Our Data Recovery Team recommends that after experiencing a hard drive related failure that you stop using the hard disk. Any further attempts to access a failing or failed hard drive could further decrease the chances of recovering your data. Running so called “Data Recovery Software” in many cases can actually further destroy a failing hard disk drive by continually attempting to read from defective areas, which can increase and spread media damage to the point of causing a major head crash even to the point of leaving visible grooves or rings in the platters essentially grinding off the magnetic subsurface that CONTAINS YOUR DATA and information needed for the drive to “Come Ready” and function to extract data.
NEVER try and hit, smack, shake or tap a hard drive in an attempt to make it work. Doing so will only create further damage and can cause a severe head crash. We routinely see drives that appear to have been hit by the user trying to get them to work and often they can be damaged to the point of being non recoverable so if your data is important and you care about it, please do not attempt to recover the data, leave it to the professionals.
Please never try and open a hard drive, there are no user serviceable parts inside and there is a lot of misinformation going around so please don’t listen to some guy posting Internet Videos saying “go ahead, open it, you can’t hurt anything!” The Heads in today’s hard disk drives are so tiny, it is extremely easy to unknowingly “mangle” or “tweak” the Heads and doing so can damage the Platters (the Media). Customers who have experienced Hard Drive failure should also be advised NOT to trust Computer Repair Shops claiming to be able to perform Data Recovery. Computer Repair shops in many cases might do things that could further compromise your data. There is NO Computer Repair Shop to our knowledge capable of actually performing “Professional Data Recovery.”
There is a huge misconception that in the Data Recovery industry there is some kind of magic software or magic device that recovers data. However what it all comes down to is experience, knowledge, special tools combined with special unique skills. Consumers should also avoid so called Data Recovery companies desperate to the point of offering unrealistic gimmicks such as “Free Data Recovery” or $399 Cleanroom Data Recoveries, which are considered as Level III.
The problem is that some in many “Level III” Data Recoveries, the parts cost can easily approach the entire cost of a $399 Data Recovery. For example, although we NEVER charge parts or Cleanroom fees as they are all factored into our Data Recovery Range in advance and final cost, we have had Level III cases where 2-3 identical hard drives were needed to complete the Data Recovery.
When we say identical drives, these drives tend to cost considerably more because of specific manufacturer supplier codes that are required to match to match Head Configuration and Manufacturer where vendors charge more to match. Obviously, these places “sneak” additional charges that would be later involved and if not then perhaps they are fraudulently calling “Basic” or Level II Data Recoveries “Cleanroom Data Recoveries”. These gimmicks by these so called Data Recovery Companies are nothing more than a desperate attempt to get business so don’t risk it.
Another very common gimmick in the Data Recovery Industry is for companies to “hype” and “exaggerate” what is actually involved in recovering lost data. There are companies claiming to have Cleanroom Facilities that are to a level even beyond what is even used during the actual Hard Drive manufacturing process and remanufacturing, claiming to have universal “Platter Readers” that platters can be simply placed in while a laser reads usable data off any platters.
Unfortunately, anyone that actually knows how Hard Disk Drives are manufactured, designed and function along with how data is stored realizes these claims are false.