An Innovative Solution for a Recurring Problem.

The National Aeronatics and Space Administration – known to most Americans simply as NASA – is one of the most technologically advanced institutions in the world.  Dependable data storage is an essential part of the agency’s day-to-day operations, and when devices fail without backups, NASA trusts Datarecovery.com.

Our association with NASA began with a perplexing series of hard drive failures.  In the early 2000s, NASA purchased thousands 10GB and 20GB Quantum AS drives.  While these devices provided excellent access speeds and storage capabilities, some were prone to read/write head failures, and even with regular backup, data loss became a substantial problem for some NASA computers.

Datarecovery.com (operating as ESS Data Recovery) needed to create a solution.  At the time, our engineers treated most hard drive read/write head failures by replacing damaged heads, but this did not allow for consistent data access on the Quantum AS series.  However, we noticed that head replacement did change some of the symptoms.

After locating 40 identical hard drives, we performed a thorough analysis that identified the source of the problem: the head failures were damaging on-disk firmware modules on track-1 of the platters.  This prevented normal hard drive access.  To correct the issue, we pioneered some of our industry’s first firmware repair techniques, creating a solution that was 99 percent effective for the Quantum hard drives.

We frequently develop new techniques through extensive research and experimentation, and our Midwest laboratory has recovered hundreds of cases from two NASA space centers (Johnson Space Center in Houston and Kennedy Space Center in Florida) over the past decade.  Through a combination of excellent security, fast turnarounds, and occasional ingenuity, Datarecovery.com gives NASA an unparalleled resource for data recovery.

Want to learn more?  Call 1.800.237.4200.