• Choose a "DATA RECOVERY" Company very carefully. Sending your drive to an inexperienced company can only cause more damage. In fact this is the most common cause of "data loss".
• Never power up a drive that may have been exposed to water, fire, lightning or smoke. The drive must be serviced or data recovered in an air-and static-controlled Class 100 clean room by data recovery professionals.
• If you hear a clunk, clunk sound when you power up the drive then the servo pattern has been lost and the drive can't find track zero. Shut the drive down and do not power up again. You may break the TRK 00 Stop inside the drive.
• Use the same type of precautions for any type of media including floppies, tapes, or CD's when the data is valuable to you or your company.
• Do not continue powering up a drive you believe has been damaged. It can and will only get worse.
• If a drive has been through a great deal of force or is visibly damaged do not try to power it up to see if you can see any data..
• Don't t drop or hit the drive to get it "unstuck" or spinning again.
• Do not remove the cover from the hard drive. This will only cause further damage.
• Never shake the hard disk drive.
• Don't expose the drive to extreme temperatures.
• Do not attempt to recover data with commonly available software utility programs.
• Backup your data frequently.
• Package the drive properly when you send it in for data recovery. This is a major cause of permanent loss of data.
• Don't assume that data is unrecoverable, no matter what it has been through
Data Recovery - Frequently Asked Questions
1. My hard drive is making a clicking sound . What does this mean and what should I do?
a. The drive has an internal problem which is commonly known as "lost servo". Shut down your computer, remove the drive and send it to a professional data recovery company. Powering the drive off and on can only do more damage.
2. My hard drive is making a loud grinding noise. What does this mean? Is the data recoverable? a. The drive may have suffered a severe head crash and the data may not be recoverable. Do not keep powering the drive on and off. You are only doing more damage. Send it to a data recovery company with clean room capability
3. Can you just repair my hard drive and make it boot up rather than performing data recovery. a. No this is never an option. If you are unwilling or unable to pay for data recovery then just start over.
4. My computer is not bootable and it appears the entire partition is gone. Can my data be recovered? a. In almost all cases the data can be recovered. Although your information seems to be gone, it is merely not accessible, and can be restored with professional recovery methods. Do NOT attempt to run utilities or self-recovery software. This will only cause more damage.
5. My hard drive won't spin up. Do you think if I shake it, maybe I can free up whatever inside it is stuck? a. No. Treat your hard drive like a new born baby. Never shake it for any reason. At best, it will have no affect. At worst, shaking the hard drive will cause physical damage.
6. I reinstalled my operating system without backing up my data first. Is it possible to get my data back? a. Yes! In most cases your data can be retrieved if you send it to a professional data recovery company.
7. Does Forgot2Backup offer a guarantee for their work? a. Our work is 100% guaranteed. If we cannot perform a successful recovery that is to your satisfaction, there will be no charge whatsoever. If we charge you for a data recovery job but you can't find the data you need then you may be entitled to a full or partial refund.
8. I've decided to send my drive to you for data recovery. How should I package the hard drive. a. Email me for detailed instructions. This is a very important step in the recovery process. Many people still send in there hard drive packaged improperly. This is one of the major reasons that data is not recoverable from a hard drive.
9. Is there a difference in price between Desktop and Laptop hard drive data recovery? a. No. The pricing and the procedures are identical. You shouldn't pay anyone more for one or the other.
10. My data is extremely sensitive. Can you guarantee me that it will remain totally confidential? a. Yes. We routinely sign non-disclosure agreements with our customers without hesitation. We can provide the form if you do not have one.
11. I'm in big trouble and I can't afford to be down a long time. How long will this take? a. Average turnaround time is 1-2 days. We expedite all jobs. Currently we are not charging any expedite fees. From the moment your media arrives to our facility your job goes into our lab for an immediate evaluation.
12. Are there ever times when you can't retrieve the data from a hard drive or other media? a. Sometimes, drives are beyond recovery due to catastrophic physical damage that cannot be repaired. Typically when a drive suffers a severe head crash, lost servo or bad spindle motor your data will be deemed unrecoverable.
13. Someone told me I can take the platters out of my drive and put them into another to retrieve my own data? a. The answer to the most frequently asked question is sometimes but as a rule usually no. Not only is it usually impossible but you should never open a hard drive outside of a Class 100 Clean Room. Removing the platters will render both the good drive and the drive you are trying to recover completely useless. Your chances of recovering the data will be zero. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. If a data recovery comp
