Disaster Recovery

Data Recovery of data from a hard disk drive or other digital media can be critical after a fire, flood or explosion. Many of the techniques used to recover data from damaged or seemingly destroyed data is similar to data recovery from failed hard drives and tapes in less severe conditions.
 
The value of the data can be immense. In many cases companies and other entities who experience a disaster are faced with a double or more failure. Even those companies who back up their data on a regular basis are at risk unless they store the backup data in a remote location. Rebuilding customer files, financial records, inventory records, may be impossible. Many companies and other entities face going out of business when experiencing a flood, fire or explosion.
 
There is considerable value to insurance companies who provide Business Interruption Insurance. Data contained on damaged drives can be critical in supporting or denying business interruptions claims.
 
Fire Damage
 
Data can be recovered from many drives even if all plastic components are melted, and otherwise the hard drive looks like a blackened mess.
 
The architecture of a hard drive has two main components - the electronic board and the head assembly. The head assembly houses the rotating platters which contain the data along with read/write heads that do just that -- read and write data to the rotating platters.
 
There is a small hole in the head assembly (pin size) whose purpose is to compensate for atmospheric changes (if the head assembly was completely sealed the head assembly would need to be much stronger to accommodate atmospheric changes). The amount of air that enters this pin hole is negligible over time.
 
The second risk is water used by fire fighters entering the small hole. In this case, speed is of the essence. If the platters are accessed before the water dries, then there is still a chance of recovering the critical data on the drive. If the water does dry, it leaves behind minerals, dirt and other foreign materials throughout the drive, most importantly, the head assemble and platter(s). The chances of recovery at this point are less.
 
Another risk to the head assembly is that the heat was so intense that the platters experienced melting. In this case there is no hope of recovering data.
 
Our experience is, however, that even blackened drives have undamaged head assemblies. The challenge in recovering data is to rebuild the electronics to access the data.
 
Water Damage
 
If the hard drive has been under water for only a short time, the probability is that the head assembly has not been penetrated by the water. While the data recovery remains difficult, it can be done.
 
If water has penetrated the head assembly, it is important that the drive be kept wet. In requesting data recovery it is important to seal the drive, as well as other media, in a container with a minimum of a damp sponge. We have been successful in recovering data when we have received drive shipped (delivered) in distilled water.
 
A standard technique used by companies specializing in restoring damaged computer equipment is to bake components for a time to dry them out. This technique has worked quite well for computer boards, but can be disastrous for computer hard drives.
 
Let us use our experience in recovering data work for you, and with you.
 
If the information is available, we can get it for you. For a free consultation, contact us.