Please visit our YouTube channel for more detailed videos on common hard drive failure issues and why you shouldn’t try to recover the data yourself. Although sometimes it is possible for you to be able to recover data using software you can download from the internet, its not a good idea, especially in cases where the drive has had physical damage. As the internet is progressing and consumers are getting more accustomed to doing things themselves, we are seeing more and more cases becoming unrecoverable due to this. Consumers are downloading software to recover their data and in the process damaging the drives to a point beyond recoverability.

There are too many factors to take into account when attempting to recover data from a physically damaged drive. How did the drive fail? How much data was on the drive? What types of files are on the drive? What does the inside of the drive look like (this must be done by a professional in a clean room)? How is the condition of the read/write heads?

If your drive took a drop, bump, improper ejecting from the computer or any other physical damage, PLEASE DO NOT connect the drive to a computer and try using software to recover the data. We assure you this will cause the data on the drive to be unrecoverable. You can see hundreds of pictures on our Yelp and Instagram pages of deep scratches on platters caused by using software on drives with this type of damage. Software cannot skip these areas of media damage. It will just try to read these areas over and over again until it takes a tiny microscopic baby scratch and turns it into a huge gauge in the platters. When we have a small microscopic baby scratch, professional Data Recovery companies like ourselves can work with that and recover between 90-99% of the data, as long as we receive the case early enough. When we receive these cases after the customer has already played with it for hours with software, there is almost a 0% chance of getting the data.

At Five Star Data Recovery, we offer a FREE diagnosis. There is never a fee for us to take a look at the case and see if the data is recoverable. When we receive physically damaged drives early enough before the drive has been tampered with by consumers or computer repair shops, chances are we can recover the data without even doing any Clean Room repairs. Every case is different and requires a fair chance to be diagnosed by a professional. Call, Email, Text or Live Chat with us the moment you have an issue with your drive and we will be happy to provide the best Data Recovery Service possible.