How is My Data Recovered?

Our Answer:

Once a hard drive is received, a diagnostic evaluation is performed to determine the condition of the drive and it's data. The evaluation process allows the data recovery engineer to predict what steps will be necessary for recovering the data.

Logical failures require that the drive undergo a rebuilding process. Depending on the condition of the media, this process can be extremely time-consuming. In some cases, the file system or a partition may need to be reconstructed.

If the nature of the failure is a physical one, especially in the case of a head crash, the problem at hand becomes more challenging. The first thing a data recovery engineer must do is move the heads away from the media to prevent further contact and damage. This type of procedure should only be conducted in a cleanroom (class 100 or better) by a highly skilled data recovery engineer.

The media can then be scanned and the ones and zeroes extracted. This raw data is then rebuilt and copied to the client's choice of container media. In most cases, a brand new hard drive is the most cost effective container, but some people elect to go with CD's or DVD's.