Q. Will diagnosis of my device cost me anything?

A. Diagnosis is charged at $150 per device payable upon the time of booking.

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Q. Can I post my drive to Data Recovery Angels for evaluation?

A. Yes. Please package your drive securely to protect it in transit and complete the "Submit Data Recovery Case" form (select the link up in the top right corner of this page)

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Q. Can data recovery be guaranteed?

A. No. The condition of your drive will dictate the odds of successful recovery. There are too many variables to consider when answering this question. We take every possible precaution to increase the odds of successful recovery.

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Q. How long will my data recovery take?

A. Depending on the nature of the problem with the device it may take anywhere from a few days to months to recover in the worst cases. Our technicians will be able to give you a better estimate at the time of consultation.

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Q. A friend of mine opened my hard drive on his kitchen bench and exposed the platters. He was unable to fix the drive and said I should contact a professional company for advice. My hard drive contains my collection of family photos. Would you be able to recover my data?

A. Possibly. We see this from time to time. When important data is concerned we do not recommend opening the drive or attempting DIY repairs. In most cases it only results in permanent and irreparable damage and data loss. We also charge a fee in this instance to examine your drive. Please contact us with the details of your particular case.

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Q. What are the average costs for data recovery?

A. Data recoveries range in price from a couple of hundred dollars to thousands of dollars depending on the extent of the problems involved and quantity of drives (RAID systems for example). Data recoveries on a single drive generally range between $380.00 and $1,500.00.

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Q. What is a logical recovery?

A. This is a recovery performed at the logical level, so without the need to open the drive or effect physical repairs. If your drive is accessible with our special data recovery hardware we can generally recover it at this logical level. One exception to this is if your drive fails during the logcal recovery process it will then go on to become a physical recovery as repairs will be required to make it functional again. We contact you to discuss the nature of the problem, what will be required to repair the drive and how much it will cost.

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Q. What is a physical recovery?

A. If your hard drive needs to be repaired back to operational state in order to recover the data this is classsed as a physical recovery. For instance if the heads are clicking and need to be exchanged with a set of donor heads this qualifies as a physical recovery.

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Q. I heard there is a machine that can read my data directly off the platters. Is this correct?

A. A device like that does not commonly exist to our knowledge. The only thing even close to this is a specialised piece of hardware in Europe designed to deal with damaged data platters. The costs associated with this type of recovery is significant and often beyond practicality for the average customer.

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Q. I just dropped my hard drive on the floor, is it safe to plug it in and see if it still works?

A. Depending on how valuable to the data is on the device. We do not recommend plugging a dropped hard drive in as it can cause irreparable damage and result in data loss if the heads have become damaged due to the physical impact. There is a misconception around that hard drives are robust, this is not the case and they should be considered fragile and treated carefully. If in doubt please seek professional assistance in the first instance.

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Q. A friend told me that data recovery companies have a "magic" box that they can plug my hard drive into to recover the data. Is this correct?

A. Depending on the interpretation, we have special data recovery hardware that is designed to work with hard drives that your average computer will not even recognise. We use the term "hardware imaging", which involves creating an image (copy) of your data using a combination of special data recovery hardware and software. This differs from software imaging as the special hardware we use has better control over sick hard drives and offer key features which are not available at the logical software level.

 

When hard drives get sick they can degrade quite rapidly to the point of total failure. We conduct constant risk assessments during the data recovery process to determine how your hard drive is fairing and what needs to be done to get the data out with minimal strain placed on the drive.

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