Data recovery blog

Here we give you a look into some of the successful data recovery jobs we have completed, along with some tips and general info on data recovery and data storage.

Be careful when you choose a data recovery company in Cape Town, not all are equal
You do have some options when you need data recovery services and are desperate to get your data back, but be warned, there are sharks out there. Be sure to check customer reviews and feedback when picking the company you will entrust your data to. Read through this client’s experience to get an idea of can happen if you make the wrong choice.

Hard drive repair or hard drive recovery?
When someone experiences a hard drive failure they often wonder if they can repair the hard drive. Although it is a possibility in some cases, it’s often not an option if the hard drive has suffered a severe mechanical failure. Before you even think of trying to repair or recover your hard drive, you should probably establish if the hard drive itself is even faulty, or if the problem lies elsewhere. This guide will give you ideas on how to establish this.

WD My Passport – Can you access the data if you’ve lost or forgotten the password?
Password-protected storage is a great idea and useful if we consider the value of our data, but what happens when the password doesn’t work?

New WD Passport and WD Element data recovery – not as simple anymore.
We’ve recovered a huge amount of older generation WD Passport and WD Element drives. The newer ones are a completely different design and architecture and require new tools and techniques to recover them. This is how we do it.

If you drop your hard drive, don’t leave it running.
People sometimes drop their hard drives, accidents happen. But be careful how you treat the hard drive after the fact, as it could have severe consequences for your data.

Macbook Pro Touch Bar liquid damage data recovery.
The new range of Apple Macbook machines often have the hard drive soldered to the mainboard, meaning it cannot be removed if the machine fails and we need to access the data. How do we get around this? Here is an example of how we recovered a 2016 Macbook Pro with liquid damage.

Seagate Expansion Backup Plus portable hard drive data recovery
Seagate recently brought out a new range of hard drives that are slimmer and of a higher capacity than the previous generation. As nice as this is, they can be difficult to recover from. Here is an example of a Seagate Back Up Plus that was no longer registering on the client’s machine, and how we successfully recovered the data.

RAID data recovery from a server or NAS
We are sometimes called in to recover data from big units, such as a server or NAS device where multiple hard drives are put together in RAID for larger storage capacity and redundency.  This is an example of one we recovered recently.

DIY data recovery
Some of us are technically inclined and like to have a go ourselves at recovering data. Here’s an article with an example of why it’s a bad idea. If you’ve suffered data loss rather bring it into us, it’s your best bet.

The role of data in a digital age
Data is everything to us, so what happens when it becomes vulnerable something bad happens?

A short data recovery story
Sometimes it’s easier to explain things with a short story. Here is one about the data recovery process.

The evolution of data recovery
Data recovery has changed a lot over the last few decades, see what has changed and why.

The future of data recovery
As technology progresses and hard drives are able to store more data, the recovery process becomes infinitely more complicated. Here is an idea of how this concept is playing out.

Western Digital Elements portable hard drive data recovery
These WD Elements and My Passport portable hard drives are very popular. They are affordable and offer good storage capacity, until they are dropped and damaged that is. Our client unfortunately dropped his drive whilst he was copying data to it, resulting in major damage. Take a look at all the steps involved in recovering one of these hard drives.

Seagate 4TB expansion external hard drive data recovery
One of the larger capacity drives, 4TB worth of data, not something you want to lose. Our client was running a laptop with a small SSD and needed additional storage space. Having purchased this 4TB drive she started using it for all of her important work data. One day it was accidentally knocked off her desk, very bad news for a drive of this density. When we assessed it in the lab it wasn’t looking too hopeful, however we managed a full recovery from this one. Have a look at the poor internal components of this one when it came in!

Inside the clean room of a data recovery lab
When we need to open up a hard drive for physical data recovery, many precautions are taken. The air quality needs to be perfect to avoid any contamination as the smallest speck of dust could spell disaster. Here’s the environment we use when the times comes to replace internal components.

Lexar CF card data recovery
Here we saved the day for a professional photographer whose camera card failed post-shoot. Taking a totally different approach compared to hard drive recovery, see how we bypassed the faulty component and rebuilt the client’s data.

Seagate 3TB Expansion external hard drive recovery
Another failed Seagate drive. In this case we have a 3TB external drive which developed a bad read/write head, resulting in total loss of access to data for the client. Watch the video to see how the drive came back to life after we replaced the head assembly in the lab.

What happens when you drop your hard drive
A large majority of the data recovery jobs we are requested to do stem from a hard drive being dropped. Be it in a laptop or as an external drive, a fall from a table onto the floor can mean the end of a hard drive. Here’s what happens if you mistakenly let gravity take hold.

Unplugging your hard drive whilst it’s still busy
If you’ve ever heard of the ‘safely eject’ option you’ll know what we mean. Both Windows and Mac have the option to eject a drive safely before removing it from your machine. Some people don’t ever bother and have never suffered any ill consequences, but for others it has led to severe data loss. Read our article on why you should always safely eject, it may save you from a data recovery bill.

Choosing a data recovery company in Cape Town
There are some things to consider when you choose which data recovery to use in Cape Town. Read through some considerations before you make your choice.

Maximising hard drive reliability to avoid data recovery
If you can ensure your hard drive stays working and your data stays safe with backups, you won’t ever need data recovery services.

This list of articles will grow steadily as we find more interesting real life cases and stories to share with you.