Slave A Laptop Hard Drive To USB

This article and video will show you how to use a USB enclosure to slave a laptop hard drive. Many times laptop - notebook hard disk drives come in here that we are able to recover with data recovery software. This video will help you use a USB enclosure to get data off of a failing laptop hard drive.

Hard Drive Recovery Video Series - How To Slave a Laptop Hard Drive

If you have a clicking hard disk drive chances are you need hard drive recovery and slaving your laptop will not help you get your files back. This method is for hard drives that are still recognized by the BIOS, they just don’t show you your data, or let you access it.

The software that you need to recover your data is dependent upon the Operating System that was on your laptop.

• For Windows XP or Microsoft Vista with NTFS File System use DART XP - this program will scan your laptop drive and show you the files that can be recovered before you actually buy the software. You can download the demo version for FREE without having to sign up for anything. DART XP Data Recovery Software. If the scan shows you the data you want, you can purchase it right through the software interface.
• For All other types of Windows or for external hard drives that are running NTFS, FAT, FAT 32 or FAT 16 you will need Recover It All. The Demo version also is FREE and will show you the data before you buy it. You can save the scan and purchase the sofrtware off of our website. Like all our products you don’t have to register it to get the demo and will receive the full version within seconds of purchasing it. Click here for the demo of Recover It All Data Recovery Software.

All of our data recovery software is guaranteed to work or you get your money back. Just like our data recovery services which are No Fix No Fee, we will show you your data before you buy!

DTI also has extended software support. Our software support people work right here in Florida. We don’t outsource anything ever! Our support phones are answered from 9 AM EST to 10 PM EST at 727-345-9665, if you are calling after normal business hours choose the software tech support option with your phone.

Remember if you need hard drive recovery DTI has the best support in the business, a class 100 clean room and a strict no data no charge policy on hard drive recovery. When it comes to laptop data recovery, DTI Data is second to none!

Recovering Data From A Laptop

Last month I purchased a Dell Inspiron 1720 with all the RAM and processing power that I could get. I also picked a 320GB hard drive to store my data files. Being involved with data recovery in one way or another for the last nine years has certainly prepared me for what happened last week.

My hard drive crashed in a laptop that was not even 20 days old. It not only crashed, but had significant sector damage. How could this happen in a brand new laptop? Well the fact is every hard drive that goes out to the general public is released with bad sectors. There is S.M.A.R.T Technology and Sector Maps that are there to protect clients from data loss. If you want to know more about those 2 things read my wife Victoria’s post: Hard Drives A Destiny Of Failure to learn more.

Anyway, here I am with a damaged hard drive and a laptop so new that I hadn’t started backing up my data fully yet. I then remembered an article that Jacqui Best, our support team leader wrote about BART PE which is a Bootable CD For Data Recovery, and I used the info in that post to get off my files.

The moral of this story is to start your data backup routines at once! After you have all you settings customized to your needs, clone your hard drive! This way the restore process is much easier. I spent 2 days getting my laptop back to were it needed to be. Fortunately I did not need hard drive recovery!

Hard Drive Recovery Software

There are a lot of websites and blogs that talk about hard drive recovery. Most of the content out there is really just fluff, written to drive hard drive and data recovery type ads in Google AdSense. These ads can make webmasters and site owners a lot of money. The problem is there is quite a bit of hard drive recovery content that is down right dangerous! Sites that say you should put your hard drive in a freezer or even open your hard drive at all, don’t know anything about how hard drives work, let alone how to recover or repair them.

The Hard Drive Recovery Process

Hard drive recovery is the process of recovering data from a physically damaged hard disk. More than half of the drives we receive have head failures which require that the drive is opened inside our clean room which prevents dust particles from damaging the drive further. The clean room is also used to protect the electronic parts of the drive from static discharge. Opening a hard drive in anything but a clean room is dangerous to the hard drive. Below is a diagram that shows the parts in a hard drive.

DTI Data Recovery is one of a handful of data recovery companies that have both a clean room AND engineers that are capable of programming software that is needed to repair a file system. The head of our programming department, Dick Correa, has been writing file system repair and data recovery software for many years. His technicians are constantly doing research and development on how to work with all file systems, not just NTFS. By combining advanced programming and having the tools necessary to perform hard drive recovery, DTI is an industry leader in data recovery services.

The reason that we are getting into all of this now is to help users identify legitimate resources when their hard drives have failed. Don’t trust just anyone with your data. Make sure the company you choose is like DTI Data, that they have a clean room and qualified engineers to perform hard drive recovery.

If you are here you need data recovery, more than likely, internal hard disk repair. Call Toll Free: 1-866-438-6932 or fill out an online quote form if you need hard drive recovery.

Hard Drive Failure Data Recovery

When your hard drive fails it is more than likely a physical problem. In most cases noise will accompany hard drive failure, clicking and scraping are common sounds that a hard drive will emit while it is failing. It is important to back up all your files if your hard drive is making any noises.

Hard Drive Recovery From A Failed Disk

When a hard drive fails, it needs to be repaired so the data can be transferred to stable media and the files can be recovered. Hard drive recovery is the process of repairing a failed hard drive. After the data is transferred, the data recovery process begins.

Hard Drive Recovery Techniques

Hard drive recovery is one part of the overall process of data recovery. Data recovery involves many steps that vary depending upon the actual circumstances of the hard drive failure. When the disk is physically damaged it will need to be repaired. This stage is referred to as hard drive recovery

Hard Drive Recovery Techniques: The Clean Room

When performing hard drive recovery, it is absolutely imperative that the repair take place in a clean room. Static discharge and dust can have adverse effects on both the heads and the platters. The picture below shows the parts we are talking about:

Depending upon the cause of the initial hard drive failure, the engineers will repair the electronics or hardware.

Hard Drive Recovery Technique: Head Replacement

One of the most common hard drive recovery scenarios involves a clicking hard drive you can hear an example here. The clicking is most likely a head failure. The repair of the heads usually entails replacing them from a good hard drive of the same exact model. Once the heads have been replaced, the engineers move on to reading the disks and moving the data off to stable media.

These are just a couple of techniques the engineers at DTI Data use when doing hard drive recovery. Feel free to call us Call Toll Free: 1-866-438-6932 or fill out an online quote form for immediate support.

Hard Drive Recovery Case Study: Computer Overheating

Overheating is a serious problem for people, cars and especially computers and hard drives. In my post Speed Kills With Hard Drives Its Heat, I talk about how heat can be very bad for hard drives. Today we are going to look at the world outside of the computer. You would be amazed at how many hard drive recovery cases we get that are heat related. It doesn’t matter if its a laptop hard drive, desktop, external or a mini drive, they are all susceptible to heat.

Heat Related Hard Drive Recovery

With a desktop computer you can add fans inside the box as well as right on the hard drive itself. You have no such luxury with laptop computers. The thing to do with a notebook is to keep the air flowing around it. Don’t use it while it is laying on a bed for example. There are laptop fans that you can buy for your desk if you have a dedicated workstation for your notebook. With the powerful options now available in laptops more and more people are using them as their primary computers, even companies. If a notebook is your main machine, keep it cool and avoid overheating.

For those of us that need the computing power that you can only get from a desktop, we do have options for keeping the system cool. Most new computers have advanced cooling options and these are just as important as duel core processors and gigs of RAM. Spend the extra dough and get as much cooling as you can when you configure your new computer.

The picture below is a typical computer cabinet desk combo. While it looks good and keep everything organized, it is a computer killer.

By squeezing your computer into a tight space you are stopping any air flow. Computers, like people need to breathe and stay cool. If you are looking at computer desks or furniture, make sure your computer has plenty of breathing room and air flow.  Heat is a major cause of hard drive recovery, so do everything you can to keep your drive and computer cool.

DTI In The News

DTI Data Recovery’s owner Dave Mohyla was in the news again providing help to the Virginia State Police when they sought his advice concerning the possibilities of recovering data from a suspects hard drive that was thrown into a duck pond. DTI has extensive experience with water damaged hard drives and hard drive recovery of flooded disks. During our relief efforts with Hurricane Katrina victims we had to create a special lab environment just for water damaged hard drives.

You can read the whole story at the Roanoke Times website. Dave goes on to explain how we recover data from water damaged hard drives and recommends that the police keep the drive submersed until we can get out hands on it. Since DTI is a certified forensic data recovery company with unsurpassed experience at water damaged hard drive recovery, who else are they gonna call?

If you are having hard disk problems than give us a call, no one has a better hard drive recovery success rate than DTI.

24 Hour Hard Drive Recovery & Server/RAID Recovery Hotline:
Toll Free 1-866-438-6932 or direct 1-727-345-9665.

Extended Software Support:
8 AM to 11 PM EST 7days a week!

Hard Drive Recovery Case Study: Power Failure Surge Brown Out

One of the most common causes of hard drive failure surround power problems. Anything from power outages to electrical surges can cause major problems for both computers and hard drives. Hard drive recovery from electrical issues requires special tools and training. In the good old days all you had to do was swap the pcb board on the back of the hard drive and you were good to go. Hard drives these days require more advanced techniques to solve electronic hard drive failures.

Hard Drive Recovery From Power Surges

When a computer is subjected to a power surge many bad things can happen. The first target is the power supply. Not able to sustain more voltage than it was designed for, the internal electronics will fry. While any boards that are plugged into the motherboard are likely victims, devices that are plugged directly into the power supply usually are the worst hit by a surge. When a surged disk comes in for hard drive recovery often times the electronics are fused together making the pcb board unusable. The hard part is to isolate those electronics and replace the chipsets to not only power up the drive motor, but to obtain communication between the electronics and the platters.

It is almost impossible to replace pcb boards due to the proprietary microcode and encryption that is prevalent on newer drives. That means that the hard drive recovery process is going to require advanced electronic work including soldering and un-soldering effected chips.

The best way for you to avoid this type of failure is to purchase a solid surge suppressor. There are plenty of power strips for sale that offer surge suppression, but you have to be careful to buy one that can handle at least 3800 joules.

Hard Drive Recovery Power Outages Failures Brown Outs

Almost as bad as a surge. a power failure can also cause quite a bit of damage to both your computer and your hard drive. A computer that gets shut down without proper sequencing can cause damage not only to the mechanical hard drive, but to the data on that disk. Most programs can’t restore from a dirty shutdown, or be rebuilt from a power outage. Another physical hard drive recovery issue from power outages is within the electronics within the disk. Power supplies send out an expected amount of voltage to the hard drive. Insufficient amount of power can cause the motor speed to fluctuate and sectors to be damaged.

A sudden stoppage of the hard drive without proper shut down could cause the heads to crash on the platters which damages the heads or worse, scratches the platters. This will lead to a clicking hard drive and data loss.

The best thing you can do is to buy a battery backup. A 600W 1 hour battery backup will keep your computer and monitor running long enough for you to institute proper shutdown. This can save you a lot of heartache and ultimately hard drive recovery!

Hard Drive Recovery Case Study Overview

“Hard Drive Recovery” is the part of the data recovery process that involves repairing the hard disk drive. This new series of articles are going to talk about the most common hard drive recovery scenarios we run into. By talking about the situations we run into on a daily basis, we hope to help others avoid data loss and hard drive problems.

Hard Drive Recovery Case Studies Explained

The case studies will be in a specific format that will outline everything from computer make and model, operating system and hardware configuration to hard drive type, capacity and manufacturer. By sharing our recovery experience with our readers DTI Data will continue its unique free support policy.

If there are any specific topics that anyone would like explored or if anybody has questions pertaining to hard drive recovery, please leave comments in this post and we will answer all questions and use your input in the creation of our content plan.

For those of you that are new to our site, DTI Data is a full service data recovery company. We operate a class 100 clean room where we perform all hard drive repair. All the software we sell on our website was created in house by our own engineers and programmers. DTI also has a full service network division that specializes in Exchange Server and database data recovery. We are certified to perform forensic data recovery and have biometric security to insure the confidentiality of our clients data.

By working with our engineers, technicians, programmers and sales staff I plan on providing the most useful information about hard drive recovery to be found online. Please leave a comment on this post if there is anything at all you are interested in learning about hard drive recovery.

Hurricane Katrina Revisited Water Damaged Hard Drive Recovery

Amazingly enough DTI is still receiving drives from Katrina victims. This is what prompted our re-visiting our hurricane disaster recovery planning. After even years, people are still just now getting to their damaged homes and computers. This is a reminder of how quickly everything can be lost. Our relief efforts to Katrina victims is still going on to this day.

Looking Back On Katrina Water Damaged Hard Drive Data Recovery

Flood damaged hard drives are among the toughest hard drive recovery cases we receive. DTI has proprietary measures we take that are unique in the industry. Living and working where we do, we have all felt the damage from water. Jacqui Best our support manager just had her house flooded not even two weeks ago! Sure FLorida is a great place to live, but we all get a little nervous this time of year.

Malcolm our head data recovery engineer sent a few pictures from the latest hard drive from Katrina. Here are hard drive parts from the water damaged hard disk:

The next shot of the water damaged hard drive is a close up of the platters:

We could tell when we opened the box that this was going to be a tough hard drive recovery. Here is a shot of the hard drive when we first opened the box:

Almost every flood damaged hard disk drive we receive for recovery has major corrosion. One of the top priorities is to stop the corrosion and get the drive platters into a recoverable state. We use special environmentally safe chemicals that help the process. Here is an example of the type of corrosion common on a water damaged hard drive:

The final picture shows typical corrosion focused on the back of the hard drive this time:

Even with all of these obstacles, DTI was able to recover this persons data! Call us if you have any questions:

24 Hour Hard Drive Recovery & Server/RAID Recovery Hotline:
Toll Free 1-866-438-6932 or direct 1-727-345-9665.

Extended Software Support:
8 AM to 11 PM EST 7days a week!

Below is a New Orleans TV Station that won an award for their interview with the owner of DTI, Dave Mohyla. Visit Our Hurricane Data Recovery Page for the entire interview.

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