Master Business Server Data Recovery

May 18, 2022July 20, 2021 by Aaron Hook

Toshiba 3.5" Desktop Drive Model DT01ACA100

Business Server Data Recovery As a business owner, I understand how important it is to have your server up and running properly. If you need business server data recovery, you are likely pretty stressed. From internal wikis to customer databases to inventory control, your business requires the data on the server more and more these days. Your entire business can grind to a halt when a drive fails, causing a loss of important revenue. This drive came from a client that owned a business where their server went down and they were told by a local computer repair shop that the drive was the issue. The computer repair shop was not able to recover the data and recommended we attempt a data recovery as backups were not available for some of the data. This particular repair shop sends any recoveries they are not able to complete to us for our affordable data recovery service. Recovering the data from the crashed server The drive inside the business server was a Toshiba 1TB DT01ACA100 model from 2017. … Read more

How To Retrieve Deleted Photos

May 19, 2022July 12, 2021 by Aaron Hook

This drive came in for a deleted photo file recovery. The client had accidentally formatted the drive and 2 other recovery shops had tried to get the data back but were not able to get usable data. In this post, I will cover how to retrieve deleted photos. Keep in mind I offer an affordable deleted file recovery service, so if you want help with safely recovering your deleted files, just fill out my recovery form to get started! Accidental Format – How to retrieve deleted photos Formatting a drive with data on it is very similar to deleting the data. Most older style drives like this one don’t cover the data up when you delete it, so a lot of it can be recovered as long as the drive wasn’t used after the data was deleted. Keep in mind that some newer flash-based drives do indeed purge the data when it is deleted, so it is not always possible to retrieve deleted files. Limitations for deleted file recovery One of the most common requests … Read more

Sedgwick County Zoo – Wichita

May 19, 2022July 6, 2021 by Aaron Hook

Our family often ventures out of Hutch to our neighboring city, Wichita, to visit the Sedgwick County Zoo. Occasionally, if the data recovery business requires a trip down to Wichita, as it often does, the whole family will tag along for some fun. We make it a point to take advantage of the bigger city. There are more restaurants and attractions than in our small town, so day trips to Wichita are always worth the drive. Wichita is less than an hour drive from where we live in Hutchinson. One of our favorite attractions to visit is the Sedgwick County Zoo for it’s hours of entertainment. The kids love walking freely through the maze of exotic wildlife. There are beautiful, scenic views with lush green landscapes and gardens. We often compare it to the Los Angeles Zoo and admire it for its abundant shade, variety of exotic and farm animals, and it’s minimal crowds. Petting Zoo Our kids love the interactive petting zoo with various breeds of farm animals. They especially enjoy the young goats … Read more

Better USB Data Recovery – SATA Board Swap

May 19, 2022June 28, 2021 by Aaron Hook

USB Data Recovery with SATA Tools In 2003 SATA was introduced. Since then, almost all drives have had a SATA interface. Most data recovery tools are designed to connect through the SATA connector, and every step of the recovery process usually involves plugging the hard drive you are trying to recover by utilizing the SATA connector. Now, quite a few of the major drive manufacturers are starting to build their hard drives with the USB port built into the drive. So instead of having an adapter in the external hard drive enclosure that adapts the SATA interface to USB, they now have a USB port built into the drive with no SATA connector present. When these USB data recovery projects come in, it is best to first swap the USB PCB for a SATA PCB, then continue with the recovery process. Toshiba MQ01UBD100 USB Data Recovery This Toshiba drive came in from a client who needed data from a drive that just stopped showing up on their computer. The drive arrived inside its external enclosure, … Read more

Raid Data Recovery Service – RAID Controller Failure

May 18, 2022June 18, 2021 by Aaron Hook

2 drives connected to the PC-3000 data recovery tool

This client needed an affordable RAID data recovery service. Their Buffalo Link Station music server had stopped working and they called me from Wichita, Kansas requesting a RAID data recovery. The external RAID drive had two hard drives inside which were working together in a RAID 0 configuration. This means half the data was on one drive, and half the data was on the other drive. For those keeping score at home, these are Samsung HD103UJ 1TB Drives. The drives themselves did not seem to be the issue as much as a problem with the Buffalo RAID controller. Buffalo RAID Data Recovery I remember when I first heard about RAID 0, I thought it filled up the first drive until it was full, then started using the second drive. Or maybe one file would be put on one drive, and another file on the second drive. But this is not how RAID 0 works. RAID 0 Stripe Info Basically, the controller of the RAID (in this case the Buffalo controller) is set with certain settings … Read more

Alarming Seagate Hard Drive Beeping

May 19, 2022June 14, 2021 by Aaron Hook

Seagate drive open with a head visibly stuck on the top platter

This Seagate Rosewood drive came from an external USB drive that was dropped and immediately stopped working. With Seagate hard drive beeping, it is almost always an issue with heads being stuck on the platter. If you have a beeping drive that you need important data from, I offer affordable data recovery services. Recovering Data From Beeping Seagate Hard Drive The process for recovering a beeping hard drive with stuck heads is to open the drive in a clean room and use a specially made tool that separates the heads from the platter. Once those heads are no longer stuck they can be removed and examined under a microscope to check for damage. If any damage is present, swap the heads completely with a donor head set, and reassemble the drive. Carefully imaging the drive with the PC-3000 is recommended, or at the very least use an imager like the Deepspar Disk Imager. The risk when heads get stuck is that they can cause damage to the platter itself. Except for the parking area, the … Read more

Professional Toshiba HD Recovery MQ01ABD075

May 16, 2022April 2, 2021 by Aaron Hook

This Toshiba HD Recovery would spin up, but would not be recognized by any computer. The customer had tried connecting it to a few different machines, but the drive would not be recognized by the computer at all. This client was looking for an affordable data recovery service to get back their important files. Toshiba HD Recovery When connected to the PC-3000 data recovery rig, the Toshiba hard drive would ID and I could launch the utility, but would not allow access to the data on the platters. This type of symptom is usually caused by a firmware issue on the drive. I read all the firmware modules I could to find what the issue could be. In this case, the G-List had a lot of data present and could be corrupt. Anytime I see a lot of info in the G-list I clear it out before starting the imaging process, but in this case, I was hoping that clearing that module would allow access to the data on the platters. After clearing that firmware … Read more

Quickly Recover Deleted Files From My Passport

May 16, 2022March 29, 2021 by Aaron Hook

I received a Western Digital My Passport hard drive where I needed to recover deleted files. This drive was connected to a computer with some important Excel files open. The My Passport drive was then physically disconnected without being ejected (and the Excel program was still open). When the drive was reconnected to the computer, the files were no longer visible on the drive. This was a perfect storm situation; important files were open and in use when the drive is disconnected accidentally. Recover Deleted Files Although the files were not deleted, this type of recovery would still be called a deleted file recovery. The process to recover deleted files is the same as the process to recover missing files. The client had taken the drive to a local computer repair shop to see if they could get anything back. The repair shop attempted a deleted file scan and they found evidence of 2 of the important excel files, but they wouldn’t open and appeared to be corrupted. These 2 files were of no use … Read more

Recover Files From USB Drive

May 16, 2022March 18, 2021 by Aaron Hook

Recover files from USB drive. Sounds simple enough, but sometimes these little USB thumb drives can be pretty difficult to recover the data from. This particular USB drive recovery went very smoothly and has a happy ending! We offer affordable USB drive recovery, with special pricing for these little thumb drives! Recover Files From USB Drive USB drives like this Cruzer Glide model are very convenient to store data on temporarily for easy access. Having a backup is always important, especially when you are storing the data on these little USB guys. The standard ExFat or Fat32 format they usually come reformatted in is notorious for getting corrupted due to being unplugged without being properly ejected or similar. But they are extremely convenient! They are so convenient that sometimes you can even forget they are plugged into your laptop when putting it away until you need to access the data and realize the USB connector has broken off completely in the bottom of your backpack. Reaching for your thumb drive and finding two pieces is … Read more

Hard Drive Recovery on Samsung ST1000LM024

May 16, 2022March 4, 2021 by Aaron Hook

I get a lot of clients that contact me to ask about my affordable hard drive recovery service. Most have been told by another recovery professional that their drive requires a clean room in order to replace bad heads. In my experience, only about 15-20% of drives that come in require a clean room recovery. Most are recoverable under our Standard or Standard+ tiers. Samsung ST1000LM024 Hard Drive Recovery This drive belonged to a client who had been working with another recovery company for a while. They had been told that a drive with the symptoms this drive had would need a “head swap” to function again. Spin up, spin down drive symptom When plugged into power, the ST1000LM024 hard drive would spin up, seek for a while (sounds like light clicking), then spin back down. It would not be recognized by any computer at all. This Samsung drive came to me with 4 issues present: Bad sectors Weak heads Firmware corruption Partition corruption. The two main issues were the bad sectors present on the … Read more