When Is Data Recovery a Do-It-Yourself Job?

It’s never fun to try to open a file and find that it’s not where it should be, or that an error prevents it from opening. It’s even worse when you can’t even get your computer to recognize the hard drive. Data recovery firms deal with both of these situations frequently, and in many cases, they do things that you can do at home yourself. At the same time, according to Fields Data Recovery experts, attempts to recover data by computer users often makes it more difficult, if not impossible, for a data recovery company to retrieve data they might have been able to access if the computer’s owner hadn’t tried to do it himself at home. With that in mind, when is it safe to try to restore your files and data yourself?

Logical Hard Drive Failures vs. Mechanical Failures

There are two types of hard drive failures – logical failures, which encompass just about anything that can go wrong with the software, and physical failures, which happen when something physically damages the hard drive. The type of hard drive data recovery you can attempt depends on which type of failure you’re facing. If you believe that your hard drive may be physically damaged, recovering the data is never a do-it-yourself job.

But how do you know the difference?

Generally, you listen to your hard drive. If you turn your computer on and you can’t hear the hard drive spinning up, chances are that you won’t be able to do a DIY data recovery job on it. It means that something has gone wrong with the mechanics of the drive and there’s no way to get to the data without opening it up and accessing the disks directly. That requires a clean room and often, proprietary recovery techniques. Before you call on a data recovery company, though, there is one thing you can try if you’re comfortable working inside your computer and have access to a second computer or a second hard drive. Swap out the existing hard drive for a different one. If the second hard drive spins up and runs, then the problem is with your hard drive.

You’re also listening to your hard drive for any unusual noises that may hint at physical damage to the drive. If you hear clicking, grinding, whining, groaning or any other odd noises, there’s a high probability that your hard drive is failing mechanically. If the drive is still accessible, back up all of its contents to another drive and replace the hard drive. A data recovery company would always prefer to work with a backup copy of your hard drive than on the actual drive because it reduces the chance that they’ll overwrite data that they’re trying to recover. If it happens with a backup copy, you’ll still have the original hard drive to work from.

Finally, if the data on your drive is mission-critical and irreplaceable, never attempt a DIY data recovery operation. When the risk is that high, turn to a professional data recovery company, such as Fields Associates, that you can trust to recover as much data as possible from your failed drive.