Memofix at iTech 2013 Toronto

April 30th, 2013

We love talking about IT with our customers, particularly if it involves storage technology.  We are a company of geeks who are always willing to share our technical expertise on hard disks, tape drives and data recovery with clients and business partners.  And now we’re being allowed out in public.

Memofix will be at iTech 2013, at the Toronto International Centre, on Thursday, May 16th.  For the past decade iTech has become known as Canada’s IT Infrastructure Conference and allows technology professionals to speak one-on-one with industry vendors, all in one place.  The seminar sessions deliver information on the latest trends, cutting edge products and services and help them research solutions for their IT strategy.  More information on the show can be found here:  iTech 2013 Toronto


itech-2013-it-conference infra NEW

We are excited to be at the show because it gives us an opportunity to meet with many of our past clients and discuss the challenges they have in the area of storage.  More importantly we love meeting new customers who get to find out what we are all about.  We think a face-to-face conversation allows us to convey our love for all things storage and build a trust factor based on our expertise and the fact that we love to help solve problems.

At the conference we will be focusing on 3 important services that generate the most interest from our customers.

Data Recovery:  A malfunctioning storage device can be a minor nuisance or severely disrupt your business operations.  Unfortunately the failure of hard drives, RAID arrays, and other data storage technologies is a fact of life.  Find out how Memofix can serve as your emergency support partner and how we retrieve or recover data from all types of data storage media.  Businesses of all sizes across Canada put their trust in Memofix Data Recovery Services to recover data from hard disks, tape cartridges flash media of all categories and NAS, SAN, and multi-disk servers.

Tape and Hard Disk Repair:  All the industry experts will tell you, “Tape is dead”.  For companies that continue to use tape as their backup  or archive strategy it is getting harder to find a support vendor and there are few service organizations in North America that specialize in tape drive repair.  Memofix, with 25 years of experience, is among that select group and we provide direct support for some of the largest manufacturers of tape storage technologies.  Our tape and hard disk repair services allow companies to extend their IT budgets by keeping existing devices running and avoiding an early replacement.  We also offer extended warranties for tape storage devices that are very cost competitive with OEM alternatives.

Cloud Backup:  The future of backup is not cloudy (sorry, bad pun).  As companies cope with ever increasing amounts of information they realize that it’s critical to have a dependable backup solution that can scale with their business needs.   Come by our iTech booth and find out how our Cloud Backup solution can prioritize files for backup and securely transmit an encrypted copy to an offsite Canadian-based data centers.  The Memofix Cloud Backup service can save you money, simplify your IT operations and give you an increased sense of security about your data.

Since 1986 Memofix has been a Canadian market leader specializing in the repair of storage devices, data recovery solutions and partnering with manufacturers as their warranty depot.  Our company takes pride in the professionalism of and experience of our technicians and our process of continual improvement.  Come by our booth at the iTech conference and find out why we are quality obsessed and customer focused.

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Need a Data Recovery Expert?

March 22nd, 2013

Please allow me to introduce you to MemofixMan, the creation of our own Rob Armstrong. Not only is Rob a talented artist, he also has an incredible flare for recovering data. Rob can be  found most days recovering data in the Memofix data recovery lab. We hope you enjoy his drawings and we hope to publish more of his creations soon.

toronto data recovery experts

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Choosing a Data Recovery Service Before You Need Them

February 21st, 2013

Today’s blog features a guest post from Larry Shulman, our Business Development Manager and a veteran of the Canadian computer industry.

IT managers have a tough job today.  Most are dealing with demand for expanding data storage capacity, keeping a complex computing infrastructure running with less dollars and planning for disaster recovery and business continuity.  Memofix, drawing on our experience as an extension of our customer’s IT department, has some suggestions on what to look for when choosing service partners for specific challenges.

Too often our clients come to us in the midst of an emergency.  They may have a hardware failure and require an immediate turnaround on a repair or replacement unit.  Perhaps a hard drive or RAID system has crashed and the data is critical to their operation.  At that point in the crisis customers may not have the luxury of worrying about the security of the data contained on those devices or about how to solve a complex technical issue.  Memofix is known for their responsiveness in these situations but we can’t help think that a small amount of research would also give our customers added confidence that they are not put at undue risk.

When it comes to data recovery we think our customers, both IT managers and technology resellers, need to look deeper at the service partner they are considering.  A prospective data recovery partner will have access to sensitive data that only they can access.   Therefore don’t just rely on technical ability to recovery data in a timely manner. You need to partner with someone who takes privacy and data security as seriously as you do.  Therefore we think you should do the following:

  • If you’re looking for data services of any kind, do a back ground check.  If you are sending storage devices or media to a supplier, for repair or data recovery services, can you trust them to ensure proper security measures are taken?  Memofix recommends that you ask for references and check them out thoroughly.  We regularly sign NDAs (non-disclosure agreements) for our customers and our technicians that work on any data device are subject to an extensive background check before they are hired.
  • Tour the supplier’s facilities and talk to their management and employees.  You want to make sure that your potential partner has an efficient operation and that their staff is motivated to solve problems on behalf of the customer.  Memofix has an open door policy for potential new clients or existing customers and we’re more than happy to let you visit.
  • Ask for a demonstration of the services you are looking for.   For data recovery it’s easy to demonstrate how to solve simple problems but the supplier should be able to walk you through the process of rebuilding a drive or extracting data from a failed RAID.  Memofix can address any specific types of devices that you need to support and we’ll even provide some advice on how to avoid having to call us.
  • Make sure that a prospective partner has invested in areas that support your requirements.   Memofix has made a significant investment in our data recovery lab, in our technicians and in stocking over 20,000 hard drives for spare parts.

Memofix has every confidence that we will meet or exceed the scrutiny that we recommend. We provide depot work for some of the largest storage OEMs in the industry which means we’ve passed stringent audits and assessments.  Make sure that you put any prospective data recovery partner through a similar process before handing over any storage device or media.  Or simply contact Memofix and come by for a visit.

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Want to be a Hero?

January 2nd, 2013

Memofix Data Recovery Services is looking for a few talented data recovery technicians.  If you have a passion for problem solving, an unquenchable lust for knowledge and really enjoy helping people and businesses recover their irreplaceable data, we may have a home for you.

As a data recovery technician, you will join our team of proven data recovery professionals in our quest to become the most technically capable data recovery service company in the world. To become the greatest, we are looking for experts in many areas. We need skilled hard drive surgeons experienced in resuscitating damaged and crashed hard drives. We need PC3000 masters with in-depth knowledge of hard drive system areas (secret OS of the hard drive). And we need file system specialists with an intricate understanding of the various operating systems as well as a thorough understanding of RAID variations and rebuilding techniques.

If you have 2 or more years of experience in the areas listed  below, we want to talk to you;

  • Diagnosing and identifying hard drive problems.
  • Diagnosing and repairing of defective hard drive PCBs including NVRAM transfers.
  • Identifying defective heads and replacement techniques in a cleanroom environment.
  • Dealing with seized spindle motors.
  • Transplanting of disks into a new body and motor.
  • Using the PC3000, Data Extractor and other specialized hard drive tools.
  • Specialized techniques such as individual head imaging.
  • Performing hard drive hot swaps with a system area compatible donor drive and PCB.
  • Identifying, repairing and rebuilding file system structure damage in FAT, NTFS, MAC and Linux type operating systems.
  • Identifying striping schemes and pertinent parameters in various flavors of RAID.
  • Repairing and Rebuilding RAID arrays physically and virtually using various software tools.

Memofix offers competitive salaries, equal opportunities, a full benefits package, and a wonderful work environment for all of our employees.

If you have the skills, aptitude, and desire to join a team dedicated to becoming the best at recovering the world’s data, please send your resume to me at davidf@memofix.com.  Please reference “Hero Ad” in your email subject  line.

 

 

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The Challenge of Being Unique

November 27th, 2012

Today’s blog features a guest post from Andrew Gotshal, one of the original founders of Memofix.  – David Foster

Occasionally, when meeting with manufacturer partners or corporate executives, I’m asked what makes Memofix different in the marketplace.  What sets us apart from other technical services organizations?  What unique advantage or value do we provide to customers?

It’s easy for us to list all the important stuff that OEMs and customers want to hear.  With over 25 years of experience we have a proven track record. The majority of our business comes from returning clients and word of mouth referrals, demonstrating our commitment to customer satisfaction and quality.  We regularly pass performance tests and service level agreement metrics with our manufacturers; which means we deliver on our depot warranty commitments.  Our technical expertise allows us to tackle tough problems and provide complete solutions.  But most competitors who are focused on customer responsiveness and quality can provide those same attributes.  So why are we different?

Server data recovery

Our company is a family of individuals from different backgrounds and unified by one important characteristic – we’re Geeks.  Capital “G” Geeks who want to understand the technology that we are working on, to figure out why a problem is occurring, how do we fix it and can we make recommendations to ensure it doesn’t happen again.  Customers who throw us unique challenges tell us that they like our thought process.  Instead of jumping to a conclusion we start running through the various scenarios that could result in the reported problem.  Then we start our testing process to eliminate one or the other and focus on the root cause.  Think of us as the child who takes apart the family computer so we can figure out how it works.  Except when we put it back together again, we’ve made a few improvements and it runs a lot better.

Memofix loves storage technology, it runs in our blood.  That’s not to say we are singularly focused – we are after all one of the largest national providers of depot services for a leading notebook OEM.  But in the same way that you have a fondness for that first person you dated seriously, we look back on our start as the repair centre for the first Seagate drives that entered the Canadian market.  This has led to our investment in specialized equipment to analyze and recertify hard drives.   Because we have some of the brightest technicians in Canada we are one of a select group in North America that can repair hard disks and complex tape backup technology.   Our membership in the Technical Services Consortium (www.tsc-ww.com) gives us global access to service expertise, parts and process improvement.   After almost 30 years in this industry we continue to look for ways to improve our capabilities and provide more value to our business partners and customers.

We have tackled some unique challenges for our customers and the ones that we are proudest of generally were not the most profitable but they appealed to our Geek side.  Here are some examples:

  •  A clinic in Haiti relied on their 20 year old X-Ray machine to provide badly needed medical care.  When the hard disk started to malfunction they searched extensively for a solution because replacement was not an option.  We were able to supply the parts needed from our spares (largest spare parts inventory in Canada), recover the data and earn a big thank-you from the medical staff.
  • Customers regularly come to us with specialized production equipment that is decades old, with a similarly aged hard disk as an important component.  In almost every case we have the parts and the technical expertise to keep this equipment running, including a 3.2MB hard disk that we provided to a data recovery customer just last week.
  • Where a replacement drive is not available for an older system, we have been successful in using newer drives and reducing the capacity so that it will be accepted by the legacy operating system or application (known as destroking).  In some cases our technicians will also need to reconfigure the firmware on the drive, an important skill for us and rarely found outside OEM organizations.
  • During the recent hard disk shortage, caused by flooding in the Philippines, several OEMs approached us to leverage our expertise in firmware re-configuration, in an effort to use alternative drives for computers that had been designed for specific models and brands of hard drives.
  • We have been able to provide feedback to our OEM partners on their testing process, helping them to understand that perfectly good drives were failing due to their audit software.  The result for our manufacturer partner was a higher yield and lower replacement costs.
  • Several retail chains rely on us to wipe personal data from storage devices returned by their customers.  Wiping Xbox hard drives and flash drives presents a unique challenge because the operating system is embedded with the consumer data. Our technicians were able to create an algorithm which would detect where the OS is located on the HDD or flash drive.  This meant wiping all data up to the OS, recognize where the OS is and leave it intact, and start removing consumer data immediately after.

Another important element of our uniqueness is attitude.  We are never more important than the customer’s we serve.  We customize programs to accommodate the customer’s process branding, financial models, and security.  Manufacturers come to Memofix in order to reduce their costs and we approach each new project with that objective in mind, including pricing our services based on the OEM realizing those financial savings.  We are willing to share the risk and create a partnership versus simply being a supplier.

The challenge of being unique comes from constant re-evaluation of what’s important for your partners and clients, and how we adapt to meet those changing needs.  To be relevant to the marketplace you have to stay focused on the customer and not your competitors.  You have to resist the urge to concentrate on revenue and expense reduction, and instead invest in skills, people, technology and process in order to be successful through long-term relationships.  We try to meet that challenge every day and so far our customers are telling us that we’re doing OK.

Andrew Gotshal

Founder, Memofix

 

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Memofix Announces Cloud Backup Service

October 23rd, 2012

       October 24th, 2012

Professionals and companies are coping with an ever increasing amount of information and they realize that it’s critical to have a dependable system in place to safeguard their valuable data files. That system may involve additional storage capacity or tape backup technology which requires an increase in equipment purchases and technical support to manage a regular backup process.

Memofix can provide you with a Cloud Data Backup service that can simplify your IT operations and give you economies of scale. A cloud backup, recovery and restore solution takes advantage of your existing infrastructure, so you don’t need to buy or install expensive equipment. Our cloud backup software integrates with IT environments to locate and prioritize files for backup, and then securely transmits encrypted copies of those files to offsite data centers. This results in a lower total cost of ownership compared to the purchase and maintenance of complex tape backup systems.

Our Infrastructure is powered by IBM’s Award Winning Tivoli Storage Manager Software, ensuring compliancy with government mandates while securing your most important asset, your data. This managed solution includes daily backup notifications summarizing the previous days backup details, full technical support and a full monitored service. Memofix provides automated, policy-based, data backup and restore services that can easily be customized for you or your company’s specific requirements.

Our backup process creates a copy of your files or application data, compresses and encrypts it, and then securely transfers the copy at a prescheduled time to servers which are located at a secure Canadian facility. Backups can be scheduled, performed manually, or performed remotely using a Web-based interface.

Memofix Cloud Backup service advantages:

• Smarter use of IT resources. Our cloud backup, recovery and restore solution allows you to redirect IT resources to more strategic initiatives. Select a backup schedule as often as you want, specify the number of days or versions to keep, and data is saved automatically. You never outgrow your backup requirements and only pay for the space you need.
• Stronger compliance safeguards. A cloud backup solution provides more reliability and redundancy than tape backup. Your data resides in a secure Canadian sate of the art facility. Our service supports Windows, Linux and Mac operating systems, and SQL, Exchange, Oracle and other databases.
• Eliminates the shortcomings of tape backup. Tape backups may be vulnerable to obsolescence and can be lost or damaged while being transported off-site. Recovering data from a tape system can be a slow process, especially if a tape needs to be retrieved from an off-site vault.
• Improved reliability and speed of recovery. Our cloud backup solutions provides instant restoration of data, including individual files and access to previous versions of your files. You can archive backups for long term storage and retrieve files as needed.

The Memofix Cloud Backup service can save you money, simplify your IT operations and give you an increased sense of security about your data. Let us show you the advantages of our solution over your current backup process.

For more information please contact Larry Shulman via phone at 905.660.4936, extension 25, or by email at larry.shulman@memofix.com.

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Helium Hard Drives?

October 1st, 2012

Better not leave your hard drive just lying around, or it may just float away. Or at least that may be the case after 2013, when at least one hard drive manufacture, Hitachi Global Storage (now owned by Western Digital) has plans to start filling hard drives with helium.

http://www.hgst.com/press-room/2012/hgst-announces-radically-new-helium-filled-hard-disk-drive-platform

We all know helium as that “lighter than air” gas that has been used to fill and float party balloons for years. But due to it’s lighter then air composition, operating in a helium environment also allows mechanical devices like motors, to spin with less effort, produce less air turbulence, and to operate with less heat and noise. Hard drive manufactures have known of these advantages for years but the problem was keeping the helium from escaping the sealed internal chamber of a hard disk drive. Now that a solution has been found, it will be possible to install more disks on the same motor by spacing them even closer together. Presently, 5 disks can be used in a normal air filled hard drive. Using a sealed helium environment will allow 7 disks for a maximum capacity of 5.6 TB in a single hard drive! WOW!

Helium is harvested as a bi-product of natural gas production and Texas has some of the highest concentrations in the world but the demand continues to outstrip supply. Helium is mainly used in the medical industry to cool MRI machines, and in cryogenics, arc welding and wafer fabrication. It is still unclear how the hard drive industries requirements could effect this shortage but it will no doubt help drive up the cost of hard drives should it become common place.

As for data recovery, it could be a tough barrier to overcome. Assuming that the process used to seal in the helium is a one time affair it may not be possible to reload the hard drive with helium. Consequently we may not be able to replace damaged heads or open the sealed disk chamber in any way … or perhaps we will need to operate in a helium filled clean room .. I can hear the recovery techs speaking in high pitched chipmunk-like voices now … :-) .. is that you Alvin?

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Let’s Get Green($): Redeploying old Hard Drives

September 17th, 2012

This blog regularly focuses on the issues around data recovery and important considerations in maintaining your storage devices.  But today I’d like to highlight an interesting service from Memofix through a guest post by our CEO, Chris Rathgeber.  – David Foster

Memofix has more than two decades of experience in providing warranty depot service for technology manufacturers, computer resellers and businesses of all size. We provide solutions for a variety of devices but we have a particular focus and passion for all things related to storage.   This has allowed us to build some unique customer programs that reduce risk and recover value for assets that have been deemed obsolete.

Hard drive shipments world-wide continue to increase with some 300 million delivered in the first half of 2012 (IHS.com).   IT managers are replacing thousands of hard drives each month across Canada and we deal with the asset disposition process for a significant amount, either directly or through our partnerships with manufacturers or resellers.  They may be upgrading to newer technologies, like SSD, or adding capacity or simply reducing the number of storage devices by relying on cloud based solution providers.  These IT refresh or upgrade projects end up displacing an equal or greater amount older storage devices.

All IT managers should be exploring the possible trade-in value for any storage devices that are replaced in their environment.  Many can be sold to other companies who are increasing storage capacity in a network environment that is standardized on older technology.  Hard disks and tape drives, once audited and refurbished, can be sold as service spares to a wide variety of customers.  Some may have more value to be broken down into key components and used as spare parts.  Our team has been able to find customers for older hard disks of all capacities, tape drives, network drive enclosures, tape libraries, auto-loaders and other storage related components.


The most critical issue for any customer, when considering the re-marketing of hard drives from their facility, will be data security.  There is always a concern that one of their hard disks will be resold with information that can be accessed by a potential future buyer.  We believe that Memofix delivers a level of security that customer can rely on, that no data can be retrieved and they can extract full value for the re-marketed device.  In the 25 years that we have been delivering data recovery solutions, hard drive repairs and data destruction services we have never had a single incident of a data breech.  The manufacturing leaders in storage technology rely on us for this level of security as do some of the largest IT departments in Canada.  Once devices have gone through our audit and data wipe process, they can be re-marketed and the recovery value can underwrite the replacement units or future operational costs.

We’re a bit obsessive about the details when we take on an asset disposition project for our clients.  We establish a secure chain of custody that matches our customer’s need for security.   All assets are received and detailed reports are created that allow us to track each asset through our various phases of audit, test, data wipe, refurbishing, packaging and ultimate payment to the client.  These reports account for every asset and ensure that they can be removed from the customer’s accounting application.   We utilize our data recovery division to random test devices during the data wipe process to guarantee that our procedures are working as expected.  Approximately 25% of drives cannot be wiped effectively because the device does not function properly.  These are degaussed and shredded to endure data security standards are met.

Memofix is known as a quality supplier of refurbished storage with all products backed by warranties that are best in the industry.   A hard drive with a single bad sector will fail our testing process and will not be resold.  This level of quality means we demand premium prices for our refurbished inventory which results in higher trade-in values paid to our asset disposition customers.   All hardware that fails while in testing, or that has no re-marketing value, is recycled responsibly meeting strict Canadian ewaste guidelines.

We regularly manage the physical destruction of thousands of hard drives as directed by our customers despite our knowledge that many have value in the re-marketing and service channel.  Some companies have no appetite for risk and will remove all storage devices for shredding and recycling and we follow instructions accordingly.   But we will provide an analysis of the potential trade-in value of all devices so the client can weigh the benefits of pursuing that option.  For several customers their confidence in our secure processing has resulted in valuable recovery dollars flowing back into their IT operations.

Please consider partnering with Memofix as a key supplier for asset disposition services focused on storage technology.  Whether your project is large or small, or you deal with us directly or through a trusted computer reseller, we can provide data wipe solutions and re-marketing programs that give you peace of mind for your retired assets along with funds for extending your IT budget.

Chris Rathgeber, CEO Memofix

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RAID Disaster Area!

September 13th, 2012

It’s been a while since I’ve posted any astonishing pictures of actual data recovery cases we receive. This morning we received a pair of matching Seagate 7200.11 500GB SATA hard drives that were in such bad shape I just had to share …

They were part of a 2 drive RAID-1 set which means they were exact copies of each other. The client assumed having two copies of their data  on two drives would ensure they would be safe. Unfortunately they were wrong.

Their assumption of safety is flawed on a several accounts by my reckoning.

First, both drives are physically in the same box . So if one falls off the table, they both fall of the table. And judging by the physical damage of these two hard drives, this might very well be what happened. Notice the scoring and rings forming all across the disks or platters of both drives. This is  a real physical crash where the magnetic coating that was used to retain the data has been scraped off and left scattered through out the drive’s internals as a fine black powder.

Regardless, of how the physical damage happened, it is also apparent that the drives were running for sometime in this state. Typically minor crash debris is collected by a filter located in the top left corner of each drive. The filter is originally white in color but as you can see in the picture, both filters are now black. Crashes like this are also very audible and for a sample of what this sounds like, listen to the recording of one of these drive below.

Secondly, RAID box vendors often recommend you use two identical hard drives as was the situation here. Again, this does not sound like such a good practice to me. If one drive has a manufacturing defect, then there is a good chance the 2nd drive will have the same manufacturing defect, especially if the drives are bought at the same time from the same vendor. And even if the hard drives have no manufacturing defects, their life spans are bound to be very similar. Once one drive fails, the odds of the next one failing shortly after are quite high as well.

If your data is valuable, nothing beats a good back up on a separate distinct device that is stored in a different physical location. But should you find yourself without a backup and a failing RAID box, do your data a favor and shut yourRAID array down immediately and contact Memofix Data Recovery Services for immediate assistance.

 

another view

 

 

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Levels of Data Recovery for Hard Drives

August 30th, 2012

Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Data Recovery Service Providers often categorize hard drive data recoveries into different levels and Memofix Data Recovery Services is no exception. While we don’t provide flat level pricing to individual consumers, we often provide our MACC or Memofix Authorized Care Centre partners with flat rate pricing based on three categories or levels of data recovery. Our definitions of these levels are described below and can be helpful in preparing yourself for the costs and degree of difficulty involved with each increasingly complicated recovery scenario.

LEVEL 1

Level 1 is the lowest level and requires the least expertise and resources. Level 1 means the hard drive is still 100% fully functional. It is recognized by the computer and if the user was to reformat their hard drive they would be able to continue to use it, albeit without their original data.

Level 1 type problems are NOT the fault of a failing hard drive. Level 1 type problems ARE the result of damage, corruption or deletion of all or part of a hard drive’s file system. These actions could have been done deliberately, accidentally, or even unknowingly. The file system is “actual data” written on the hard drive and for our purposes, it can be thought of as a big index that points to the locations on the hard drive where a particular file or folder is stored.

If that index is damaged or corrupted, the operating system may not be able to locate a particular file or folder. Or if the index is for a file or folder used by the operating system, then the drive may not be able to boot or be accessed using conventional methods.

Examples of Level 1 type problems would include;

  • Deleting a file or folder
  • Formatting your hard drive
  • Restoring the operating system
  • Boot Virus Infection

Many level 1 data loss situations can be remedied by a tech-savvy end-user using readily available data recovery software. However there are precautions and the peace of mind that only a professional data recovery service company can give you, so if your data is absolutely CRITICAL to retrieve, do NOT attempt this. However, if you can afford to take the risk or just can’t afford the cost of professional help please read an earlier blog I wrote on the subject of do-it-yourself data recovery … http://www.memofixdatarecovery.com/blog/index.php/diy-data-recovery-do-it-yourself/

 

LEVEL 2

Level 2 is the middle level and requires more expertise and resources then level 1. Level 2 means the hard drive is not functioning properly but the problem(s) will not require work to be done in a clean room environment. Level 2 data loss situations are normally something an end-user cannot solve themselves. Nowadays even switching a PCB is not a simple process, as the drives HDA (head disk assembly) is fine tuned to work with the same PCB it was manufactured with. In fact, the drive’s PCB contains stored values which determine critical settings used by the heads to position and read data optimally.  PCBs from the same model hard drive and with the exact firmware can NOT be simply swapped out unless these stored values are first transferred to the new replacement PCB.

Examples of Level 2 type problems would include;

  • Defective PCB or Printed Circuit Board electronics
  • Overwrite or corruption to the hard drive’s “system area” (special files used exclusively by the hard drive for its own operation and maintenance.
  • Corruption to the drive’s firmware.
  • Excessive read errors or hard media defects that are not the result of weak or bad heads.
  • Issues with full disk encryption or file encryption

 

LEVEL 3

Level 3 problems indicate a major failure with the hard disk drive. Level 3 means the hard drive WILL require extensive cleanroom work to enable any recovery. Typical level 3 recoveries involve head crashes where the drive’s heads have come into contact with the disk surfaces. This usually causes damage to the both the disks and the heads. To recover any data the drive must first be made functional again. First we purge the sealed head disk area of any free particles and then we replace the heads from a new and exact version of the original hard drive. Then we attempt to copy off the used areas of the bad hard drive. During this process the heads will often go bad again due to the damage on the disks. So we must repeat this procedure until we have imaged or copied off all of the used areas on the bad hard drive. This process can take 2 days to 2 months in extreme cases.  In the worst cases, the damage is so severe that newly installed heads are instantly destroyed and no recovery will be possible.  Another common level 3 scenario occurs when a hard drive is dropped and the spindle motor that spins the disks is seized.  This requires the transfer of the disks onto a new motor and typically requires multiple head xplants as well.

Examples of Level 3 type problems would include;

  • Damaged heads and disks
  • Seized or non-spinning spindle motors
  • Stiction, where the heads have become stuck to the disks
  • Fire or water damage
  • Dropped, knocked over, bumped, or physically abused hard drives

 

So to be brief and to summarize,

  1. If a client or user has deleted a file/folder or reformatted AND their hard drive was and is still working perfectly, then it is a LEVEL1 data recovery scenario.
  2. If the drive was physically abused in any way, or if it makes any unusual noises it is likely a LEVEL 3 data recovery scenario.
  3.  For anything else, a LEVEL 2 data recovery scenario is most likely.

In a future blog we will discuss USB flash, camera cards and SSD data recovery levels.

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Data Recovery & House Fires

June 25th, 2012

If you’ve ever been the victim of a house fire, you understand what a mess it can create. But interestingly enough, a lot of the mess can be attributed to the actions used to extinguish the fire, versus the fire itself. In particular, the spraying of water and other firefighting liquids can create a wet soggy environment which is definitely not friendly for electronic devices such as your computer or the hard disk drive that resides inside.

Recovering data from hard drives which have been exposed to heat, fire, and water is not as exponentially difficult as some data recovery companies may lead you to believe.  Even a hard drive as badly burnt as the one below was a fairly easy recovery for our skilled data recovery technicians located in Toronto. Notice the difference in color due to the soot and smoke, as well as the melted PCB and plastic connectors.

Will my data be recoverable after a fire?

 

But what really determines if the data will be recoverable or not? We can replace melted PCBs. We can replace damaged head assemblies. We can rebuild missing NVRAM data. But it is the condition of the disks or platters that are most important when determining the chances of successfully recovering the data on any damaged hard drive. In most of the fire cases we see, the hard drive’s pressure equalization valve and lid seal are successful in protecting the disks from exposure to the fire or fire retardant liquids. In those where the seal was penetrated we may find some water residue which can usually be cleaned successfully.

And when we open this fire burned drive, we see a pristine gleaming disk with no apparent water, soot, or other residues being present. And as is typical with most house fires the heat was not severe enough to warp or bend the disk(s) in anyway. So once we replaced or rebuild the damaged components we were able to get the hard drive functioning long enough to create a sector by sector image of the hard disk drive. We then successfully recovered all the client’s files from this image.

 

Inside a fire burned or well done hard drive.

Not all recoveries are as simple as this burn victim, but our extensive expertise allows us  to successfully recover data from over 90% of the burned hard drives we receive for data recovery. If your hard drive is the victim of fire and you need your data recovered, we would recommend that you seal the disk drive in a zip lock baggie as soon after the fire as possible.  This will prevent any water residues from evaporating and leaving mineral deposits on the disk surfaces which may hamper our recovery attempts. And remember, even if things look grim, we can often put a smile back on your face. www.memofixdatarecovery.com

 

 

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Hard Drive Substitutes or Data Killers?

May 3rd, 2012

Since shortly after the inception of the hard drive into the PC or personal computer, there have been doubters! Even as hard  drives grew larger, faster and more reliable, there have been those who constantly called for its replacement. No other product has improved at a faster pace in every measurable specification than the hard drive, and yet it still gets no respect!  The hard drive is still here and still going strong after more than 50 years. Has the time come for a new champ?

data recovery toronto

Back in 1985, I repaired my first hard drive. It was a 5MB hard drive made by Seagate called the ST506. The ST506 had actually been introduced a few years earlier at a list price of $1400! It was the 1st hard drive mass produced for the emerging personal computer market and its interface quickly became the world’s standard … well at least for a few years. The ST506 hard drive had 156 tracks or concentric rings of data on each disk surface. In comparison todays modern hard drives have over 200,000 tracks, can hold up to 4TB or 4,000,000 MB and often cost less than a $100. For a visual comparison, I dug up an old ST506 out of our inventory and took a picture of it along with a modern 500GB laptop hard drive.

Today we have two contenders trying to put the old disk drive out to pasture: the SSD or Solid State Drive and Web Based Storage. Both are worthy contenders offering advantages a hard drive just can’t compete with. An SSD offers lightning fast access times and the reliability of no moving mechanical parts. Web based storage offers the convenience of having your data available around the world 24/7, 365 days a year and the perceived reliability of virtual storage. But are these storage methods the end and be all?

Contender#1 … SSDs or Solid State Drives with their blazing speed and growing capacities appear to be a fantastic replacement for the hard disk drive, but be aware they are far from being the perfect digital storage device.

SSD data recovery

These early days of Solid State Drives, reminds me a lot of the hard drive industry as it was first developing. In those early days there were over a hundred different manufactures of hard disk drives. Now there are just 3, Seagate, Toshiba, and Western Digital. Similarly, today we find well over a hundred companies manufacturing SSDs. And just like the hundreds of early hard drive manufactures, each one is trying to distinguish it’s technologies as the best and capture the most market share. Some of their ideas will be fantastic and will be quickly adopted as standards. Other not so good ideas, may result in the demise and eventual death of many of these companies.

A quick search on the web uncovers hundreds of complaints regarding the early failure of various models of Solid State Drives. The point is … there will be a weeding out process where the weaker products and companies are culled from the herd. And as a consequence it is still a little too soon to know which SSDs and technologies to trust, and which to avoid.

There is also an ongoing debate over the life expectancy of SSDs and whether they can withstand the same amount of lifetime write cycles as a typical hard drive. And while I don’t believe this is, or will remain a problem to be concerned about, there is another rarely mentioned quirk with SSDs. If you copy data to an SSD and detach it from any computer or power source, the data will eventually disappear!  This is because SSDs use electronic components which are “charged” to represent a digital 1 and over time this charge leaks out and all the bits return to digital zeroes. So if you think you can copy your precious baby pictures to an SSD and put it away for 10 or 20 years, think again!  Actually, just how long the data will be retained is open to argument and something no manufacture appears to mention. I have heard data retention times as low as 1 or 2 years and perhaps as high as 10 years from some authorities. So be careful, or be sure to periodically attach your SSD to a computer or power source so that the data will be refreshed. By the way, I have connected and booted up an old 20MB Seagate ST225 hard drive that has been sitting on a shelf for just under 20 years and all the data was intact and readable.

Contender#2 … Online or web based storage really does promise perfection, or at least so it appears on the surface. But what guarantees do you really have that your data will be there when you need it? Everything is out of your control. And if the web is down or inaccessible, then you basically have no data.data recovery Ontario

To illustrate my concerns, a recent experience of mine may help. Having used Google’s Gmail for almost 10 years with never a problem, I recently persuaded my wife to open her own Gmail account for her own personal emails. Then six months after the switch, her emails suddenly disappeared. Of course it was my fault for persuading her to switch over to Gmail, so I was tasked with getting her emails back … What I found was rather discerning; there is no real process, and definitely no person to help you recover your mailbox data should such a calamity bestow you. Google basically says “Oh well, what do you expect when something is free?”  To which what can one say?  Of course the solution is to use an email agent like Eudora and download your emails to your local machine. But then doesn’t that defeat the purpose of on-line storage?

Not to pick on Google, (they should be prepared to defend their “web only” cheerleading),  but I have another example based on their product, Google Docs. It is touted as a web based replacement for MS Office. It allows a user to create, edit and store MS Office type documents on the web. But after my experience with Gmail, I must wonder what recourse there will be if suddenly all your documents go missing?  I hope this problem of no accountability for the safety of a user’s data is isolated to those offering free storage services. But with Google setting the precedent of giving storage away for free I am afraid other web based program providers will do the same.

 

 

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