We recently ran a contest on Notebooks.com asking readers to tell us their data loss horror stories. It can be absolutely devestating to lose precious photos or important documents due to hard drive failure or corruption, but the good news is that your data is almost always recoverable. I talked to Jim Reinert of Ontrack Data Recovery about what’s possible and how much it’ll cost to recover your data.
It’s easy to panic when a drive goes bad or you accidentally delete data. But it’s much tougher to wipe data off your hard drive of data than you might think. Your bits and bytes stay on the drive, even when you’ve accidentally trashed your files or put your notebook through some serious trauma.
“The majority of drives we receive are indeed recoverable, but there is a perception in the market that once data is deleted, it’s gone forever,” Reinert said.
Many computer technicians, including those at big-name retailers often tell consumers that there’s nothing that can be done to recover data. I’ve actually watched people cry at the local Apple store when a “Genius” tells them their wedding photos are gone forever. I don’t understand why techs tell this to people on a regular basis, but Reinert agrees that there’s a lot that can be done to recover photos and any other data on drives.
“When you get an opinion that data is not recoverable, seek a second opinion because data is recoverable in a large percentage of cases. Don’t give up help, even if it’s been through a disaster” Reinert said. “As an example we performed a 99% recover of a drive that was on the space shuttle Columbia disaster.”
Losing data to floods, fire and explosions are relatively rare cases. More common examples of data loss are accidental deletions and reformatting of drives. Ontrack offers free software that can help you see if your files are recoverable. If you like what you see you can purchase a license that will restore your data and patch up corrupted files.
If your notebook’s drive is clicking, grinding or has been physically damaged you should stop using it immediately and get professional help. Professional recovery service such as Ontrack, which has cleanrooms throughout the U.S. In extreme cases technicians strip away everything except the spinning platters and extract the data onto a new drive.
Obviously this process can be pricey, but Ontrack only charges $100 for a diagnosis. The $100 fee includes a report of recoverable files and the quality of those files. If it looks like everything you need is there you can move onto the recovery process. A typical recovery that doesn’t require cleanroom service is about $1,000. If your drive requires cleanroom service the recovery service will cost about $2,000.
Those prices are unaffordable to many, but if you have priceless data that isn’t backed up elsewhere then it’s worth every penny. As we saw in the Seagate drive giveaway, the majority of notebook users have no backup strategy. If you implement an effective bakup strategy you can avoid recovery services completely and save yourself a bundle of cash and worry.
Ontrack’s services are used by both individuals and businesses, but Jim Reinert said he understands that the prices can be out of reach for some home users. He’s put together a special package for Notebooks.com readers. Just tell Ontrack that you heard about their recovery services from Notebooks.com and they’ll recover your lost photos (jpg format only) from your damaged notebook drive or external USB drive for just $495, even if it needs cleanroom service. That’s 50% to 75% in savings and probably the cheapest full recovery service you’ll find. The deal is good through January 9, 2009.
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