Hard Drive Recovery Group

Hard Drive Freezing?

One of the most common symptoms we hear from our customers is that there “hard drive is freezing”. I think it is important to note that this is a very common symptom because of the fact that hard drives are created to essentially stop working whenever there is something mechanically wrong with them. As a result, many people find that they have total computer freezes before any kind of clicking or buzzing sounds begin to emanate from the hard drive.

I think one of the things that a lot of people miss when it comes to a scenario where there hard drive freezes is that often this may be your final chance to back up your drive before major physical hard drive failure occurs. In fact, you definitely need to understand that once you have experienced a major hard drive crash symptom, such as a clicking or buzzing, it may already be too late for you to get your data back by conventional means.

If you are going to try to back up your hard drive when you fear it may be failing, it is always best to do this in Safe or DOS mode. These are typically the least disk intensive modes that your Windows computer can run in and as a result may wear down your drive less.

Recover Your Hard Drive Using Software? Not as common as they’re saying…

Funny thing when you check the search engines for information on recovering hard drives… Naturally, most people want to assume that they can quickly restore all of their files using a cheap, easy to download data recovery software. I would want to assume this, too.

But I think it’s important that people understand that no matter what a Youtube video might say about a ‘dynamite’ hard drive recovery software, it may not work for you.

Slimy sales people on the Internet? Really? I can only imagine your disbelief. But for most people with hard drive failure problems the reality is that their data is simply NOT recoverable using software.

Ask yourself this: if you cannot boot your program or access the operating system, how exactly is this software going to work?

In fact, most authentic physical hard drive crashes mean that you cannot access the drive via any software means. In effect, you must repair the hard drive first. This is a job that can only be accomplished by a professional with hard drive expertise and access to a data recovery clean room. There are very few exceptions to this rule.

Remember that if you do have an “accidental file deletion”, software might be your best bet. But, if you have a full on hard drive crash, no software is going to be able to access your drive. So why waste your money on a product with no Money Back Guarantee?

There are situations, we should mention, in which a hard drive may appear to have crashed, but hasn’t. To see if your drive is experiencing this, contact us here!

IOSafe SSD – Hard Drive Recovery Unnecessary?

IOSafe: making hard drive recovery obsolete?

As we have mentioned on occasion before, we simply love those IOSafe drives. A great idea, seems to be executed extremely well, and comes with the kind of price that doesn’t scream as “premium” as it would have a mere five years ago. Yes, the consolidation of the hard drive industry has been fantastic for users, and those prices aren’t going up anytime soon. IOSafe, though, seems to be in a class of its own as far as hard disk protection.

So, it appears the company is moving forward with this, its first SSD drive.  It’s certainly not for the thin of wallet, to be sure, but it’s nice to see them taking their hard disk safety technology forward with this $499 beauty. Plus, it’s one of the fastest hard drives PC Mag has ever tested, due in part to its USB 3.0 interface.

Now, we’re really not the kind of techie to recommend SSD drives to users – we still consider the technology too new and expensive, and risky, frankly, – but this one has it’s own insurance policy. And by that we mean literally – IOSafe will give you up to $5000 dollars for data recovery if it becomes necessary within the first couple years. Now, of course you won’t need close to that if you send in your drive to Hard Drive Recovery Group (nice plug!), but it does circumvent a lot of the fears that come with adopting a straight SSD hard disk.

Keep it up, IOSafe!

No Nonsense Hard Drive Facts

A Seagate Hard Drive - more advanced than the space shuttle?

It really was about time. If you know the hard disk drive industry at all, you know that they have some marketing people that love to try to make a metal box look like a Corvette. This is hard drive technology, after all, which is frankly, quite amazingly dull. A lot of business owners like it that way. It’s a sturdy technology that lets you put a lot of information into a small space. Saves paper, too. Although if you were talking to a marketer, he’d tell you it was more exciting than the moon landing!

This article on hdd specifications from PC World is a great no-nonsense look at specs, and what to look for. Someone needed to say it, and I’m glad that PC World did. Take it from us: there are really only so many things that matter when it comes to hard drive storage. In essence (with perhaps the exception of SSD drives and hybrids), this is very much the same technology that has been around for 20+ years.

On the other hand, PC World still is PC World, and of course their plug of USB 3.0 drives is funny only because they RECOMMEND them as a performance boost. My friends, we can tell you that unless you’re a robot, you’re not going to “sense” the milliseconds of time savings you will get from USB 3.0. But, let’s remember that this is a magazine that survives by its advertisers, and making them happy first (after the reader, of course) is always going to be the plan.

Fake Hard Disk Failures, And Other Schemes

Yes, the hackers are getting better at graphic design as well!

Yep, they’re at it again. The Trojan Horse hackers had actually seemed to have gotten lazy for a while, at least by their previous standards. But now, they’re back: in Trojan 2: Fake Frag (Electric Boogaloo). Yes, more “fakeware”, this time claiming your “SATA Drive has Failed”, along with a ton of other fake messages. Then, despite the fact that you’ve never actually downloaded it, “Windows Recovery” software comes up and starts to scan your PC for bugs. Naturally, it finds them. By the tons. So not only is hard disk failure imminent, your computer is attracting parasites galore. Soon, it will be on fire.

Of course, it isn’t on fire. These Trojans are part of a new Blackmail-ware era of con game, where a “magic program” will recover your failed hard disk, “fix” all your system errors, and leave you $80 short. These are easy Trojans to pick up, as well, as one of our techs discovered on his home machine the other week. Continual notes that “only Windows Security 2011″ will fix this, and at $80, it doesn’t seem so bad.

This is all a huge waste of your money, of course. There are a number of sites that do show you how to remove the “virus”, which is typically just a small .exe file that runs anytime you execute ANYTHING. A good way to stop the thing (and find exactly what .exe it is), of course, is by using your Windows Task Manager. Once inside, click on “Processes”, and look for something that just doesn’t look right. It’ll usually be using a ton of CPU, and can be stopped easily. Stopping it, of course, will typically then enable you to search for it in the registry.

We could go into deeper detail, but we won’t – there are a lot of other sites on the Internet that do. But just be warned: a lot of these guys suggest: “This is a difficult process for the non-advanced user, you may want to try Spyware Remover 2000 or Spyware Doctor” (or some other crappy name for an otherwise free spyware remover). So what are they doing? Yes, friends, they too are blackmailing you. Only this time it’s for less money, typically around $30. Check out a great demo video of this script in action on the Inquirer.

A smart user should know that all you really need is Regedit, and you can get the job done yourself.

Here are a few names this kind of virus goes under:

Windows Repair
Windows Recovery
Internet Defender
Security Defender
Internet Security Essentials

Click here for another decent site that still tries to blackmail you, but does let you know how to get rid of the Trojan as well.

Hard Drive Crash-Proof?

This drive is indestructible (according to the manufacturer!).

More great hard drive technology from IOSafe coming down the pipe. The 3TB “Everythingproof” hard disk drive touts itself as not only crash and failure proof, but fire and waterproof! This is one of those drives that you could take a blowtorch to and to cool it off, throw it in icy water. A “Mythbusters”-style piece of hardware, from a really innovative company.

Yep, can’t say enough about the technology at IOSafe (it isn’t good for our business, mind you ), but knowing the business of hard drive repair and recovery quite well, we would note that price, especially when it comes to storage media and hardware, is pretty much priority one when it comes to regular users. Business users can sometimes be different, but (much to their dismay when an inevitable hard drive failure occurs), more than often are also a little “by the seat of their pants” when it comes to data safety.

At $499, this is probably priced way above most personal users wallets, and is still not a “must have” for Enterprise users (which really should have a professional, consistent backup plan in place, one would think). But great technology, and despite only having 1 year of free data recovery service included (here’s where the $99 upgrade to 5 years protection comes in), a real improvement in the world of safe data storage.

Mac Hard Drive Recovery Just Got Harder…

The ever uncrackable IMac. Now more proprietary than you'd like.

Well, color us surprised, but then, not really. Apple is up to its old tricks again, this time making it harder than ever to perform Mac hard drive recovery. Or removal. Or replacement, for that matter…

Yes, according to a note on Engadget today, the new IMac actually has a “specialized” proprietary SATA cable for its hard disk, on which features a seven prong setup as opposed to the usual four prong. This  means that if you were really techie about it (and you have to be on an IMac anyway, as removing a drive is nowhere near an easy task for the layman) and you wanted to put a new hard drive in your system, you’d be completely out of luck.

This is unless, of course, you bought a drive specifically from Apple. We’ won’t bet against the idea that this will likely be an expensive option when compared to picking up a discount drive at your local retailer. Some might call this a “war against the customer”, while others would call it “protecting Apple technology”. Whatever the case, IMac buyers may be getting a little more than they bargained for when they experience a hard drive failure. Users beware!

OSFClone – Open Source Cloning For The Masses?

Interesting tool we just came across in the blogs. OSFClone touts itself to be a free drive cloning program (which is what companies that practice “safe hard drive recovery” use), which enables you to “see-all” that is on a drive. Basically, it looks to clone a raw image from your drive so that you can analyze it. It also boots itself, which of course lets you skip your OS and get straight to the nitty-gritty.

So probably not a program for “everybody”, frankly, but at least for those of us with geekier intentions. Worth a look, and a disk imaging program for FREE is certainly nothing to complain about. Especially if it works

Self-Erasing Hard Drives? Say It Isn’t So…

This drive erases itself!

Well, we suppose it was only a matter of time… Toshiba has just announced the introduction of “self-erasing” hard drives to its product portfolio, a product they’re saying is perfect to “help their customers protect sensitive data from leakage or theft”. To this, we say, thank you, Toshiba.

Thank you for the future hard drive recovery business. Because if there’s something we do know, it’s that this technology is probably going to work – perhaps a little TOO well for most users. Considering the high level of “accidental erasings” already part of our business in general, we really can’t see how this “self erasing technology” is necessary, but we can see how it’ll be pretty dangerous.

At any rate, even if security is a hyper-priority at your business, you may want to avoid these ones. We consider them to be one of the scariest technology ideas coming from the storage industry in some time!

SSD – Worth The Hassle?

SSD... even the experts can't recommend 'em!

Very interesting article from a storage expert at Information Week, where you might expect him to be talking his own book (or basically, pushing new technologies on companies), but he actually seems to go the opposite way.

Read Getting Real About SSD Performance and check it out for yourself.

As a hard drive recovery provider, talking our book (i.e. generating sales and jobs for our company) would mean jumping for joy at SSD, as its overall stability has been weak at best, and has already provided us with more data recovery requests than we might have thought. But, we continue to warn corporate IT managers AGAINST the technology, as its high expense, particularly at this relatively nascent time for it, far outweighs the benefits.

The “tried and true” platter system will have to suffice for now for all but the most risk-oriented IT people. But then, most IT people we know prefer “tried and true” to “rolling the dice” when it comes to their critical data!