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Saturday, October 31, 2009

NEVER Try to Recover Your Own Data - Data Recovery

The hard drive that holds your personal, professional and intimate information is a very delicate component of your computer. While the hard drive may seem like a sturdy piece of equipment, one false move when attempting to recover data can the entire backup file of information could be lost forever. When data recovery specialists are given a drive that has been tampered with, the data is often too far gone to be restored.

The first line of defense that most people choose after losing data is the disk repair utility. Most computer repair functions will write information on the hard drive, essentially creating a new drive with the old data simply wiped away or covered with a deep layer of data that must be sorted through to find the most important files. Rebooting the computer from scratch by reinstalling the operating system is also a huge mistake. These restart disks will erase the files and upload all base files as if the computer were recently purchased.

Opening up the hard drive is another huge mistake. Once the drives are open, the most sensitive components may come in contact with dust, dirt, debris and human fingerprints which could damage the drive enough to make data recovery impossible. Other common mistakes include hitting the drive, dropping the drive or physically harming the drive in some way.

The only solution for data recovery is to take the computer to a specialist who will properly extract the information that appears "lost". While many data recover specialists understand the fact that anger is often associated with loss, the hard drive will never respond to force or physical abuse by handing over the data you once could not find.

Myloer is a hobby writer who usually updates his blogs every day and writes about all kinds of topics. His latest project is about file recovery tools and you can also read his articles about hdd data recovery by following the links.

Hard Drive Repair Using Free Software

Contrary to popular belief, if a computer does not boot due to hard drive corruption all data is not lost and the hard drive may even be repairable. There are 2 types of hard drive damage. One is fixable by you and the other requires a professional data recovery facility.

Physical Drive Damage - Physical damage is the worst. Data recovery can only be done by professionals and can cost up to $1,500 (sometimes higher). Physical damage usually consists of bad actuator arms, damaged platters or fried controller cards.

Non-Physical Drive Damage - Non-Physical damage (NPD) is what we're going to be discussing in this article. NPD occurs when the operating system's file system (fat or ntfs) gets corrupted due to an improper shutdown (for example). While this damage is may seem really bad (if it's preventing you from booting your PC), it's easily fixable with some software that's already including in any Windows PC and a USB external hard drive enclosure.

Here are a list of items that you'll need to follow the instructions below:

Another working computer with Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7
Find out what kind of hard drive you have. There are 2 types. SATA (small flat connector) and PATA (a.k.a IDE) which has a connector with about 30 pins. An external USB hard drive enclosure with a connector for the type of drive you're going to be connecting to it (you can grab one of these at BestBuy for about $50 USD).

Please follow the steps below to perform a non-physical repair (software repair) on a non-bootable hard drive.

1. Take the drive out of the computer.

2. Connect the hard drive to the connector on the USB enclosure.

3. Connect a USB cable from the enclosure to the computer that's working.

4. Power on the USB enclosure.

5. An external drive will probably load in your list of available hard drives. You can see this list by opening "My Computer" or "Computer". Take note of the drive letter for the external hard drive.

6. Now it's time to load a program called CHKDSK (Check Disk).

7. Click Start (if you're on Windows XP) or click the Windows globe (on the bottom left for Vista and Windows 7).

8. On Windows XP click RUN, then type CMD. On Windows Vista and 7 type CMD where it says "Search Programs and Files". This will open a black command prompt window.

9. In the command prompt type chkdsk "the drive letter you want to check": /r and press enter. So here is an example chkdsk g: /r then press the enter key.

10. This process can take hours. I've had a few that took days.

11. If this command completes successfully your drive should be repaired enough for you to recover the data from it and you might actually be able to boot from it again.

A word of warning. If your drive ever has any errors on it (bad sectors) it's reached the end of it's life and should be replaced ASAP. You'll be able to see this in the report provided to by the chkdsk command at the end of it's scan.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

RAID Recovery

With over 20 years of data recovery experience and nearly 200 data recovery engineers worldwide, Kroll Ontrack® has the capacity and technical expertise required to solve complex RAID recoveries. Chat live now

Hard drive data recovery becomes more complicated when a failed drive is part of a RAID array making RAID data recovery one of the most technically challenging types of data recovery.

Kroll Ontrack, as a division of a large corporation, is able to provide unmatched resources and proprietary technology to offer full RAID recovery services, which many data recovery providers can not offer.

With the Ontrack Data Recovery pre-service data recovery evaluation, you’ll know exactly what data you’ll get back before making decisions to proceed with a RAID recovery service.

RAID Recovery Capabilities

Ontrack Data Recovery services utilize advanced data recovery tools and techniques to repair, recover and rebuild inaccessible data from all types of RAID systems and situations:

  • Any RAID level, RAID controller or RAID architecture
  • Any hard drive type, make or model
  • All causes of data loss - recover data from simple, to the most complex and catastrophic, data loss situations - including viruses, natural disasters, accidental deletion, system crashes, corruption, hardware failure and more

RAID Data Recovery Service Options

  • Remote Data Recovery Services - If a RAID or SAN has only one drive failed, our remote data recovery service is the fastest, most convenient and cost effective solution for recovering data.
  • In-Lab Data Recovery Services - For situations in which a RAID has multiple failed drives, our In-Lab data recovery services will utilize our cleanrooms to recover your critical data.
  • On-Site Data Recovery Services - In cases where severe, large-scale data loss occurs or moving storage media would require too much downtime - performing data recovery procedures right at your facility may be the best option.

Server Recovery

Through Ontrack® Data Recovery services, Kroll Ontrack® has saved many businesses from failure due to server crashes and data loss. Chat live now

Losing large amounts of valuable data and experiencing extended downtime can cost organizations thousands or even millions of dollars.

Ontrack Data Recovery engineers recover lost data from file servers, application servers, web servers, direct-attached RAID, network attached storage, and very large SAN storage area network systems.

Server recovery services offered by Ontrack Data Recovery are a step above other data recovery providers because of the extensive amount of experience and proprietary technology accumulated by a team of nearly 200 data recovery engineers worldwide.

With the Ontrack Data Recovery pre-service data recovery evaluation, you’ll know exactly what data you’ll get back before making decisions to proceed with a recovery service.

Server Recovery Solutions

Ontrack Data Recovery offers multiple data recovery service options for recovering lost or inaccessible data from servers. Server data recovery is available for virtually any type of storage system, configuration, and situation.
  • Any server make, model or brand
  • All types of RAID configurations
  • Any operating system (Windows, Linux, UNIX, etc.)
  • All causes of data loss- from simple to the most complex and catastrophic data loss situations - including data loss resulting from natural disasters, power loss or surge, logical or mechanical failures, and viruses

Clients who face data loss disasters on proprietary or very complex systems can take advantage of an in-house team of developers and engineers who are specially trained to provide Custom Solutions for data recovery.

Desktop Recovery

Lost data from desktop computers can be recovered in no time. Ontrack® Data Recovery services are performed by hardware, software and system engineers coupled with dedicated customer service and data recovery specialists to offer world leading service for desktop recovery customers.

Ontrack Data Recovery services for desktop recovery are already trusted by thousands of IT professionals and technology users whose data have become inaccesible.

With the Ontrack Data Recovery pre-service evaluation, you’ll know exactly what data you’ll get back before making decisions to proceed with a recovery service. Chat live now

Desktop Recovery Capabilities

Ontrack Data Recovery services offer multiple data recovery service options for desktop recovery and are available for:
  • Any operating systems - (Windows, Linux, Mac, etc.)
  • Any make, model or brand - in fact, Ontrack Data Recovery services are recommended by major manufacturers
  • Any generation of drives - from oldest to the very newest
  • All causes of data loss - from simple to the most complex and catastrophic data loss situations - including viruses, natural disasters, accidental deletion, system crashes, corruption, hardware failure and more

Signs That a Desktop is Likely to Experience Data Loss

  • Strange noises or grinding sound
  • Blue screen of death
  • Unresponsiveness

What to Do When Your Desktop is Failing

  • Turn off computer immediately - further operation may damage data beyond repair
  • Do not restart computer
  • Do not install or re-install any software
  • Do not shake, disassemble, remove or attempt to clean a suspected damaged hard drive - improper handling may cause more damage
  • Do not use file recovery or other utility software to attempt repair for a damaged or failed drive
  • Do not attempt to dry a wet computer
  • Never attempt to operate any visibly damaged devices
  • Contact data recovery specialists providing Ontrack Data Recovery services immediately

Having long-term relationships with all major computer manufacturers, Kroll Ontrack’s R&D teams gain leading-edge knowledge allowing them to develop new tools to perform successful and quality desktop recoveries.

Laptop Recovery

Laptops are susceptible to physical damage and other problems that affect data integrity resulting in data loss – especially because of their portability.

Through Ontrack® Data Recovery services, Kroll Ontrack® has extensive experience with laptop data recovery from all around the world.

With the Ontrack Data Recovery service evaluation, you’ll know exactly what data you’ll get back before making decisions to proceed with a recovery service. Chat live now

Laptop Recovery Capabilities

Ontrack Data Recovery services offer multiple data recovery service options for laptop recovery and are available for:

  • Any operating systems (Windows, Linux, Mac, etc.)
  • Any make, model or brand: In fact, Ontrack Data Recovery services are recommended by major manufacturers
  • Any generation of drives – from oldest to the very newest
  • All causes of data loss - from simple to the most complex and catastrophic data loss situations - including viruses, natural disasters, accidental deletion, system crashes, corruption, hardware failure and more

Signs That a Laptop is Likely to Experience Data Loss

  • Strange noises or grinding sound
  • Blue screen of death
  • Unresponsiveness

What to Do When Your Laptop is Failing

  • Turn off laptop immediately – further operation may damage data beyond repair
  • Do not restart laptop
  • Do not install or re-install any software
  • Do not shake, disassemble, remove or attempt to clean a suspected damaged hard drive – improper handling may cause more damage
  • Do not use file recovery or other utility software to attempt repair for a damaged or failed drive
  • Do not attempt to dry a wet laptop
  • Never attempt to operate any visibly damaged devices
  • Contact data recovery specialists providing Ontrack Data Recovery services immediately

Having long-term relationships with all major laptop manufacturers, Kroll Ontrack’s R&D teams gain leading-edge knowledge allowing them to develop new tools to perform successful and quality laptop recoveries.

Hard Drive Recovery

Ontrack® Data Recovery services offer world-leading solutions and multiple data recovery service options for all types of hard drive recovery:

  • Any interface: (IDE, EIDE), Serial ATA (SATA), SCSI, SAS, and Fibre Channel
  • Any combination of drives: single hard drive or multiple RAID drives
  • Any brand

Thousands of IT professionals and technology users trust Ontrack Data Recovery services with seemingly unrecoverable data.

Lost data can be recovered in no time whether the hard drive has crashed, has been damaged or has been the victim of a natural disaster. Chat live now

Why Do Hard Drives Lose Data?

Ontrack Data Recovery engineers classify hard drive data loss in two categories:

  • Logical failure - the hard drive is in working order but some files or data cannot be accessed for logical reasons such as a lost partition or accidental reformatting.
  • Mechanical failure - the hard drive is not functioning. The most common causes are head crashes and motor failures.

What Causes Hard Drive Failure?

The list of incidents causing hard drives to fail and lose data is not limited, but some of the main causes that Ontrack Data Recovery services recover from everyday include power surges, overwriting, physical damages, natural disasters, and viruses.

How Ontrack Data Recovery Services Helps to Recover From Hard Drive Data Loss

Data recovery involves more than just replacing parts. Ontrack Data Recovery services use cutting-edge hard drive recovery tools and processes that come from heavy investment in R&D and 20 years experience. A sample of the expert techniques used include:

  • In case of mechanical failure, hard disk recoveries are performed in dust-free cleanroom environments where they are carefully dismounted, examined and processed.
  • Hard drives are imaged. A copy of the disk is made and transferred to a new system.
  • Ontrack Data Recovery tools can “force” the drive to read around the bad area.