11 January 2011
Data recovery is the only option with loss of valuable data. Data can be recovered either by availing of the sometimes expensive but professional services of a data recovery company or by the much cheaper but riskier DIY option.
Which is better? More people would probably go the cheaper route and choose to recover data by themselves.
The following are do’s and don’ts in DIY data recovery.
Continued powering up of a failing hard drive can decrease the chances of a successful recovery by a professional.
DIY Data Recovery Do’s
- Do consider the hard disk as a delicate item. It consists of delicate disk platters, spindles and actuator arms which are sensitive to dust, fingerprints and movement.
- Do recover accidentally deleted files via the restore option of your Recycle Bin.
- Do recover data from a formatted drive using retail software, but only if the hard drive is not displaying any other problems.
- Do use FAT or NTFS recovery tools to recover data if you know the file system that was in use on the drive which contains the lost data.
- Do give up doing DIY data recovery and leave it to the professionals as soon as you realise that it’s far trickier than it may have first seemed.
DIY Data Recovery Don’ts
- Do not attempt recovery of a hard drive that is making strange clicking noises, this indicates mechanical damage and powering up the hard drive can decrease the chances of a successful recovery by a Data Recovery professional and cost you more money in the process.
- Do not continue to use a hard drive if it looks like it is failing, continued use could make the situation worse and vastly decrease the chances of a full recover.
- Do not open up the hard drive, if you do dust will get on the platters and the drive may be unrecoverable. Hard drives should be opened in highly sophisticated dust free clean room environments.
- Do not attempt a recover of any type if you are unsure what you are doing, you could make a bad situation worse.
- Contrary to popular belief, freezing a hard drive does not solve all of your problems, this can be a one shot deal and do more harm than good, seek professional help and not amateur suggestions from web forums.
Recovering data from failed hard drives is a delicate and highly technical task, requiring skilled the kind of expertise and specialist equipment only found at a professional data recovery company like Kingdom Data Recovery. We don’t charge you a penny unless we’re able to retrieve your data, so there really is nothing to lose by contacting us in the very first instance.
Also check out - Beware the Signs of a Failing Hard Drive
