Data Recovery Process

The LONG version of our data recovery process:

1) Getting started

• Learn the price for your data recovery using our Rate Calculator.
• Submit our Chances Form to determine the likelihood of a successful recovery (includes price quote).
• Complete our Mail-In Form. Customers in Los Angeles can submit our Drop-Off Form.
• After submitting our form, you’ll be emailed a ticket number and shipping/drop-off instructions.
• Mail-in customers should include an empty hard drive (called the “Transfer Drive“) in the same package as the “bad” drive, if not purchasing a new Transfer Drive from us. Drop-off customers may bring a transfer drive when dropping off.

2) We inventory your device

• When dropping off, the customer will provide us with their ticket number. We’ll email a price quote and immediately move your device to our data recovery queue. Finally, we’ll label all accessories (power adapters, cables, etc.) with the customer’s name, ticket number, and contact information.
• For shipped devices, we’ll match the ticket number on the box to the submitted Mail-In Form. We’ll confirm if any additional fees apply and note/label all parts and accessories. We’ll send an email confirming your total price and immediately move your device to our data recovery queue.

3) Diagnostic analysis
Priority Service customers move to the front of this queue.

• This involves determining the underlying problem with the device. First, we remove the device from its enclosure or computer and visually inspect the device and PCB (the circuit board). If the cover of your hard drive has been previously opened ($50 up-front fee), we’ll inspect the drive in our ISO Class 5 cleanroom to check for damage. If everything looks good, we’ll connect and test the device using one of our hardware data recovery tools.
• Diagnosis will likely also involve testing various components of the device and PCB. This includes testing a hard drive’s heads individually, checking and verifying the integrity of the firmware modules, and backing up all firmware data from the device, including ROM and modules.
• Depending on the problem with a hard drive, we may open the cover and assess internal physical damage inside our cleanroom.

4) Revive the device
Priority Service customers move to the front of this queue.

• Various actions may be taken to revive the device so it’s accessible on a sector-level by our hardware cloning tools. This may include locating and replacing donor parts (such as “heads”), repairing corrupt areas of the firmware, and replacing or repairing bad components on the PCB.
• If donor parts are required, we’ll send an email to let our customers know that we are attempting to locate a donor part (and specify which part we’re looking for). We’ll send another email after the part has been found with a shipping ETA.
• If the hard drive failure is due to damaged heads (about 20% of the hard drives we receive), we offer our customers a partial recovery. For example, if your drive has 10 heads and one is bad, we may still be able to recover 90% of your data! We can do this by virtually turning off the damaged head in the drive’s firmware using a tool like the PC-3000.
• If we can’t recover any data without a donor part (or we can only provide a “partial” recovery by disabling the bad head), we will offer you the option of providing/paying for the required donor part. If we can’t recover any data and you do not want to pay for a donor part, you can also decline our recovery attempt and pay nothing. See how a head swap works.

If donor parts (besides “donor heads”) are required to revive the bad hard drive, they will not be returned with the bad drive. Your bad drive will be returned in the same condition as it arrived. If you opt to purchase or provide a donor drive for a heads swap and the recovery is successful, we will keep the bad drive along with the donor drive. If unsuccessful, we’ll return the bad drive with the original heads and keep the donor drive.

5) Pre-configuration

• Various steps are taken to minimize risk to the device (especially the heads and platters) and ensure a smooth and successful recovery. This often includes mapping the heads of the hard drive, disabling advanced (and often problematic) features of the device’s firmware¹, and controlling/adjusting the device’s environment.
• After this stage is finished, our customers will receive an email letting them know their recovery is “In Progress.”

6) Clone the device
Priority Service customers move to the front of this queue.

• The most crucial step is cloning as much data as possible from the bad device to one of our good drives. This process may take several hours, days, or even weeks (worst-case scenario). It all depends on the problem(s) with the hard drive, the size of the hard drive, the number of bad sectors, and the amount of data needing to be recovered.
• To complete this process as thoroughly and quickly as possible, we use specialized cloning hardware-software tools. Whenever possible, we specifically target the most important files first. We’ll target the remaining requested files once the most important files have been successfully cloned. This prioritization increases the chances of recovering the most important files if the device is on the verge of failure.
• We monitor and continuously adjust the cloning parameters to ensure we’re imaging the most data quickly and with the least risk to the device.

7) Logically inspect the clone
Priority Service customers move to the front of this queue.

• After cloning as much data as possible from the bad device, we inspect the clone using our software data recovery tools. Once connected to one of our data recovery rigs, the clone will not “mount” because we have intentionally disabled the part of the device that instructs the operating system to recognize it (“MBR”). This avoids the problem of the OS attempting to repair the drive’s partition in the background, which can potentially destroy data.
• The device’s partition and file structure will be inspected to determine the partition damage (if any). We perform at least two software scans of the clone to ensure all the data has been found. If partition corruption is present, we will perform several more data recovery scans using various high-end software recovery tools to recover as much data as possible.
• In rare cases, we may need to manually reconstruct the damaged partition to access and recover the original folder structure and filenames.

8) Extract data
Priority Service customers move to the front of this queue.

• At this point, all the data that can be recovered has been located, and we’ll start moving the files to the transfer drive. We then email the customer to let them know how much data was recovered.
• The most important files (listed on the mail-in form or noted when dropped off) are verified to ensure they work properly. Other random files may also be tested to confirm there are no problems with the recovered data (we also verify the “headers” of most files).
• We always reformat the transfer drive in either NTFS (if the bad device was PC formatted) or HFS+ (if the bad device was Mac formatted) unless instructed otherwise by our customer. If the bad device was Linux formatted, we’ll ask our customers which format they prefer (Mac or PC).

9) Back-up
Priority Service customers move to the front of this queue.

• We already have our “clone” of the bad device, which we can use as a backup (and keep for a few days). But in addition to this clone, we also keep a backup of all the recovered “files” on an encrypted disk image. To make sure your data arrives home safely, we’ll keep this backup for at least seven days.
• We also offer our customers the option of extremely affordable Long-Term Data Backup Plans. These encrypted backups are kept on a safe and secure RAID-5 array.
• To ensure the transfer drive is read correctly once returned to our customer, we also perform a “triple check.” We eject the transfer drive from one computer, mount/check it on another computer, and then re-mount and check it on the first computer. This extra step helps avoid hidden problems with partition corruption and ensures our customers get their data back in full working order.
• We also scan all files on the transfer drive for viruses. Any found viruses are repaired or removed.

10) File Listing

• Although we may send file listings at different times depending on the exact issue with your device, we typically send them at the end of the recovery.
• If we recover 99% of the files or more, we still send a file listing after the moving stage to ensure there are no missing files. We require your approval of the file listing before we accept payment.
• If we recover less than 99% of the files, we send a file listing of the good/bad files before we start moving the data. This way, you can determine whether to proceed (for our full pre-determined rate) or decline the recovery (for a $100 labor fee).
• We wouldn’t be able to send a file listing in cases of extreme partition corruption (usually due to platter damage). In these cases, we’ll let you know the percentage of sectors recovered, and you can decide whether to proceed. And upon request, we can recover all possible “raw” files (these files are recovered based on their unique file signature, organized by file types, without original folder structure and filenames) and send a file listing detailing the number and sizes of these files.

11) Payment

• After approving the file listing, we’ll send a payment link. We accept credit/debit cards (including American Express), Apple Pay, Google Pay, and the Cash App. If you prefer to pay with cash (drop-off customers only) or Bitcoin/Ethereum, you can request this on the payment form.

12) Recovery finished

• All recovered data is now on the transfer drive, backed up, and the customer has approved the file listing.
• If the bad device was dropped off, the customer is notified via email that the data recovery process is finished and ready for pickup.
• If the drive was mailed, we’ll safely box it up and confirm the return shipping address. Drives are shipped out the morning after we receive payment.
• A final email with tracking information will be sent to mail-in customers.

¹Many drives run background scans (like “sectors auto-relocation”) to monitor various aspects of the hard drive during operation. Some drives also use “media cache” to speed up reading/writing. These features/background tasks can lead to slow reading/writing speeds or complete inoperability.

We also turn off/disable S.M.A.R.T., another background task that monitors various aspects of the hard drive, such as temperature and the number of bad sectors. S.M.A.R.T. is on most modern hard drives. If S.M.A.R.T. logs fill up, drive reading can slow significantly or click endlessly (or be unresponsive to commands).