What happens to the media surfaces of a dropped drive?  If you are old enough to remember vinyl music records, you can visualize the needle being forcefully moved across the record surface and making a deep non-concentric groove, which often rendered that record unusable.  For the younger reader, think about a CD or DVD that made contact with a rough surface or is badly scratched and will not play anymore.  Similarly to the playback-head of a record player, the force of a dropped drive will cause the READ/WRITE heads to move across the platters and make several damaging contacts with the media surfaces.  The contact will typically dislodge a sizeable amount of the magnetic material, which will then be dragged along with the moving READ/WRITE heads, causing further damage.  You would be amazed how quickly the disk surfaces will deteriorate to a dusty-mess.  That is why we suggested in our first blog post on this subject to PULL-THE-PLUG!!

Because the damage is mostly to the media, there is absolutely nothing that a non-data-recovery-lab engineer can do.  An inexperienced attempt by anyone else, will only make things worse!

Next posting we will cover, what happens to a dropped drive which was not-powered at the time of the trauma.

As with all highly skilled professionals services, like doctors, dentists, CPA’s etc, the level of professionalism is achieved combining extensive higher education, years of training in the field, specialized industry specific tools and facilities.

Cherry Systems Inc. is an example of a P.D.R (Professional Data Recovery) provider. Our recovery process is based on the 3D Data Recovery worldwide standard.   As such some of our specialized software and tools are designed and marketed by DeepSpar  a company who adopted and adhere to that same standard.  On their web-site DeepSpar refers to the 3D standard as;

          Phase 1: Drive restoration

          Phase 2: Disk imaging

          Phase 3: Data retrieval

 For more information please go to http://www.deepspar.com/pdr-system.html and read the section “Know your terrain”

A P.D.R engineer knows the terrain;

The first D starts with properly diagnosing the media to determine the most efficient  process to recover the data.   There are two primary outcomes;

            1.  Drive performs electro mechanically well.

            2.  Drive has failed or failing.

                  A.  If drive is failing it must be restored to working condition,  which should allow the engineer enough time to make an image.

The second D is for obtaining a good image of the failing drive as QUICKLY as possible, since you never sure how long is the failing drive will cooperate.  A tool like DDI, developed by DeepSpar as well as other similar tools by other vendors, were developed to facilitate and automate storage media specific code to optimize the cloning processes.  Do not confuse a tool like DDI with a tool like Ghost by Norton. While they seem to do the same at a first glance, Ghost should only is be used if the drive is performing well. 

<*>Warning, a P.D.R tool like the DDI typically does a great job imaging a failing drive but it is no substitute for the skill and knowledge of the P.D.R engineer to monitor, manage, and tweak the process to a successful completion. 

The third D is the the one in which the file system is rebuilt utilizing the clone drive (see  the 2nd D) and recovered files extracted to a safe repository site, for delivery to an anxious customer.

When evaluating potential providers, you should ask if they are following the 3D standard. A provider that does not utilize proven specialized tools or bypasses the 3D standard, should not be considered a P.D.R provider.  If your data is valuable, don’t take chances – choose a professional.

What do you get when you combine ”easy to use” inexpensive recovery software and a downturn in the economy?   In many cases, its a recipie for an amature to practice with your one-of-a-kind data which in many cases create recovery disasters.

Along with the development of off-the-shelf recovery software, we are seeing more and more new comers into the data recovery field.   And, in an effort to boost sagging bottomlines, we see more computer service & repair shops that profess to offer data recovery services.   Some are partnering with professional providers in an effort to provide a wider range of services to their clients.  But how do you tell the professionals from the pretenders?   There are a few requirements you’d be well advised to check upfront – before handing over your fragile and failing digital life.

1. Facilities – A Class 100 Clean Room is essential for recovery from  physical hard drive failures.   While some recovery jobs are purely logical, requiring  software tooling only, what does the provider do should your recovery require clean room work?  Do they work with another provider?  Does that provider meet the DR professional test?
2. Experienced Staff - Software is only as good as its user and a clean room is only as good as the engineers that run it.   The higher the level of education and experience, the higher likelihood of successful recovery of your data.
3. Established Business – Just as you would check out any vendor, you need to know the reputation of the provider.  How long has the provider been in business?  What is their record with the Better Business Bureau?   As in any business, problems can arise.  You need to know the company will stand behind their service.

Often, you have only one shot to recover your most valued data.  Don’t take chances with a novice provider.  A little additinal research work can save you a lot of grief (and money) in the long run.