Mac Data Recovery Services For IMac, MacBook and Power Macs

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Mac Data Recovery Services

Apple's Macintosh computers have experienced a major resurgence, mainly thanks to the iPhone, iPad and other new products. But one thing that hasn't changed is HDRG's dedication to the Mac platform. We've been recovering Mac hard drives since the early 1990s, and our experience can help you retrieve your files today.

Apple products are popular for good reason - no company makes products with this level of design influence, nor build quality.

And yet, Mac hard drive failures are just as common as Windows drive breakdowns.

The issue with Mac computers and data loss, however, is that Mac hard drive recovery is nowhere near as simple nor as industry-supported as that of Windows computers. Mac data recovery requires a specialist... which is where the Hard Drive Recovery Group comes in.

Request a free Mac data recovery quote here.

Recovering From An Emergency Mac Data Recovery Situation

The Mac OS X operating system was a true step forward in computing for the Apple line of computers. Its ease of use and superior design make its users some of the most loyal in the computing world. While Windows PCs have become commoditized, Apple computers share a special status in the PC world as a truly individualized platform, with its own lines of software and functionalities.

The problem with the individual status of the Mac computer is that when you lose data on your Mac system, there are far fewer options for mac hard disk recovery. This can make a hard drive failure or accidental deletion somewhat harrowing, with the potential for panic greatly heightened.

Do Not Panic, Professional Help Is Available

When a Mac hard drive fails, the situation is exactly the same as when a Windows hard drive crash is encountered. Typical symptoms of this include a clicking or buzzing sound emanating from your hard disk, and/or the inability to boot your computer. Despite the high number of truly user-centric recovery features built into the Mac OS X system, there is little that can be accomplished as far as user-driven Mac data recovery in this situation. In order to repair the hard drive and recover the data, a professional must be contacted. This is where a professional Mac hard drive recovery shop such as Hard Drive Recovery Group comes in.

Not Every Shop Offers Mac Hard Drive Recovery

When looking for a Mac data recovery service provider, understand that not every shop can provide this service. Working with the Mac file system is quite different to working with Windows' NTFS system, and requires a specialized degree of experience with all flavors of the Mac OS. This experience is also necessary for Mac formatted devices, which can include external hard drives and the immensely popular Apple IPod.

Ensuring you contact an experienced Mac data recovery shop such as Hard Drive Recovery Group is essential to ensure your data's safety. With Mac data recovery, experience is everything - remember that the Mac platform is installed on only 5% of computers today, so finding a specialist is critical.

Self Repair - Never A Good Idea

Attempting your own Mac data recovery, especially in situations where your hard drive has experienced physical failure, is never a good idea. Despite how mechanically skilled you are, Mac hard drives, much like Windows hard drives, are miniaturized electronic devices which must be opened only in sanitized clean room environments. Opening hard disk units can often virtually eliminate the possibility of Mac data recovery altogether. This is one case where professional help is an absolute necessity if you expect to recover Mac data.

Apple Xserve Data Recovery

When someone mentions that they have had a problem with their computer or hard drive, we always ask “Have you backed up your data?” We all know that data should be backed up just in case there is a failure but how many of us actually do it, and do it on a regular basis. Unless we have an automatic back up set up, the answer is not as many of us as there should be. If we lose personal data it can be a problem. Not so much in losing programs – these can easily be reinstalled. The big problem is with all the documents and photos that we have stored.

ow imagine if the problem wasn’t just with a single PC or laptop but with a business’ Apple Xserve server. The problems that we as an individual have are magnified several times over. Not only is the data lost, many businesses will suffer downtime and loss of confidence from their customers and suppliers.

How Data Can Be Lost From an Apple Xserve Server

Modern electronics hardware, firmware and software is very reliable and the chances of losing data are not very high. However, failures to occur from time to time from a system failure or possibly from a malicious attack on the system.

In a recent survey conducted by the international firm of accountants and business consultants, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, about 50% of those participating in the survey reported that they had seen over 10 cases of cyber-crime and that the problem had escalated in the past year. The financial industry is hardest hit by the cyber criminals with over 50% of all attacks aimed at them. Finance was followed by communications companies and the media in general with 17% of the total attacks followed by manufacturing and industrial companies in third with 13% of the total attacks.

Just because the system is not part of some huge global conglomerate or involved in finance does not mean that it is safe from someone who thinks it may be fun to attack and disrupt a business server.

Types of Failure on an Apple Xserve Server

There are several scenarios where data can be lost, some are relevant to all computers and some particular to the Apple Xserve. Below are just some of the possible scenarios;
• Missing LUN (Logical Unit Number)
• Inaccessible LUN
• Inaccessible share access
• Corrupt metadata
• FSCK (File System Consistency Check) error
• RAID Disk fault

What To Do If An Apple Xserve System Fails

For an individual computer or laptop, there are thousands of companies who will try and recover lost data for you. For a business server, however, the problems tend to be both more complex and critical to the continued viability of the company.

Firstly it should be understood that, as with personal computing, there different software and hardware systems on servers. A data recovery company that specializes in Windows systems data recovery will not necessarily have the skills and expertise to deal with Apple Xserve data recovery and the same with Linux systems.

Therefore the first matter that needs to be addressed is the skill in dealing with the system that needs attention. Are they competent in dealing with the Apple Xserve range of servers? Do they have experience in dealing with configuration of that particular Apple Xserve server? A little time spent on research at this stage can save many headaches later on.

Secondly, do they do the data recovery work themselves, in house, or do they sub-contract it out. The sub-contractors may be highly competent at the data recovery work, but it does extend the lines of communication in both directions which can lead to delays and misunderstandings. Thirdly, what can you expect from the data recovery company and in what timescale can you expect to be back up and running.

And, importantly if there is HIPAA sensitive material on the server, is the data recovery company HIPAA compliant?

What About HIPAA Compliance?

HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) places certain obligations on the storage and confidentiality of patients’ personal data. Because there is a problem with your Apple Xserve data storage systems this does not obviate any of the responsibilities under HIPAA. Therefore should you need the services of a data recovery company you are obliged, under penalty of fines (and naming and shaming), to ensure that the company you select is HIPAA compliant. Remember that the obligation audit the data recovery company remains the same as your cloud storage company (should you use one).

How is Data Recovered From an Apple Xserve Server?

There are several techniques employed by data recovery companies. The method used depends on the type of problem and the types of hard disk configuration. In some cases several techniques will need to be used to repair the problem.

Physical Damage

In some cases replacing some components can repair the disc, although as a result of the failure some logical damage may exist. Should this be the case, a disc imaging process is used to recover all readable data. One this has been transferred on to a new disc, an analysis is carried out to attempt to reconstruct the damaged data.

Corrupt Partitions, File Systems and Media Errors

Sometimes the data stored on your hard drive has become unreadable because there has been damage to the partition table. Occasionally, using specialist software, some, if not all, of the data can be recovered by a person with no particular experience of hard drive repair.

Where the damage is of a greater degree specialist expertise is needed, principally if there are irrecoverable file parts. The recovery of parts of damaged files is known as data carving. To perform this one, has to be conversant with the structure of the files. Although the subject is debated, many test have shown that overwritten data, as opposed to data that is simply deleted, cannot be recovered successfully.

If an Apple Xserve server fails, for whatever reason, all the data that was on it is not necessarily lost. By using a competent data recovery company, who is knowledgeable and experienced with Apple Xserve system, the maximum amount of data will be recovered.

Free Quote

We encourage you to contact us about your Mac data emergency today. Typically, data loss in a Mac program is either at the file system level (which can usually be repaired with data recovery software), or at the physical hard drive level. Our technicians are available to answer your questions 24 hours per day. Call us today for a free Mac data recovery quote, and put your mind at ease.

Click here for a free Mac data recovery assessment.