Blog Posts Data Recovery – What is it?

Data Recovery – What is it?

A frequent response I receive from customers when I try explain the Data Recovery process is “I don’t care about the Hard Drive I just want the data back”. Unfortunately much of the time the reason for the data loss is damage to the hard drive and that the only way of retrieving the data is to repair/revive the hard drive so that we can recover the data.

A discussion of common types of damage will help illuminate this point.

data recovery head assemblu — head assembly for data recovery

Head Assembly

The head assembly which has an arm which spans the shiny magnetic surface of the magnetic platter. The data we are trying to recover is contained on the surface of the platter and is extracted via the read/write heads at the end of the arm of the head assembly. If any part of the head fails it usually means we need to replace the head assembly with an exact identical. Typical cost currently is $1200.

There is also a motor which spins the magnetic platter if this fails replacement from an identical drive is required with a typical cost of $1600.

data recovery hard drive pcb — pcb used in data recovery

Hard Drive Electronics

The picture above is of the electronics of the Hard Drive and which controls the motor , head and transfer of data. These commonly fail from power spikes and brown outs and when these fail we need to replace the PCB ( printed circuit board) with an exact match and transfer the BIOS firmware either by software transfer or desoldering / soldering the BIOS chip , see pciture above, from the dead PCB to the replacement. Typical cost is $300 -$350.

Successful replacement of these parts does not guarantee that our data is still intact and coherent. There may well be other damage and further repairs may still need to be performed. I cover this in the next blog in this series.

We do not charge to quote

No fee if your data is not recovered. This is true even if we have to attempt swapping heads on the problem drive.

Free appraisal

Stop using the drive and call before it gets worse.

(08) 6180 6959

7 days a week, 8:00am – 10:00pm
126 Whatley Crescent, Maylands

Some of our Reviews

      EXCELLENT  
   Based on 27 reviews 
    
 
 
 
   
 
 
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   succinate 
 
 
 
 Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. Fixed the problem and pleased with the results.
  
 
      Posted on Google  
   
   Hendy Cowan 
 
 
 
 Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. Digby is amazing! Recovered hundreds of GB of family photos that had been lost for years. Can not recommend highly enough
  
 
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   Gavin Andrews 
 
 
 
 Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. Awesome service. Had other techs tell me my hard drive was toast but Data Recovery Perth got everything off it in quick time. Great service,  great price.
  
 
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   Ben Dickinson 
 
 
 
 Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. Lifesaver!
  
 
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   Ralph Meznar 
 
 
 
 Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. Nearly binned a 2 Tb external dive , I thought had a fried the PCB board and my data was unrecoverable .Held onto it for nearly 10 years and thought i would check if any one could retrive all my images before i threw it out. Digby retrieved the whole 2 TB ,great to see the images I thought I had lost forever ,great memories . Thanks Digby , great service :)
  
 
      Posted on Google  
   
   Kat Young 
 
 
 
 Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. Digby gets the job done with out any fuss!
  
 
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   Onkar Singh 
 
 
 
 Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. Best data recovery service in perth at good price.
  
 
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   Clements + Co. Studio 
 
 
 
 Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. I took my hard drive to be fixed by Digby, and he did a great job. I was concerned I was going to lose the data, but he was able to fix and transfer my data onto a new one, after ordering some parts in. Digby regularly kept me informed on the progress and got the job done. Very happy!