Data Recovery, inc.
(866) 432-8291		 Questions & Answers
1. We talk about hard drives being fragile – just how fragile are they? If I drop one, is it likely that it will now no longer work?
  • The platters are extremely delicate, if you even knock the drive over on it's side, it probably has gotten damaged and will fail if not immediately, within a short period.
  • Also the spindle bearing has very little tolerance for shock, it can seize and render your drive in-operable.
  • Last but not least, the heads can park themselves in the middle of the platters and will prevent the drive from spinning up, the heads will also cause scratches because they drag in direct contact with the platter surface not on a cushion of air as they're supposed to.
  • In any case, if you suspect any failure, copy your files to another drive immediately.

2. Does cold bother a hard drive? Can I freeze one with no ill effects?
  • Freezing the drive will not bother it as long as you let it warm up for an hour or so.
  • In fact, I have sometimes recovered data from stuck heads by freezing the drive for 20 minutes and powering it up briefly sometimes giving a gentle tap to release the heads then powering down as soon as the heads are un-stuck.

3. If a drive suffers a minor physical trauma such as being dropped, the data can generally still be recovered, right?
  • Most times, we can recover the data. It all depends on how long after the crash we receive the drive. People will usually try everything the can to get their drive working again then they take it to the "Local Tech Guy" that knows just enough to screw it up even more...then we get it.
  • The other factor is spare parts. Manufacturers change revisions almost every month, the parts from last months drive will no longer work on your drive. Hunting down the exact parts can be very challenging and costly. We currently pay $200 to $300 for an 80GB drive that would match our parts needs.

4. If I sent you a drive with an intact platter but damaged read/write heads or arm, about how much would it cost me to get the data taken from that drive and put on a DVD or other medium?
  • Several factors affect our price quote:
    (Prices will vary for Windows, Mac, Linux and of course encrypted drives)
  • Bad Sectors are the easiest to deal with (no parts), usually $200 to $500.
  • Dead heads, no physical damage to the platters..$500 to $900 plus cost of parts.
  • Dead heads, damage to the platters...$1500 or more labor fees plus parts.

5. Given the fragility of HDDs, would you recommend that readers begin to consider SSDs as a replacement for drives?

  • SSD's are not yet reliable, as a standard hard drive might or might not fail, its a known fact that SSD drives will fail, the question is when. The technology needs improvement.

6. What about a drive that suffers MAJOR trauma: fire or flood? How recoverable is its data, generally? (A side question: In a fire, does anyone know the temperature at which the integrity of the data begins to erode?)

  • We have done work for Fire departments and Insurance companies. The electronics can get damaged not a affecting the platters however if the heat reaches the Curie Temperature in hard drives about 450 deg F, the magnetic properties of the platters will be lost. I tested this out in my oven out of curiosity.
  • Flood damage depends on what the drive was submerged in and how long. Salt water evidently corrodes faster than fresh water. The hard drive should be kept moist in order to avoid further corrosion. We have special techniques to clean the platters and recover the data.

7. Do you have any interesting (human interest, happy/sad, surprising) stories about cases in which you’ve been able (or unable, I suppose) to recover data for someone?

  • The Students just before finals is always most gratifying. They're freaking out when they get that blue screen of death. They call me in desperation, practically suisidal...They panic at the loss of their future, the costs for data recovery... and then...I become God-like and get their stuff back (I usually give them a price break if they need).
  • Another was a small company that I could not recover the data, I received a bankruptcy notice a few weeks later, that sucked. I'm never happy when I loose, fortunately it doesn't happen too often.

8. What’s the biggest or most important piece of data you’ve recovered for someone?

  • Unfortunately, I cannot give specifics due to Non-Disclosure agreements, but its amazing how a successful Public Corporation can get into such a mess by out-dated equipment and incompetent Certified Engineers. They had a 12 drive Raid 5 storage unit. The so-called expert IT company that was maintaining their equipment totally screwed thing up. They were going bust. I got the thing, 2 weeks later and $20,000 I saved the company. You would think they would have redundant systems also Data Recovery should be left to Professionals that do this type of work all the time.

9. Given how often you see distraught people desperate to recover their data, what advice would you give to people about backing up?

  • If you get lazy and don't back up all the time, be prepared to fork out the bucks.
  • If your machine seems to be slowing down, expect immanent failure and back it up then bring it to some tech guy if you must.
  • If you add software or modify your computer, back it up.
10. Anything else come to mind that you think readers should know about?
  • Drives are cheap nowadays, when you buy one, buy 3. You have many backups that way, you can build a Raid 5 or Raid 1 machine easily and you have spare parts if ever anything goes wrong.


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