What Is Data Recovery?
Data recovery is the process of retrieving deleted or inaccessible data from failed electronic storage media such as computer hard disk drives, removable media, optical devices and tape cartridges.

Your data can become inaccessible due to a software problem, computer virus, mechanical or electrical malfunction or a deliberate human act.

Regardless of the cause of your data loss, our experienced technicians are able to successfully recover lost data 70% - 75% of the time.

What Is A SCSI Drive?
SCSI stands for Small Computer Systems Interface, which is widely used in medium and large systems. SCSI is an industry-standard interface and generally offers faster transfer rates than does ATA/IDE, the interface most commonly used in desktop PCs.

In general, ATA/IDE is considered easier to implement and less expensive but does not offer as many features as SCSI. SCSI can support both the connection of many devices and the connection of many devices over long distances.

Are There Instances Where Lost Data Cannot Be Recovered?
Yes. There are instances where the damage to the hard drive is so severe that data recovery is not possible. This usually occurs when the read/write heads actually "crash" and gouge the magnetic storage media to the point where the data is destroyed.

However, in a number of cases data recovery was possible at the time the damage first occurred, but became non-recoverable through the use of commercial recovery software. This software is designed to recover data from working drives. If your drive has experienced a mechanical or electrical failure, the use of recovery software can cause permanent loss of your data.

What Is RAID?
Fundamental to RAID technology is striping. This is a method of combining multiple drives into one logical storage unit. Striping partitions the storage space of each drive into stripes, which can be as small as one sector (512 bytes) or as large as several megabytes. These stripes are then interleaved in a rotating sequence, so that the combined space is composed alternately of stripes from each drive. The specific type of operating environment determines whether large or small stripes should be used.

Most operating systems today support concurrent disk I/O operations across multiple drives. However, in order to maximize throughput for the disk subsystem, the I/O load must be balanced across all the drives so that each drive can be kept busy as much as possible. In a multiple drive system without striping, the disk I/O load is never perfectly balanced.

Some drives will contain data files that are frequently accessed and some drives will rarely be accessed.

By striping the drives in the array with stripes large enough so that each record falls entirely within one stripe, most records can be evenly distributed across all drives. This keeps all drives in the array busy during heavy load situations. This situation allows all drives to work concurrently on different I/O operations, and thus maximize the number of simultaneous I/O operations that can be performed by the array.

What Is The Evaluation Process?
All media received goes through an extensive analysis to determine the condition of the drive.

Step 1 - We will determine whether the problems are physical (hardware), logical (software structures) or both.

Step 2 - If the determination is physical, we then determine whether the needed parts for repairs are in our extensive inventory or if we will have to source them from our vendors.

Step 3 - Once we have access to the drive we will make an absolute sector-by-sector mirror image of your hard disk to our equipment where the process will continue.

Step 4 - The next step is to evaluate the condition of the data structure & determine how much of the data is salvageable.

Step 5 - When the evaluation process is completed, we will contact you with the results of the evaluation & tell you exactly where in the original price range your recovery will fall. We will need your approval to proceed from this point.

How Long Does The Evaluation Take?
We strive to have the evaluations completed with-in 24-48 hrs of our receipt of the drive. The time required for the evaluation is dependent upon the problems encountered.

Though we maintain an extensive inventory of drives & parts, obtaining parts for uncommon drives may add to the length of time required for the evaluation.

If other technicians have attempted to recover the data using disk utilities and have damaged logical structures, the process may be lengthened.

Imaging alone may take up to 24 hours of computer time with extensive re-tries for badly damaged devices.

If the evaluation is to take longer than the standard 48 hours, a representative will call to explain the nature and extent of the problem you & keep you apprised of the progress of the evaluation.