Do Data Recovery Engineers Care About Pirated Movies and TV Shows?
One of the most common questions we receive is regarding our liability to report illegal content on recovered devices. To be clear, there is certain content that must be reported to the authorities — particularly videos and pictures of child...
What Is a Hard Drive Spindle Failure?
The hard drive spindle is a shaft that holds the platters in place. The platters are disks coated with a thin magnetic material — that magnetic material stores your data. Modern hard drives often have multiple platters, and part of...
Logical Data Loss Vs. Physical Data Loss
Data loss can be classified as physical, which is a hardware issue, or logical, which is a software issue. That's the basic idea — but in many data loss scenarios, damage can be described as both logical and physical. For...
Why "Hard Drive Repair" Doesn't Really Exist
At Datarecovery.com, we've helped hundreds of thousands of computer users recover from hard drive failures — but many of those consumers are mystified when we return data on a separate device. That leads to an obvious question: Why can't we...
Please Don't Pry Open Your Hard Drive (Unless You Don't Need the Data)
At Datarecovery.com, we support consumers' right to repair their own devices. If you pay $1,000 for a smartphone, you should have the option of repairing a broken screen or a busted USB-C port on your own. Generally speaking, manufacturers shouldn't...
A Look Inside Datarecovery.com's Hard Drive Parts Inventory
In order to recover data from a physically damaged hard drive, engineers need to return the drive to a working condition. That's easier said than done — hard drive components are extremely drive-specific. In some cases, drives with identical model...
What Is A Hard Drive Head Crash?
A hard drive crash occurs when the actuator heads come in contact with the platters. Here's what that means for your data (and what to do next).
What Happens During a Data Recovery Media Evaluation?
Most reputable data recovery providers evaluate storage media before providing a quote. In another article, we explained why evaluations are necessary — if you missed it, you can read more here. But what happens during a data recovery media evaluation?...
What Are "Bad Sectors" On a Hard Drive?
Bad sectors occur when a hard drive cannot read certain data. Here's how bad sectors occur and several tips for avoiding data loss.
The Problem With Flat-Rate Hard Drive Data Recovery
Imagine taking your car to a mechanic that charges a flat rate for every service. Whether you're getting a routine tune-up or a new transmission, you'll pay a few hundred dollars. Most consumers wouldn't trust the mechanic — especially with...