Description
What to do when your computer shop cannot recover your data
Many people have experienced data loss. Some people have accidentally deleted data while others have been attacked by a virus. In most cases your local computer shop can deal with these types of problem.
But what happens if you have a real physical problem?
The disk drive has been dropped, the disk drive has no power, the board has burnt out, the heads have touched the surface of the disk or the spindle has seized. What then?
Most computer shops are unable to deal with this type of problem for two reasons.
1. 1. Firstly they are not properly equipped. The software that is used is frequently ‘off-the-shelf’ and not designed for serious problems. When a problem is encountered the software may be fault tolerant but will simply retry several times before failing. However, retries may actually be making the problem worse.
2. Secondly, they don’t have a clean room. When a hard disk needs to have internal parts replaced it must be done in a clean room environment. Most computer shops do not have this facility. In-fact many so-called data-recovery companies only have minimum facilities which include a class 100 ‘clean-room’. This type of facility is basically a large cabinet with a dust extraction system above the work space. The better companies either have a walk in clean room facility or have easy access to one.
If you want to have any chance of recovering your data there are a few Golden rules that you must follow in order to enhance your chances of a full data recovery.
Golden Rules
1. Don't Panic
this can result in wrong decisions about how to recover your data.
2. Power off immediately
in all instances, this is the recommended course of action. If there is no power to the drive no further data loss can occur.
3. Don't restart the machine
restarting a machine that has a damaged disk can often compound the data loss.
4. Don't re-install any software or install any new software
loading software can often result in overwriting the data you are trying to retrieve
5. Don't open the disk
Hard disks are complex pieces of equipment, under no account should you ever open one. Opening a disk should only be done in a clean air environment such as a clean room and by qualified personnel.
6. Don't use automatic recovery tools
Automatic recovery tools can often do more harm than good, especially if the file system of the disk has been damaged. Use of automatic recovery tools in these situations can often turn data that is recoverable into data that is unrecoverable.
7. Assess the situation
8. Contact us as soon as possible
our engineers will correctly assess why data loss has occurred and identify the correct steps to recover your data. We work on a no fix, no fee basis.
Why are we different?
We take great pride in providing a first class data recovery service.
· We have specialist forensic tools, software and various pieces of equipment such as DataCompass that enables data to be read backwards, forwards or between any two points or even a combination of all three methods.
· We are able to reload firmware modules that have become corrupt.
· We have links to specialist companies that are able to supply us with spare parts from identical disk drives.
· We have easy access to a walk in clean-room facility with experienced data recovery specialist.
Recovering your data is very important to us and we try our utmost to retrieve it.
Article by David Wright describing What to do when your computer shop cannot recover your data
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