October 6
How do you know you have left that software scan run for too long?
One half DIY, One half modern art, all disaster. This is a typical result of do-it-yourself done wrong.
As you can see in the picture, the data-layer on the top platter of this drive has been scraped completely off of the surface, leaving nothing behind but some techno-graffiti and a warning: Know Your Limits. Unfortunately this is something we see all too often; customers worried over the potential cost of retaining the services of a professional data recovery lab will often go the mom-and-pop computer store route. But the tools and expertise required for physical recovery, such as the one in this picture would have been, are far beyond the abilities of “The IT guys at work,” or “The Neighbor’s Kid,” or even your local PC repair shop.
Drives with physical symptoms – unusual noises, lack of noises, or noticeable slowdowns – are generally going to need a “physical” recovery in a fully equipped, trained, and experienced recovery center. PC-Guy Joe usually means well, but can take an otherwise straight-forward recovery project and push the drive so far past it’s already unstable breaking point that the result is what you see here: a catastrophic head-crash and some dust in the wind.
If your drive is trying to tell you it has a physical problem – clicking, ticking, or even grinding – don’t let PC-Guy Joe “work” on your irreplaceable data for days or weeks. Over the shelf software is guaranteed to just squeegee your data clean off. When Joe delivers the bad news, and you need a second opinion… sometimes that second opinion is already too late.
Category: data recovery, data loss prevention
Tags: best practices, damaged hard drive, data recovery expertise, hard drive crash, photos
