Hard Disk
Data Recovery for Burnt or Damaged Hard Drive Circuit Boards
If you've noticed a burning smell from your computer or external hard drive, or if the device is completely dead (unresponsive and…
R&D
Guides, research, and case notes from the Datarecovery.com laboratories
Data Recovery Knowledge
What Is a Hard Drive Service Area?
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…
Hard Disk
Scratched Hard Drive Platters: Is Data Recovery Possible?
Can you recover data if a hard drive’s platters are physically damaged? Yes, sometimes, depending on the extent of the damage. The…
Data Recovery Knowledge
How Does Hard Drive Firmware Become Corrupted?
Hard drive firmware is the embedded software that acts as the drive's internal operating system. When the firmware becomes corrupted, the drive…
Data Loss Prevention
Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) Errors: Data Loss Symptoms
A "cyclic redundancy check" (CRC) error means that the data on your storage device is corrupt and unreadable. The device's operating system…
Data Recovery Knowledge
Data Recovery Challenges: Simultaneous Head Crashes in RAID 10 Arrays
A simultaneous head crash across multiple drives in a RAID 10 array is a severe data loss scenario that requires immediate treatment…
Data Recovery Knowledge
Data Carving: Data Recovery Techniques Explained
Data carving is an advanced data recovery technique that extracts files directly from the raw bits and bytes on a storage device.…
Data Recovery Knowledge
Enterprise vs. Consumer Hard Drives: Key Differences in Recovery
Enterprise and consumer-class hard drives are built for vastly different workloads. The average consumer probably won’t benefit from a HAMR (Heat Assisted…
Data Loss Prevention
Why You Shouldn’t Run CHKDSK on a Degraded RAID Volume
Running the Check Disk (CHKDSK) utility on a degraded RAID volume can cause catastrophic, irreversible data loss. If you’ve lost data from…
Data Loss Prevention
What to Do When Your Business’s Only Accounting Drive Fails
When your business’s primary accounting drive fails, immediately power down the computer or server. Continued operation, even for a few minutes, can…
Data Recovery Knowledge
How to Securely Wipe a Hard Drive Before Selling or Recycling It
The most reliable way to securely wipe a traditional hard disk drive (HDD) is to perform a single-pass overwrite, which writes a…
Data Recovery Knowledge
Should You Use the ATA Secure Erase Command on a USB SSD?
No, you should not rely on the ATA Secure Erase command to wipe a USB-connected solid-state drive (SSD). The ATA Secure Erase…
Data Recovery Knowledge
SSD vs. HDD Data Recovery: Key Differences and Techniques
While Datarecovery.com provides services for all digital storage devices, the vast majority of the cases we receive involve solid-state drives (SSDs) or…
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