What I Didnt Know Until I Found Out

How To Preserve Data Integrity and Prevent Further Damage In a Data Loss Scenario SERT Data Recovery

www.sertdatarecovery.com1750 N Florida Mango Rd #406WPB, FL 33409

SERT Data Recovery was formed to offer affordable, reliable, and transparent data recovery services.

Specialize in RAID, NAS, Mechanical and Firmware Hard Drive Repair, Broken Flash Drives, NAND Recovery

Development Team With Over 25 Years ExperienceCLASS 100 ISO 5 Certified Clean Work BenchHIPAA Certified and Compliant

Local and National Services

Computer Repair: General PractitionerIT Company: Orthopedist/NeurologistData Recovery Company: Brain SurgeonComputer Repair, IT, or Data Recovery Company?

SERVICE AREAData Recovery Principle

If you dont know why the data is not accessible:if you dont have the experience or technology to accurately diagnose and repair the problemdont try to recover the data.When the data is worth $400+What is Your Success Rate?

Previously Worked On: 80% Catastrophic Head Crash: 20% What are FAILURES due to:We have a 100% success rate on recoverable cases.Data Recovery Process

Do Your Due Diligence Ask The Right Questions(What happened to the drive, did it fall, was it bumped or banged, making any noises, what has been done to it so far, is it spinning, does it get power)

Identify the Symptoms (Tell me what happened)Determine the Cause Develop/Implement a Plan Recover the Data

I Dont Want My Drive Repaired

I Just Want My Data Back1. Hard Drive Repair2. Data RecoveryThe process of bringing a failed or failing drive to a fully functional condition temporarily in order to image the drive. (Firmware or Hardware Failures)This is where the files are actually recovered from the drive to a stable and safe environment to be delivered back to the client. (Advanced Recovery Utilities)Common Disaster Areas

Recovery Software Dropped Drives Bad Sectors Opening a Hard Drive Head Swaps Platter Swaps Clicking Drives Overwritten Data Monolithic Flash Drives RAID 0 & 5 Issues NAS Devices (Drobo,LaCie, Synology)Recovery Software

2. Failing Drives Do Not Run Check Disk

1. Deleted DataThe safest time to use recovery software is when you know the data has been deleted. Most users install it on the same drive they are recovering from. HFS+ is the least forgiving in recovering data that has been deleted.If you dont know why the drive is failing, or if it has bad sectors, using software to recover the data is like playing Russian roulette. Dependingon why it is failing, it will cause the drive to fail quickerand potentially damage the drive to the point it is notrepairable or recoverable.Dropped Drives

The First Thing Everyone Does Is The Worst Thing

When a drive experiences any shock, there is at least a 50% chance the read/write head assembly has come out of alignment or even worse, come out of its parking place. If the drive is spinning and this happens, the chance of damage rises drastically.Dropped Drives

What is the first thing everyone does?Internal damage?

Bad Sectors

Causes file system and file corruptionSoftware will get stuck in most cases Drive must be imaged using special hardware to avoid killing the driveDo not run check diskCannot be repaired

Opening a Hard Drive

Do you know what your looking for?Do you know how to fix it when you find it?Are you in a safe environment?Alignment IssuesLast resort for professionalsDont do it!

Head Swaps

Needs to be done in a certified clean room.Finding a donor requires almost finding an exact match.Donor vendors know what the drives are being used for. Platter damage will ruin the donor heads.

Platter Swaps

Cant you just take the platters out and suck the data off?Cant you just take the platters out and put them in another drive?

The only time a recovery warrants a platter swap is when the motor/spindle is seized. Very few companies in the US can do this procedure.Clicking Drives

Usually a drive will click because the heads cannot read the service area on the platter and does not know where to go next. Some times this is due to corruption to the modules located in service area.Clicking drives do not automatically need a clean room, or head swap.Many firmware related issues cause clickingPlatter damage will cause a drive to clickBad Heads also will cause a drive to click Overwritten Data

Plain and simple. GAME OVER.

Monolithic Flash Drives

No printed circuit boardAll components inside the memory chip itselfRequires knowing the pinoutVery difficult to reverse engineer

RAID 0 & 5 Issues

Power down immediatelyDo not force back onlineDo not reinitialize1 & 2 drives downNeed to know why the failure occurredBasically dont do anything you would not bet your life on

NAS Devices (Drobo, LaCie, Synology, Etc)

Tech support is NOT your friendDo not run disk utility or check diskDo not reinitializeDo NOT use the default/proprietary array configurations BeyondRAID (Drobo), SHR (Synology Hybrid RAID)Always set RAID to custom RAID 5 or 6Need the box for recovery 90% of the time

Drobo Support

On May 19 at 10:13 AM the disk in the 3rd slot from the top with serial number XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX was power cycled because it had become unresponsive and when it was redetected it was assigned a new logical disk number.At that point the array is down one drive so the Drobo started data protection.While trying to complete, the disk with serial number YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY started misbehaving causing the Drobo to reboot because now this disk was critical to the operation of the array.If you can get a good clone of the disk we should be able to get the array stabilized.

Kind Regards,XXXX X.Technical Support Agent

Free Evaluation on drives without previous attempts to recover data (includes software)

24 48hr Diagnostics

If we dont recover the data You dont pay the recovery feeSERT Data Recovery

www.sertdatarecovery.com1750 N Florida Mango Rd #406WPB, FL 33409