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There are different levels of data recovery capability, ranging from shops that recover data from drives with logical failure, to highly specialized forensic labs that can recover from physical failure. PCR recovers data from drives with certain logical failure issues such as bad sectors, logical corruption, failed MBR, partition table or master file table, even when Windows can't access the drive. However if your drive has physical damage (mechanical or electrical) or other damage such as firmware module corruption that won't allow the drive to "initialize" or appear in the computer's BIOS, then you will ultimately need to take it to a specialized forensics lab, where this can cost as much as $1,500 to $3,000 or even more. For some customers, paying this much is just not an option.

 

Because of the costs involved, it may be worth your while to see if PCR can recover your data. PCR uses non-destructive software to analyze and, if recognized by the computer's BIOS and there are no signs of physical failure, attempt recovery of your data. If any sign of physical failure is detected PCR will stop the job immediately. If unsuccessful then there is NO charge.

Can you recover deleted files?

Yes but time is of the essence! Stop using the drive immediately! Each time you boot up your computer, temporary files over-write those deleted files. Also if you are running Windows XP, hopefully you were regularly defragmenting your drive. The more fragmented the drive, the less the chances that your files can be recovered. If you accidentally deleted some files, don't defragment your drive now though!

 

Can you recover files that are missing?

 

Sometimes this is due to such issues as a corrupted or partially corrupted master file table, in which case yes.

 

Can you recover individual corrupted document files?

 

Certain file types such Microsoft word files can sometimes be recovered.

 

Why do data recovery places charge so much? Is this "highway robbery"?

Not if it's to recover data from a drive with firmware module damage or physical failure, which requires expensive equipment and highly specialized expertise. Specialized data recovery places recover data using multiple systems that cost upwards of $15,000.00 each. This one, which is capable of recovering from firmware module damage, "only" costs $9,870.00. Furthermore if the hard drive must be opened up, then a specialized dust-free "clean room" must be used. There is also a steep learning curve to do advanced data recovery. Complicating things even more is the fact that the various drive manufacturers all use many different parts and software components for their drives and it constantly changes. Minor details such as torque ratio for tightening screws when putting a drive back together can mean the difference between a drive working or not working. The time needed to just analyze (not recover) data from a drive might be a full day -- and this is work being performed by trained technicians in a very specialized field.

 

If your drive has failed because of issues that can be worked around with software (ex- a few bad sectors, logical corruption, failed MBR or partition table) then paying to send your drive off to a forensics lab for $1,000.00 is overkill. You could have saved $860 by having PCR recover your data.

 

How long does data recovery take?

 

In most cases data recovery from logical failure is orderly and only takes a few hours. With moderately damaged hard drives, such as when a computer was accidentally dropped, it can take many more hours to read bad sectors. In the most intensive cases it can literally take weeks. PCR may opt out of the job in cases where the recovery process appears to be going to take longer than 24 hours.

 

 

 Will my "local" emails be restored if you can recover my data?

 

Your files will be recovered as raw data. Once recovered, most files such as document files, spreadsheet files, MP3 music files, photograph files and certain other file types will open simply and easily. Certain other data such as Mozilla Thunderbird email "profile" data and FireFox browser "profile" data must first be "imported" into their respective programs. The prices quoted above do not include "importing" of such raw data that requires importing.

 

Will my secure data be recovered?

 

Secure data includes Windows encrypted files and folders, certificates, and Internet Explorer passwords.  Assuming that you did not back up the required cryptographic key or certificate, the only way to recover secure data is to repair the computer back to the point that it will "boot up" to the desktop under the user account or administrator that was originally privileged to access the secure data. Otherwise, encrypted data captured off of an unbootable drive is simply unreadable.

 

 

LEFT: An example of a hard drive that was "recognized" (as drive "F") but "inaccessible" by Windows due to logical failure. This is just one example of a situation in which Palisades Computer Repair was able to recover data from a drive that had software damage.

LEFT: An example of a hard drive that was "recognized" by Linux (as a 200 GB drive) but "inaccessible" due to logical failure. This is another example of a situation in which PCR can recover data from a drive that has software damage.

LEFT: In this example the customer's computer had been dropped and it could not boot to the desktop. After analyzing the drive, it was recognized (as "Drive F") but as the picture indicates, no drive space was recognized by Windows due to logical failure. The read head had evidently bumped across the spinning platter inside the hard drive, leaving some data sectors including areas where the partition table was written permanently damaged and unreadable, however the hard drive itself was otherwise physically healthy and PCR was able to recover virtually all of the customer's personal data from this drive.

 

NOTE: Please provide a backup media such as a secondary computer or backup drive to which recovered data can be migrated.

 

If no data can be recovered then there is NO CHARGE. Generally this means that stored data on the drive must be accessible with recovery software when connected to a bench test computer. Generally it either is or is not accessible. When not accessible PCR will halt the recovery job at no charge to you.

 

PCR can only recover that data which is readable by recovery software. Some bad sectors on a hard drive may just plain be permanently unreadable due to wear and tear, heat or physical damage (example: jarred or dropped computer). Recovery software will repeatedly attempt to recover data from a bad sector before giving up and moving on to the next sector.

 

There is NO guarantee of the quality of data recovered. Some of your data files may be corrupted. An example of corrupted data might be an MP3 file that skips or won't play, or a document file that won't open due to being written to severely damaged sectors on your hard drive. 

Does NOT include importing of data into programs, organizing, management, or "cleansing" of files (example: deleting or renaming documents or files with long file names, importing emails back into your email program, placing files into specific folders, configuring internet account access settings). 

 Palisades Computer Repair is limited by what exists on your hard drive, the health of the original drive and the health of the destination drive. Data corruption or loss can occur before, during, or after file transfer. PCR will always make a good faith effort to protect your data. Protecting your data is priority one. However Palisades Computer Repair nor it’s repair tech will be legally liable for any data lost. Customer is fully responsible to backup any important data. 

 

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Since 7/31/09