replaced every 3 – 5 years as a precaution against data loss and at least one backup system should be in place at all times.

Failure Type	Explanation of failure	Causes	Resolution	Prevention
Disk Corruption	Just like a scratch in a CD or record, if part of the data is inaccessible, you cannot copy the file or song.	Corruptions can occur for many reasons. Old disks, improper shutdowns and often discernible reasons.	Sometimes these sections of data can be read from outside the operating system using special software or hardware	Keeping a daily or weekly backup of your data (either on the cloud or on a local external drive) is the best way to prevent data loss through any means.
Hardware Failure	Various parts of the disk can be damaged through age or failure. Circuit board, bearings, platter (information) and heads (information reader).	Age is the usual cause although damage from power spike, power cut, physical impacts and water damage are also common.	Often components of the disk can be swapped out for identical components from a donor drive, much like a heart transplant this is not without risk! The drive components must be from the same batch and transferred in a controlled environment to prevent contamination of the platter.	Keeping a daily or weekly backup of your data (either on the cloud or on a local external drive) is the best way to prevent data loss through any means.
Deleted or overwritten data	As soon as data is deleted it can be recovered without issue, once more data is written to the disk the chances of overwriting the deleted data mean recovery can quickly become impossible.	Accidentally deleted data is the leading cause of data loss, best recovered immediately.	There are many software solutions for recovering deleted data, usually this data is “forgotten” rather than “removed” meaning it will still exist until more data is written over it.	Keeping a daily or weekly backup of your data (either on the cloud or on a local external drive) is the best way to prevent data loss through any means.
Firmware Failure	The controller for the disk is destroyed or corrupted meaning the hardware no longer has the knowledge of where the data is.	Power spike, static electricity, old age or water damage are the most likely causes.	Sometimes the circuit board can be swapped with an identical one if the original configuration can be recovered from the old board. Each hard drive has very unique attributes that must be known by the firmware in order for the data on the drive to be read.	Keeping a daily or weekly backup of your data (either on the cloud or on a local external drive) is the best way to prevent data loss through any means.

Repairs requiring disassembly of the drive must be sent to a “clean room” facility where zero dust and contaminants can enter the open drive.

This process is time consuming and costly but is often required when valuable documents need to be recovered.

These cases are evaluated as and when.