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Don't Panic Just Yet! You May Be Able To Recover Your Lost PC Data

Data Recovery Article: Microsoft BCentral – October 01, 2001

By Monte Brisk

Let’s keep things in perspective. It’s not a loss of life. But losing valuable data because your PC system was damaged in an accident or disaster, or because of a malfunction, is a calamity that can severely damage your business.

Yes, you should have been backing up your data, as I strongly recommended in a previous column. But if you haven’t been, you’re not totally out of luck. There are data recovery businesses that can come to the rescue.

More than a dozen such businesses exist in the United States and Canada, and several are being called upon to restore data on hard drives and laptops damaged because of the carnage to businesses surrounding the World Trade Center complex in New York. It will add to business they’re already doing salvaging data lost because of system malfunctions or human error.

“We’ve been able to recover data from hard drives that have been in fires or under water for long periods,” says Dan Pelosi, business development manager for CBL Data Recovery Technologies, headquartered in Armonk, N.Y. “A lot of times, the data is reconcilable.”

Sometimes, the rescued data amount to only Microsoft Outlook files containing e-mail messages and contact information. On the other hand, entire Exchange Server databases of up to 46 gigabytes have been saved, notes Chris Gurley, manager of the Data Recovery Clinic, based in Lancaster, Pa.

A key point: Data recovery will only succeed if your desktop or laptop PC systems haven’t been totally destroyed, such as most of those that were inside the World Trade Center complex. (In cases like those, there may be insurance available to cover data lost from the equipment destroyed. See below.)

Also, data recovery services are not cheap so you have to decide: What is the data worth to you? CBL’s typical fees, Pelosi says, run from $800 to $1,200. Gurley says the Data Recovery Clinic’s fees range from $300 to $2,600, depending on the complexity of the job. These are on top of the costs of shipping your hard drive or laptop to a data recovery company.

What’s it worth to you?

Here are some things to consider:

What is your hard drive’s condition? Data recovery companies ask you to send them the hard drive from your desktop or laptop PC, or the entire laptop if you are unable to pull the hard drive out yourself. The key factor is the shape of the “platters” – the CD-ROM-like storage centers inside your CPU. If the platters are destroyed, your data is gone. But a data recovery specialist is likely the best person to judge this, and many companies will provide a free analysis. “If there is no data, there is no charge [aside from shipping costs],” Pelosi says.

How serious is your problem? If you’ve lost data because of a system malfunction or human error – the two leading causes of data loss – you may have encountered a glitch or system error fixable by buying a utility software suite (see below), or by your IT specialist or consultant.

If that doesn’t work, or you’ve lost data because of equipment damage, Pelosi suggests you listen closely to your hard drive. If it makes “irregular noises, like scratching, whining or clicking,” it’s time to pack it up for a data recovery place. He says those noises suggest that the platters are making contact with the search heads of your machine, which can scratch and damage the platters beyond repair (known as a “head crash”).

Can a utility software suite retrieve your data? Lost files often can be found through a “Find File” search, or in your Recycle Bin. Beyond that, software programs can be purchased to retrieve lost files that you have simply erased, but are still on your hard drive. These solutions run in price from $30 to $60, and include Norton SystemWorks from Symantec, McAfee Utilities, Ontrack SystemSuite and Gateway GoBack, among others. They provide “un-erase” features so you can retrieve items that have been deleted from your Recycle Bin.

Otherwise, don’t attempt to fix the problem or restore the data yourself. If you’ve determined your system problem is more serious, or your PC has sustained physical damage, don’t try to fix the problem yourself, Gurley urges. More often than not, the PC user causes the problem to go from bad to worse, he says. “It takes an experienced technician to work through these issues.”

Make sure your affected hardware goes to a reputable company. Do some research on the service provider before you send. If they have been in business for nine years, such as CBL, or three decades, such as the Data Recovery Clinic, you should be accorded some level of comfort. However, that is no slight against any startups or fledgling companies. Do your homework. Also, get an estimate from the recovery company on how long it will take to retrieve your data. Most jobs, Gurley says, should take from two to four days to retrieve whatever data can be rescued from the hard drive (that does not include shipping time).

Start taking preventive measures so that it won’t happen again. Not to be a nuisance here, but regular backups can help you avoid this trauma in the first place – even if you have to replace all of your hardware because it has been destroyed or stolen. One more point: Besides backing up your data regularly, you also need to protect the quality of your backup drives, tapes or CDs. “Backup drives get corrupted and go down too,” Gurley notes.

Insurance for data loss?
The costs of reconstructing data lost in an accident or disaster may be covered under some policies, but such coverage is rare, says Jim Cochran, president and owner of Techinsurance.com, a Dallas-based insurance provider for computer consultants and IT services firms.

Many policies cover the loss of computer hardware and software, but may or may not include coverage of data loss. Under at least one policy that can be obtained through his company, some $150,000 of coverage is offered for losses such as “valuable papers and records,” including data, Cochran says.

No, you won’t get your data back immediately. The insurance money would cover the costs of reconstructing the data, as well as replacing the software containing it. The problem with insuring data, Cochran notes, is that it is difficult to put a monetary value on it. For that reason, many insurers don’t cover it.

“Many general liability policies were written in prior decades, and have not been updated for electronic media,” he says. “They focus on tangible assets; things they can simply write a check to cover.”