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Sometimes computers crash, backups are forgotten and important data is lost. IT professionals are always harping on about backups and if you are reading this, chances are you now understand why. Data recovery used to be an expensive and last resort option. Technology however has advanced enough where it has become easier to recover data than before. Don't panic yet. My IT Support can come on site with specialised software and equipment to recover your data. Read on to evaluate your scenario.

Important:

If you have lost data stored a computer that is still operational, such as the one you are on now, shut it down immediately after reading this page, do not start it again and call us for further advice. Note this does not apply if the lost data is stored on an external USB hard drive.

Scenarios of Data Loss

Data stored on a computer

You have deleted data permanently from you computer, including the recycle bin and cannot find it. Your computer is dead and cannot start at all, You computer can start and can at least get to the Windows start up screen and go no further. In all of these scenarios there is a good chance that data is still intact and be recovered onsite using software.

Data stored remote from your computer (USB External Drive, or Thumb Drive)

If you are using an external drive that has appeared to have failed, then unfortunately the chances are high that you have data loss. We say this because external hard drives break down to two components; the hard drive (see below) and the electronic USB interface. The USB interface are normally outlasts the hard drives, but not always. A thumb drive that has failed is almost certainly irrecoverable, but again, can only be evaluated. It could also be that the interface is simply failing to register with your computer, in which case the situation is still manageable. Call us for further advice.

Recovery Techniques

For data recovery on failed computer systems or permanently deleted items we use special software to seek and extract lost data.

If you understand a little about computing you may know what a hard drive is. A hard drive is an electro-mechanical device that stores your data (measured in gigabytes). Many hard drives fail intermittently before failing completely. In this scenario we can still recover data before this happens using software.

If your hard drive has stopped working all together i.e. complete electro -mechanical failure, then data recovery becomes a more expensive prospect. The drive will need to be dispatched to a specialised lab that opens the unit, extracts the disk platters and recovers the data manually. We can arrange this for you. It should be noted that a guarantee on the quality of data extraction cannot be given under either method, as the parameters are unknown.