Flash drives come in all shapes and sizes, and can take a serious licking!

Of course, flash drives are some of the most robust data storage devices you can find. And, even though we have almost hurt at all when it comes to hard drive experiences, we still get a little bit surprised when some people tell us about how their flash drive failed. We could tell you a lot of flash drive failure stories, let’s just say, that you wouldn’t believe.

Recover Flash Drive?

Although not a lot of people know it, a flash drive can be somewhat difficult to recover depending on the circumstances. These drives are fairly simplistic on a macro level, but you do have to remember that the flash drive circuits are extremely microscopic. On one hand, this is a good thing because it is almost impossible for a regular user to recover flash drive units that have failed.

You can go on YouTube all you like, but it is very unlikely you’re going to find a concrete solution to your flash drive failure issue. In fact, this technology is something that is always best recovered by a professional.

Symptoms Of Flash Drive Failure

One of the best ways to determine whether or not you have experienced flash drive failure is to simply plug your flash drive into your computer. Typically, a failed flash drive will not show up as a drive in most Windows or Mac operating systems. This can be the result of something visibly physical, or can simply be an internal problem. It sounds like an easy test, but sometimes easy just works.

Another key symptom that your flash hard drive is going to fail or has already failed is that your computer freezes up whenever it attempts to access the flash drive. Often, flash drives will get bad spots that make it impossible to store data on them. These are not easy to spot by an amateur, but if your computer is freezing every time your flash drive is accessed, it is probably a good idea to get a new one ASAP.

USB Drive Recovery Is Frequently Different

One of the important things to remember about flash drives versus USB connected hard drives is that they are frequently different. While most people assume that USB drive recovery is exactly the same as flash drive recovery, they are usually different because of the fact that a USB drive is far more related to a regular hard drive then it is a flash key. In fact, USB drives are typically just regular hard drives that access data via USB as opposed to SATA.

Cheap Flash Drive Recovery 

If there is a bright side to flash drive failure, it is typically that flash drive recovery is very affordable. This is simply one of the cheapest forms of data recovery out there, and if you have the proper equipment (which Hard Drive Recovery Group does), these recoveries can be performed very quickly.

Contact us here for more help.

Or, check out some of these resources:

From Sandisk, Flash Manufacturer
Tech Support Forum has a HUGE section on flash drive failure

Yes, you may have a lot of very important files: that sales presentation that is due in two days, maybe your year-end tax accounting files that will keep you from a messy IRS audit, or maybe just those special vacation photos that you just forgot to back up. Not to mention the important e-mails, your work calendar, and all the other critical stuff that is stored on your hard drive. But don’t worry, because it is always possible to get hard drive failure recovery.

But there are those people that decide to take the rescue of their failed hard drive into their own hands. And although it may not have been such a huge problem at the start, suddenly hard drive failure recovery becomes impossible. Here are three common user mistakes that you should avoid if you truly value what is on your currently damaged hard disk.

1. Using Bad Data Recovery Software For Hard Drive Failure Recovery

It only makes sense: whenever we have some kind of a hard drive problem our first inclination is to go to Google and attempt to solve the problem with a search. The unfortunate problem with this when you have a hard drive failure is that frequently a lot of the searches will bring up data recovery software companies. Now, certainly there are good data recovery software products out there, but unfortunately, there are a lot more that products out there that can actually damage the files on your drive.

What’s more, even the best data recovery software products out there typically cannot do very much if you have a physically broken hard disk. In fact, many people end up damaging the data left on the drive because they attempt to install software products on the drive.

And as a final note on this, remember that if your operating system cannot access your failed hard drive, how is it going to be possible that a software product that you installed on top of the operating system is going to access it?

Our advice is to always to save yourself a lot of time and money and simply avoid these products. At least, until you get the opinion of a professional data recovery technician.

 2. Calling For Computer Repair

We certainly have no issue with people calling for help when they find themselves in a situation in which they need hard drive failure recovery. In fact, we always recommend that people with hard drive repair needs contact us immediately.

The problem here is that many people do not actually contact a professional hard drive recovery company, and instead contact a computer repair company. These are obviously very different kinds of services, and the degree of success recovering data from hard drives is like night and day.

In fact, taking a failed hard drive to a computer repair technician is like taking an airplane engine to a quickie lube shop: you are simply not going to get the kind of help you are looking for, although you may find yourself with a pretty big bill afterwards.

Basically, when you have a damaged hard drive that requires hard drive recovery, you need to be dealing with somebody who is an expert in the field. This means a company that has a data recovery clean room, has expertise in not only Windows, but Mac data recovery, and deals with companies and individuals with data specific problems on a daily basis.

As a final note, this is not to say that many computer repair shops will not offer you data recovery services. In fact, some of them may sound very professional and give you a very good idea of how the recovery process works. To those shops, we suggest you ask this question:

“What class is your data recovery clean room?”

If there is any hesitation at all, you need to understand that this company does not actually provide the data recovery service, but instead probably outsourcing the service to a company just like Hard Drive Recovery Group. What this means to you is that you are probably going to be spending anywhere from 10 to 25% more than if you would’ve just dealt with a data recovery company directly, and it may take up to a week or two longer because of the fact that the service has been outsourced.

Remember that it’s always better to deal directly, especially when it comes to data recovery services.

3. Going The Youtube Route

Hey. We all understand the power of video. When somebody demonstrate how to do something using a video on YouTube, it can seem like it is a lot easier than you originally thought. And in many cases, such as with a hobby like origami, or model building or replacing your graphics card, YouTube is a fantastic thing. The reason for this of course is that if you are doing any of these activities, you are not actually putting anything at risk. Yes, you may not be as great at performing these activities as you thought you might be, but that’s really a pride thing that we all have to deal with. No harm, no foul.

The difference here is that when it comes to hard drive failure recovery, there is a lot at risk. So even though there seems to be a lot of videos available showing you specifically how to repair your hard drive, you should always look at every one of these as a potentially dangerous piece of education. If you want good education about hard drive failure, why not just check Wikipedia?

Yes, it is important to be always learning. We are in an information-based economy, and the more you know, the better off you will do. But when it comes to data recovery, you have to recognize that there is a lot of professional expertise and equipment involved. What’s more, the people who create these “how to fix your hard drive” videos typically have some kind of agenda, such as to sell you a data recovery software product, or perhaps a hard drive circuit board.

But most importantly, if you follow their advice and damage your hard drive badly enough that a professional hard drive recovery company simply cannot recover your files, what do you do then? Sure, you could complain to the video creator that what he put on YouTube was crappy advice and that you ended up losing all of your business files, but what does he care?

In the end, there is a lot of bad advice on the Internet, and you have to remember that when it comes to very precise devices like hard drives, it is always a good idea to get help from a company that knows what they are doing.

Each day, we talked to at least five people who have attempted to recover their own hard drives and have failed. Like, miserably.

Basically, you are taking a huge risk if you bank on do-it-yourself hard drive recovery.

Something important to remember is that data recovery companies like Hard Drive Recovery Group typically offer free technical support for pretty much anyone with a hard drive issue. Any hard drive recovery company worth its salt is going to want to give you some advice so that your data is kept safe. All you have to do is reach out and contact a professional. It really is as easy as picking up the phone.

But most importantly, it is a virtual guarantee that your data will be safe. And isn’t that what we all want?

Most users just assume that they will never really have to consider something like SSD data recovery, because of the fact that these drives are typically very robust in nature. After all, they are based on a similar technology to flash drives, and everyone knows that those things can take a licking and keep on ticking.

Can SSD Drives Fail?

In a word, yes. Even though SSD hard drives are not subject to the same kind of failures as regular spindle and platter hard drives, (drives which by the way still provide the data storage on about 95% of our computer systems), they still do experience what many in the industry call “fade”. SSD drives do not use a platter to store data, but they do use electronic circuits – man-made electronic circuits – and if there is something we should all understand it is that a man-made product is rarely indestructible.

SSD: Unproven Long Term

Another key reason for many SSD failures is that the technology just simply isn’t proven yet. Although SSD hard drive use continues to grow, especially in portable solutions such as laptops and tablets, we do have to remember that the SSD platform are not incredibly well tested. While we can say with assurance that a regular spindle and platter hard drive can last anywhere from 5 to 15 years with regular use, we cannot say the same thing about SSD hard drives. Basically, they are unproven.

So although potentially less moving parts means that there would be less failure points in an SSD drive, the same factors for hard drive failure are still at play. Obviously, heat continues to be one of key killers of almost all hard drives.

One of the most important things to remember about flash drives versus SSD drives is that flash drives are typically used to store a single file or two. So, what people will do is use them to transfer files between computers, as an example.

An SSD drive, meanwhile, will likely be used to run a computer and store not only files, but an operating system. Obviously, the difference between the amount of use that an SSD drive in a computer gets as opposed to that of a USB flash key is immense. So although they are based on similar technologies, you do have to remember that an SSD hard drive is not failure proof specifically because of its incredible amount of daily use.

And naturally, although SSD hard drive manufacturers do know that there drives are highly functional in the short term, there are still a lot of question marks about the long-term.

How To Recover Your SSD Drive

Although we may be a little bit biased, we are quite pleased with the fact that SSD drives are almost completely unrepairable by do-it-yourselfers. This is key, because of course there are a lot of videos on the Internet that claim that you can repair your regular spindle and platter hard drive, when in fact attempting to open up such a hard drive is an incredibly dangerous thing.

We are unlikely to be seen very many repair your own SSD drive videos anytime soon, because the individual parts in an SSD drive are just simply not as available to the do-it-yourself market. As a result, the idea that somebody can recover their own data from a failed SSD drive without proper proprietary data recovery tools and a clean room is all but ridiculous.

And although it is good for our business, this is not the reason why we are happy that it is almost impossible to recover your own data from a SSD drive. Instead, it is because so much of the unrecoverable data we come across on a day-to-day basis is because people attempted to do their own hard drive repairs without the proper equipment and environment, not to mention knowledge.

If you value your data, remember that it is always better to contact a professional first, and consider putting the tools away.

This is no big deal, of course, as we have almost seen it all when it comes to hard drive problems, and can typically diagnose yours within five minutes or less. We’re not trying to say that we are the Domino’s Pizza of the hard drive recovery industry (our services taste much better), but suffice it to say that even if you assume that you have a rather rare hard drive problem, we have probably seen it before.

Cheapest Data Recovery?

Even as a well recognized price leader in the hard drive recovery industry, you would actually be quite surprised by the number of conversations we have with our data recovery customers about prices. Naturally, no one ever wants to overpay for a data recovery service, but people are typically very price sensitive to hard drive recovery services. This likely has a lot to do with not only the fact that the cost for a blank hard drive is actually quite cheap nowadays, but also due to the fact that many competitors offer something we call the “$99 Fakeout”.

$99 For Real? Uh, Nope.

To those looking for the cheapest data recovery solution for their hard drive problems, we always say this: the data recovery industry works on a “you get what you pay for”-basis. By this we mean that there will always be companies out there offering $99 data recovery, but what the uninitiated do not typically understand is that these companies will typically charge you whether or not they recover your data at all. In fact, no matter what your hard drive problems are, they will typically be extremely anxious to have you send their hard drive to them.

These $99 companies typically make their money with what they may call “diagnosis fees”. And, in many cases they can simply have a customer ship a hard drive to them, plug it into a simple data recovery software system to see if they can be fixed, and then if it cannot be fixed via software means, simply send it back.

Many of our data recovery clients come to us with a broken hard drive that they say was returned to them by another provider claiming that “there would be no way the data could be recovered.” Of course, what those “cheapest data recovery” providers typically mean to say is that they do not have a clean room, and as a result can not actually provide professional hard drive recovery services.

The truth is that there are a lot more of these companies out there than you would imagine. So whenever somebody says that you can’t recover your hard drive, it is always better to get a second opinion.

Believe us. Almost 10% of our business comes from people with hard drive problems that have taken these “cheapest data recovery” offers and have discovered that their “drives are unrecoverable”.

This is rarely the actual case.

Contact us here for help.

Dangerous Information Is Everywhere

Naturally, we do not want to target anyone specifically when we say that typically a lot of this information is not only incorrect, but very dangerous, particularly in cases where the data that needs to be recovered from an external hard drive is very critical. We have seen a lot of cases where businesses trust their data to shoddy data recovery software providers or computer repair stores that really have very little idea about providing professional data recovery, and we can tell you that these stories always end badly. We often end up picking up the pieces in situations like this, and although we are always happy to help, a drive that has been damaged by a non-professional can often be very expensive to recover.

Why Take The Risk?

Many of our business clients are the types of people that do not like to take unnecessary risks. But at the same time, many of these managers are also people who are self-starters and like to do as much as they can to solve a problem. So of course, when they need to repair external hard drive issues, it only makes sense that they would try to do as much as they can to find a solution for free on the Internet.

But, you need to understand that in order to repair external hard drive problems that are physical in nature, there is very little that a layman can do. This is because the process of damaged hard drive recovery is exactly the same whether you are talking about a laptop drive, on external hard drive, or even a full on raid array. Each hard drive must be not only removed from its enclosure, whatever that may be, but it also must be repaired in clean room conditions.

But, if you want to know how to fix external hard drive issues, the best thing to do is to call a professional data recovery technician, such as the ones at Hard Drive Recovery Group. We offer a variety of free technical support services to not only businesses, but regular consumers and continue to offer it seven days a week. We can typically at least give you some kind of idea of what your external hard drive issue is and if it is fixable using data recovery software, or in the case of a damaged hard drive, must be sent to a lab for external hard drive recovery.

Repair External Hard Drives Safely

One of the things that we always recommend to any customer that calls us is to resist using any kind of hard drive utility or untested data recovery software. Just because you find a website on the Internet that claims to offer superior external hard drive recovery results, does not mean that it is always true. Remember that many of these data recovery software providers do not actually offer any kind of guarantee, so if the software they offer does not repair external hard drive issues, you may not be able to get a refund.

What’s more, these products can actually damage your hard drive and the data contained within significantly. What this means is that the cost of your damaged hard drive recovery can increase markedly. Remember that it is always safer in cases of hard drive failure to do nothing than it is to attempt to recover your own files with sketchy products.

Contact us here for help.

And, because of the fact that external hard drives are quite inexpensive and are now available to the regular user (as opposed to a few short years ago when portable hard drives were actually very expensive and typically tended to be used by businesses only), they are used more commonly than ever. In fact, even at our shop we use a variety of external and portable hard drives in order to back up our own data. They can be a very robust solution and you certainly cannot beat the price per gigabyte.

External Hard Drive Problems

But, the issues with external hard drives are clear. Unfortunately, the portability of an external hard drive means that it is liable to be damaged in a number of situations; at least when compared to a common internal hard drive. As a result, many of our portable hard drive recovery jobs come from people who have dropped the drive, and are looking for a way to fix their external hard drive problems.

These issues are often made worse by the fact that many users that complain that their hard drive crashed were using these hard drives to back up critical files. Even worse are the scenarios where people were using these hard drives in order to keep sole copies of important files. As a result, for many people, portable hard drive recovery is an absolute must.

Portable Hard Drive Recovery Image Problems

One of the biggest issues for people looking to fix external hard drive problems has to be price. Because of the fact that many people purchase their portable hard drives for under $100, they often expect that portable hard drive recovery will be equally cheap. Unfortunately, what you have to recognize when you have a crashed portable hard drive is that the cost for recovering these drives is very equivalent to that of recovering an internal hard drive.

So even though the actual hard disk drive may have been very cheap and on sale at an electronics manufacturers such as Best Buy, it still takes the same amount of professional data recovery time in order to fix external hard drive problems and recover your data safely.

Don’t Fear Recovery

Naturally, we do not want to scare away people who have been in a situation in which their hard drive crashed, because not all portable drive data recovery jobs are expensive. In fact, when there is not an actual physical problem with the drive, we can often perform what is known as remote data recovery in order to restore all of the drive’s files immediately.

The best bet is always to speak with a professional data recovery technician. If you have specific important files that you need to recover, call us for a quote and we may be able to discuss the possibility of only recovering certain files, depending on the problem.

You also may want to click here for additional thoughts on external hard drive recovery.

Contact us here.

This іs thе reason whу уоu nееd tо knоw hоw tо recover memory cards. Recovering deleted digital data іs not only роssіblе, but a very popular service. Тhаt іs bесаusе cards will nоt іmmеdіаtеlу permanently wipe clean thе deleted files. Тhе digital files аrе stіll thеrе. Тhеу wеrе simply marked аs deleted by the file system whісh mеаns thаt thе рrеvіоuslу occupied space оn thе card саn nоw bе replaced bу а nеw photo file. Тhеrеfоrе, we always recommend our customers stор usіng thе camera аnу furthеr аnd dоn’t tаkе аnу nеw pictures to ensure оld pictures are not overwritten permanently.

The key іs tо usе thе rіght software tо recover deleted photos frоm data card automatically. There are a number of products on the Internet, but unfortunately many of them are rather sketchy and offer no refunds if they do not function.  This is why it is always better to consider a professional shop like Hard Drive Recovery Group – with us, your files and pictures are recovered, or we simply do not charge.

What То Dо То Recover Memory Card Photos

The fіrst thing уоu nееd tо dо іs tо power down уоur digital camera. Yоu must refrain frоm usіng іt tо prevent nеw files frоm overwriting thе deleted photos. Іt is best іf уоu саn remove thе memory card frоm thе camera tо mаkе surе thаt уоu will nоt accidentally usе it.

The nехt step іs tо recover thе deleted photos usіng а data recovery software provided and recommended by an established data recovery service. Тhіs іs easy bесаusе аll you won’t have to concern yourself about heavily researching a reliable software thаt саn undelete photos frоm memory card automatically.

Recovering Deleted Photos: Тhе Actual Steps

You dо nоt hаvе tо bе а computer geek tо recover memory card photos erased photos. Аs long аs уоu hаvе thе rіght software, уоu саn typically perform thе photo recovery operation wіthоut assistance.

The fіrst step іs tо download thе photo recovery software frоm а trusted source. Install thіs software іn уоur computer sо уоu саn begin thе recovery procedure. Тhе installation оf photo recovery software іs easy. Јust follow thе wizard instructions аnd thе software will install itself.

Then уоu hаvе tо gеt thе аffесtеd memory card аnd insert іt іn thе card reader оf уоur computer. Іf уоu dо nоt hаvе а card reader, уоu mау reinsert thе memory card іn your digital camera. Plug thе digital camera intо уоur computer usіng thе USB cable. Оnсе уоur computer has recognized thе memory card, thе photo recovery process саn nоw begin.

The software саn dо іts job wіth minimal intervention frоm уоu. Simply follow thе instructions аnd allow thе software tо recover deleted photos frоm memory card automatically. Wіthіn а fеw minutes, уоur deleted photos саn bе restored tо уоur computer.

Accidentally deleting photos frоm memory card саn happen to anyone. But, yоu саn lose thеsе photos forever іf уоu will nоt recover thеm quісklу. Gеt thе rіght іnfоrmаtіоn nоw tо learn hоw tо Recover Deleted Photos frоm memory card wіth thе help оf a reliable provider like Hard Drive Recovery Group. Contact us here.

Ok, so if you can see the inside of your hard drive like this, you're doing something wrong.

So, we figured we’d instead create a Top 3 list of things NOT to do when you hear your hard drive clicking, because clearly there is no shortage of “To-Do” advice. Most of this advice is very unfortunate, however, because in some cases it can take what would have been a perfectly recoverable hard drive and make it absolutely worthless. No more pictures, no more emails, no more files. Gone. You do not want to be in that kind of situation, where your drive is dead and hard drive recovery is NOT possible, but believe us, it happens more often than we would like. It happens a lot, in fact, to people who:

1. Attempt To Fix Hard Drive Problems On Their Own

Hey! That guy on Youtube looks pretty cool as he pulls out a screwdriver and opens his hard drive case right in front of you, right? Well, although he may be cool, he’s likely also an idiot. There is a reason why clean room data recovery exists, believe us, and that is because hard drives are ultra-sensitive to contamination of any kind. That means dust. That means moisture. That means microscopic particles in the air. They are all around you, believe us. So when someone tells you that by simply swapping out a circuit board or removing a head mechanism from a similar drive is going to help, STOP! Put the tools down for the sake of your data. It’ll save you time and tons of money.

2. The Hard Drive Freezer Trick?

Does this work for dead hard drive recovery? Uh, sometimes… But this is really something we like to call “lottery ticket data recovery”, and is certainly not the be all and end all when it comes to how to fix a hard drive failure. The problem with the Freezer trick, of course, is that the condensation created within the hard drive during the melting process is extremely dangerous to the data on the disk. Basically, water kills anything electronic, and if you freeze the air surrounding a typical spindle and platter system, you’re going to get a lot of it. If you do this, you are likely to find yourself with an unrecoverable drive. So don’t!

 3. Continue Working

Yep, this is from the “if I don’t do anything, that noise will go away”-school of thinking. And while this may work for your 1978 Datsun, let’s just say your hard drive is a little more complicated. So as soon as you hear your hard drive clicking, turn that computer off! An important thing to understand is that the quicker you power down your drive, the easier the data recovery is going to be. This is because typically the sound you’re hearing is a misaligned drive head, and each click may be the head crashing into the platter. So to sum up, act quickly, and your hard drive repair will be cheaper, more complete, and just better!

Oddly enough, when it comes to a hard drive crash that has been the result of a clicking hard drive, inaction is often the best policy. That means taking your tools you were planning to use for this “dead hard drive recovery” and throwing them aside. That may mean turning your computer off even when your first inclination is to use whatever fix you can find in Google. Now, take a deep breath. If you have had a failed hard drive, you are going to need some professional data recovery help.

Feel free to contact us here.

About Remote Data Recovery

RAID servers are perfectly built for remote data recovery services.

Remote data recovery is exactly what it might suggest: professional data recovery services completed from a location that is remote to yours. This means that no matter where you live, or where your business is located worldwide, as long as you have an Internet connection, we may be able to provide you with professional remote data recovery services.

In a lot of cases where a business owner or IT professional may have something like a mis-configured file system or partition table problems, we can offer immediate help via a simple network connection. This saves not only the business owner a lot of time and potential productivity loss, but also enables us to perform the data recovery service safely, and faster than if the hard drive had been removed from the machine in order to be shipped for data recovery.

Major Cost Benefits

Of course, convenience is not the only advantage of remote data recovery: because the overall time taken by our data recovery technicians is much shorter in remote recovery situations, our recovery fee is also much lower. In fact, we offer some of the lowest remote recovery pricing in the industry. And, if you have a competitive quote for a similar service, we will beat it by 10%, guaranteed. All you need to do is forward us the e-mail quotes, and we will immediately beat that price – no questions asked.

Perfect For Enterprise Software And RAID Array Problems

Although remote data recovery is often perfect for situations where a single hard drive has failed within a raid array, it is not a common procedure for many consumer hard disk drive problems. In fact, if you are actually experiencing a physical hard drive failure, there is very little we can do remotely. In fact, whenever you have an actual mechanical problem with your hard disk or server, it is more likely that you are going to have to call us about a flat rate hard drive repair that can be performed in our class 100 clean room.

Additionally, this particular form of data recovery is not appropriate for major physical problems caused by natural disaster such as flooding or fire. In fact, this particular service really only represents about 10% of our business hard drive recovery cases. But, it is an option that is available when it is possible, and comes part and parcel with our 24 hour free support for businesses.

We understand how to important critical systems are to your business, and also are quite aware of the productivity losses that may come from a major system failure. This is why we consider all of our business remote data recovery jobs to be priority one and work to solve your hard disk drive issues immediately. This is just one of the differences that Hard Drive Recovery Group technicians provide our clients.

Call us toll-free at the number above or click here in order to request a remote data recovery assessment right away.

This can actually be for a number of reasons, and one of the biggest pieces of advice we give almost every client who is having raid server difficulties or some kind of raid failure, is to resist doing anything rash. One of the key causes of major raid disk failure is some sort of physical intervention by an administrator. The unfortunate part about this is that IT administrators are typically very smart people, and are typically very risk-averse. But in an effort to find a solution to a raid problem, they will typically go beyond the call of duty. This is of course because typically the information that is stored on a raid server is very important to the business or organization.

But that, unfortunately, is the very reason why you need to take a very safe and proactive approach to any kind of raid disk access problem. Remember that our toll-free helpline is always available to you, and we can certainly help you determine where your raid problem is coming from. Or, we can at least inform you of the safest way to proceed.

Remember always that data that is stored on raid is stored there for a reason: because it has the utmost importance to your organization.