The average turnaround time for data recovery can range from a few hours to several weeks. We realize that’s a large range — but there are quite a few factors at play, particularly when working with complex scenarios.  We start...

A donor drive is a healthy, functioning hard drive that is used as a source for replacement parts to repair a failed drive (sometimes called the “patient,” though in our laboratories, we usually just use the term “original” drive). These...

In simple terms, data corruption occurs when the data within a file or on a storage device is altered from its original state, rendering it unreadable or unusable. You’ve likely experienced this before: a photo that’s suddenly gray or distorted,...

A decade-old bug in the Linux kernel is now being actively used by ransomware groups to gain full root control of a server, according to a new warning from CISA.  This vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-1086, is exceptionally dangerous because it...

If you’re of a certain age, you learned that defragmenting your hard drive was important computer hygiene. That’s no longer the case — or, at least, you don’t need to manually defragment your HDD.  Modern operating systems, especially Windows (versions...

Electronic components generate heat, and ventilation is certainly a factor in the long-term health of your computer. Most modern computer cases are designed with adequate airflow, but a failure in ventilation can lead to catastrophic data loss.  When internal fans...

Data recovery from fire-damaged RAID servers is frequently possible; each year, we receive several dozen cases (sometimes more, such as when wildfires impacted California business in early 2025), and most cases result in a full or partial recovery. However,...

A grinding hard drive is a critical data emergency. This noise — which is distinct from the repetitive “click of death” — is the sound of an immediate and severe physical failure. The only safe action is to power it...

A hard drive’s service area is a hidden, reserved section on the data platters that contains the drive’s firmware (operating instructions). It’s completely inaccessible to the user and to the computer’s operating system.  The service area impacts how the drive...

Hard drive firmware is the embedded software that acts as the drive’s internal operating system. When the firmware becomes corrupted, the drive can become completely inaccessible, even if its physical components are otherwise healthy.Firmware corruption occurs due to sudden...