Deciding if you need data recovery                                         

Losing your data can be stressful, we often become overwhelmed when we lose something that's important to us. The important thing is to remain rational. Sometimes, your problem can be resolved with a few troubleshooting tips. Below, we've compiled a list of common questions we ask our customers.

Is the hard drive making clicking or grinding noises?
If so, turn off the computer immediately to avoid further damage to the drive. Call us for further consultation at 1-888-241-3282
If no noises are heard, start up to ensure that the computer works.

Did you begin to experience problems after a power surge?
If so, there is a high probability that your drive suffered from an electronic failure. If this is the case, your hard drive will either not work at all, or will not be detected in the BIOS. In this case, you will need professional assistance.

Is the hard drive being detected in your computer BIOS?
If it is not, this usually indicates a hardware failure.
*If your drive is detected in the BIOS, but you get a message like
"no OS present, insert bootable disk", try the following:
-Try booting from a floppy, then switching to drive C. Run a "dir" command to try to see the files.
-If you get a message like "invalid media, abort, retry, fail", press abort and try loading the Fdisk utility from your bootable disk.
-Use Fdisk to view partition information. If the partition info shows something like "unknown" or "?", you have a logical corruption. Logical corruptions are in the lower end of our price range as they do not require physical disassembly of the drive.

Are your files or programs suddenly becoming inaccessible?
If so, this is usually an indication of logical errors due to a damaged file system or bad sectors. Do NOT use ChkDsk or Scandisk to try to diagnose or fix the problem. These tools are designed to fix a very narrow range of issues; in a hardware failure situation, they will only cause more damage to the drive. If on restarting, windows attempts to run these tools automatically, abort this procedure to avoid further data loss.

Is your hard disk being detected by another computer?
If at all possible, try connecting your hard drive to another computer as a slave drive. Sometimes, if your OS fails to boot or you get a bluescreen error, all is not lost. These can be caused by bad sectors which stall the drive head every time it tries to read them. If your drive is detected by another computer, there is hope of copying your data prior to total failure.
Warning: Attempting to copy files manually with windows may cause the drive to crash and you may lose more then you salvage. We recommend low level formatting for all damaged drives.

Data loss can be caused by a combination of factors and often requires professional assistance. To learn more about different causes of hard drive failure, and how we can help you get your data back, fill out our evaluation form for a free, no obligation evaluation with a complete file list.
Otherwise, feel free to give us a call toll free at 1-888-241-3282.
For more useful data recovery information, please take a minute to explore our Resource Center

Alex Bezborodov
Technical Writer
Accurate Data Recovery
www.a-datarecovery.com