Left: Cover on, Right: Cover off, exposing platters to dirt
Myth: You need a clean room for data recovery.
One of the biggest myths regarding data recovery is the "clean room" myth. This is the idea that you need a $100,000+ ISO 5 (Class 100) dust-free environment to safely and successfully recover data from a bad, dead, or dying hard drive.
In our experience, only about 15% of all hard drives we receive require a clean room. A dead motor, crashed head(s), or blown head pre-amp are examples of when a clean room is necessary. It's very important to note that only a professional data recovery technician (not a computer tech or average computer user) can diagnose a drive in these situations. Many people "think" they have a "crashed head" but they are wrong! These are rare cases and the cost for recovering drives with these problems starts at around $800 and can cost more than $3,000.
The truth is "clean room" environments are only necessary when the hard drive's cover is removed and the platters inside are exposed to dust particles (see photo below). This makes sense: if a particle of dirt or dust lands on the platter and the drive is powered on, the head (which reads the data off the platter) may "crash" into the particle, scratching the platter or breaking the head.
When we receive drives with the problems mentioned above, rather than risk our client's data by not using a clean room, we refer our clients to more expensive data recovery companies based on their needs.
Myth: A "clicking" hard drive means "bad heads" (or that your drive is physically broken and needs a clean room).
There isn't one type of "click" sound when it comes to hard drives. There are dozens of different sounding "clicks" which are all caused by different problems and have varying solutions. "Bad heads" may not be the cause of the clicking noise. In our experience, bad sectors, bad PCB components, corrupt firmware, or bad power supplies are the most common causes.
The cause of "clicking" also depends on the hard drive manufacturer. For example, if your Western Digital hard drive is clicking, the most likely cause is a corrupt ROM chip or corrupt ATA module (part of the drive's firmware). These are problems which can be fixed without a clean room because the drive's cover doesn't need to be opened.
In rare cases, the "clicking" is caused by a crashed head or blown pre-amp and will need "clean room" data recovery.
Myth: Data recovery is expensive (i.e. $1,000 and up).
It can be, but it doesn't have to be. One factor is the data recovery company you choose. With $300 Data Recovery, you already know exactly what a successful recovery will cost: $300. With any other company, you will find a range of prices. Often these companies try to entice you with rates like "Starting at $199," but you will find the actual starting price is closer to $500 and goes up to $3,000+ (not to mention hidden fees like "rush" rates).
Another factor is the problem with your hard drive. General rule of thumb: if it needs a clean room it'll be at least $800. If it doesn't need a clean room it should be cheaper, but won't necessarily be. This all comes down to the honesty of the data recovery company you choose. Many companies charge different rates for different "levels" of data recovery. With $300 Data Recovery, our price is firm: $300, no matter the problem, if we can recover your data.
Turn-around time is another crucial factor in determining the total cost of your data recovery. Look around and you'll find other companies charge more money for faster turn-around. It's not unlikely to find fees of $300 or more for faster turnaround (non-refundable), at $300 Data Recovery 24-48 hour turn-around is the average, for no extra cost.
Myth: If the drive doesn't mount on Desktop or appear in BIOS or Disk Utility, the drive is physically broken.
Many people believe that if their computer can't "see" the drive (even in the BIOS or Disk Utility) then the drive is physically broken and needs a clean room. This myth comes down to the belief that there are two kinds of data recovery: software and clean room. If this was true, $300 Data Recovery would be out of business. Luckily, there is a third kind of data recovery: hardware. But first, lets examine the other two methods.
Software data recovery requires that the drive mounts in the operating system. On a PC, that means it shows up in BIOS or Window's Disk Management. On a Mac, this means the hard drive must appear in Disk Utility. If the drive doesn't show up, the software has nothing to scan and is useless.
Clean room data recovery companies, in theory, can recover just about any bad hard drive (although there are hard drives which are unrecoverable by any means). However, most of the time clean room data recovery companies don't utilize a clean room. This is because most hard drives don't need a clean room for a successful recovery. The secret is the "hardware" method of data recovery.
Hardware data recovery involves using specialized data recovery hardware interfaces to talk to a hard drive at the base-level. At this level, you can do things like: avoid bad sectors on the drive, disable corrupt drive features (i.e. smart), disable bad or weak heads, use different methods to read (and re-read) the data off the drive, and lots more. These types of abilities are impossible to access using software tools. Some of the "secret" tools used by $300 Data Recovery and most "clean room" data recovery companies, can be found by clicking the "Tools" sticker.
Hardware data recovery also addresses firmware problems with a hard drive. The firmware of the drive is like the operating system on your computer. If the OS crashes (i.e. Window's "Blue Screen" or Mac's Kernel Panic) on your computer, the computer won't function properly. Similarly, if the hard drive's firmware becomes corrupt, the hard drive won't function properly (it may "click" or it may not spin up at all). Using specialized data recovery hardware designed to fix firmware problems, all firmware issues can be fixed without the need of a clean room. Software data recovery tools can't deal with these problems because they can't "talk" to the drive on a base-level.
Finally, hardware data recovery deals with the hardware on the hard drive itself: the PCB. The PCB is the little circuit board on the bottom of your hard drive. This board, just like your computer's motherboard, is filled with small components (like resisters, flash RAM chips, ROM chips, and jumpers). If any of these tiny components fail, the entire drive may stop working. Diagnosing and fixing these tiny PCBs is something you only learn by reading and practice. At $300 Data Recovery we have the tools and experience necessary to replace and fix damaged PCBs.
