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Frequently Asked
Questions
How Long
Will It Take To Recover My Data?
This is impossible
to answer until we are able to actually analyze the drive and evaluate
the extent of the damage. We avoid marketing to most people's sense of
urgency, since that can often lead to promises that just cannot be kept.
We try to complete each job as quickly as possible. There's nothing worse
than saying "we will have it done in 2 days" and then run into
problems that require more time to resolve. Some drives are able to be
recovered in as little as one day, others can take weeks depending on
the availability of parts and the recovery methods required. On average,
recoveries take anywhere from 3-7 business days.
What Will The Recovery
Cost?
Data recovery
costs vary greatly depending on a number of factors: the size of
the drive, type of failure, and file system are just a few of the
factors taken into consideration. RAID configurations are taken
on a case-by-case basis and can cost many thousands of dollars to
recover.
We don't get into
price wars, but we will do what we can to work with you on your recovery.
Data recovery is a specialty and it requires skilled technicians working
long hours to complete a single job. If you are having open-heart surgery,
you probably wouldn't shop around for the cheapest doctor, you just want
to know the job is going to be done right. It's the same thing with data
recovery.
How Can You Make
A 100% Guarantee?
It's simple, we don't
charge for data you don't need. So if you aren't happy with the files
we have recovered, then there is no charge. You simply pay for the shipping
and we return your drive to you.
Do You Ever Charge
An Evaluation Fee?
Not on standard
IDE hard drives (typical of home and small office PC's). On specialty
drives like RAID configurations, there are evaluation fee at times,
depending on the size of the array. Typically this evaluation fee
is approximately 20% of the anticipated recovery costs.
What Are The Types
Of Hard Drive Failure?
There
are really two primary forms of failure in a hard drive, logical and physical. Logical failures are usually a result of file-system
corruption. This can occur due
to a virus, accidental deletion of key files or registry components, and
in some cases even electro-static discharge.
In most cases where a logical failure has occurred, the drive is
still recognized by the system BIOS, but it will not boot. In most cases, your data should still be intact on the drive, even
though it may appear to be inaccessible.
If the
system BIOS does not detect the presence of the hard drive, then chances
are a physical failure has occurred. Physical failures can result from a wide variety
of causes. There are really two
sub-categories for physical hard drive failures; mechanical and electronic.
Mechanical failures usually result from a failure of the spindle
motor. Spindle motor failure can
result from excessive heat due to a bearing failure.
The increased heat resulting from the bearing failure will expand
the drive shaft and therefore seize the spindle motor.
Suddenly, your drive will become inoperative.
Occasionally, you will get a warning that something bad is about
to happen. You may hear a loud whining, a grinding noise,
even high-pitched screeches. If
anything like this starts to occur, BACK UP YOUR DATA IMMEDIATELY.
Take
a listen to some of the sounds a hard drive may make when it has suffered
a physical failure:
All
Files Are In .MP3 Format
If your drive is making
any noises similar to the ones listed above SHUT DOWN YOUR COMPUTER
AND DO NOT RESTART IT!
Another
physical issue that sometimes rears its ugly head is an electronic failure.
If you look at a hard drive you will notice a circuit board on
the bottom. This board is basically the brains of the drive,
and it is where the computer interfaces to the hard drive. An electrical failure can occur unexpectedly
at any time. Even brand new hard
drives are not totally immune to having electrical failures. Sometimes it’s just a faulty component, sometimes it’s improper
installation (i.e. electro-static discharge, grounding out the board,
damaging circuitry during installation).
It’s important to also keep your system clean and well ventilated,
since excessive heat can damage the electrical components on the drive. If you have a system that is in a somewhat
contained area, you may look at adding an additional 80mm fan to cool
the internal components of the system, especially the hard drive. No other component of a computer works as much
as the hard drive, and therefore it is vitally important not to overlook
it when cooling issues arise.
How
Is My Data Recovered?
One
of the most often asked questions that customers ask is, “how do you get
my data back?” Well, it’s really
not black magic or rocket science. It’s
just a matter of having the right tools and the knowledge necessary to
know what to do, much like a surgeon performing heart by-pass surgery. Many prominent data recovery facilities have
a large array of hardware, software and tools for recovering data.
Generally
speaking when a hard drive is received by us, the first thing we do is
evaluate it, and determine what recovery solution will be necessary.
If the drive failure is a logical issue as mentioned earlier, then
a scan of the drive will be performed to try and repair the file system
corruption. Sometimes a partition can be repaired and the
drive restored to the status that it was before the failure. If this is not possible, then a very low-level
scan will be performed that essentially searches every sector of the hard
drive for files. Once the files
are located, they can then be copied to the media of choice, i.e. a CD-ROM,
DVD-ROM or another hard drive. Logical
recoveries can take up an enormous amount of time, especially if the drive
is on the verge of physical failure.
It’s not uncommon to allow for one day of scanning and a day for
recovering the found files.
If
the drive has suffered a physical failure, then the recovery procedure
is quite a bit more challenging. As mentioned above, there are really two sub-categories of physical
failure; mechanical and electronic. An
important element in recovering data from a physical failure is having
the necessary parts to get the drive functioning again. Unfortunately with hard drives if you have
a 20GB Maxtor Hard Drive for example, then you will need another identical
20GB Maxtor Hard Drive for salvaging parts.
In cases where the electronic circuit board has failed on the hard
drive, then you have to have the exact same circuit board on hand in order
to retrieve the necessary circuit components for replacement. Many times you cannot even exchange circuit board for circuit board.
These repairs generally require soldering skills and a thorough
knowledge of electronics to be successfully completed.
You will most likely hear “Class100 Clean Room” thrown around a
lot when talking to data recovery professionals.
Simply stated, a Class100 Clean Room maintains
exceptional air purity, and contains less than 100 airborne particles
larger than 0.5 microns in each cubic foot of air. This is vital in protecting
sensitive internal components of hard drives. Anytime a hard drive is having an invasive procedure performed on
it, a Class100 clean room or better is needed.
What
About Data Recovery Software?
This
is one area where you really do get what you pay for.
Try to stay away from software in the $20-$60 range, since these
utilities are generally very limited in what they can do.
Also make sure that you NEVER and just to emphasize, NEVER EVER
get data recovery software that writes anything at all to the damaged
disk. You run the risk of overwriting
data that may otherwise have been recoverable, but will be lost forever.
If you are fairly computer savvy, then there are a few good data
recovery software solutions available.
Can
My Data Be Recovered?
In most
cases the answer to this question is yes. On average, our success rate is is about 75-85%.
We utilize powerful software, knowledgeable technicians and a host of
specialized tools to complete each recovery effort.
However, there are times when the data is just lost, either due
to extensive damage to the platter or unavailability of replacement parts.
No matter what, we give 100% of our attention to each and every drive
we receive.
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