Hard Drive Recovery

You will know when you need hard drive recovery because your computer won’t see the disk anymore, won’t boot or makes a clicking noise. These are signs of disk failures that require hard drive recovery. DTI performs hard drive recovery in their class 100 clean room. Be sure to check out any companies that you are thinking of sending your hard drive to. You want to do a search on Google for “western digital data recovery partners” to see what companies are authorized by an actual hard drive manufacturer, these companies will be able to recover your data. Hard drive recovery is tricky business and if your data is important to you, be wise in your choice. DTI is a world leader in hard drive recovery.

Data Recovery Zone is not affiliated with Trend Micro in any way. This information and these tools are a public service only. Please read any terms of service from Trend Micro to learn more about the program or information.

This page is updated automatically whenever a new virus alert is announced.

Virus Advisories  -risk-   -updated on-   -pattern-  •  TROJ_ALUREON.AH    low    May. 10, 2008    5.271.00  •  JS_SMALL.QT    low    May. 10, 2008    5.271.00  •  TROJ_VUNDO.AO    low    May. 9, 2008    5.271.00  •  TROJ_ZLOB.CCW    low    May. 9, 2008    5.255.00  •  TROJ_DLOAD.HZ    low    May. 8, 2008    5.273.00  •  WORM_NUWAR.APJ    low    May. 8, 2008    5.273.00  •  TROJ_DROPPER.IWP    low    May. 7, 2008    5.271.00  •  JS_DLDR.AW    low    May. 7, 2008    5.261.00  •  TROJ_REALPLAY.BR    low    May. 7, 2008    5.259.00  •  JS_DLOADER.AEHM    low    May. 7, 2008    5.263.00  •  TROJ_MULDROP.CF    low    May. 7, 2008    5.261.00  •  TROJ_DROPPER.MGZ    low    May. 6, 2008    5.253.00  •  TROJ_DROPPER.MAV    low    May. 6, 2008    5.249.00  •  TROJ_SELEX.A    low    May. 6, 2008    5.249.00  •  TROJ_DROPPER.MFZ    low    May. 5, 2008    5.253.00  •  TROJ_NUWAR.ABK    low    May. 2, 2008    5.249.00  •  TROJ_SINOWAL.CI    low    May. 2, 2008    5.255.00  •  JS_AFIR.A    low    May. 2, 2008    5.261.00  •  TROJ_NUWAR.AT    low    May. 1, 2008    5.247.00  •  WORM_AUTORUN.BSG    low    Apr. 30, 2008    5.249.00  •  more…   Related Links •  Hoaxes •  FREE virus scan •  FREE email alerts •  Real-time virus map   Virus Search   Webmasters: add virus info to your site

If you have any questions about how to package and ship your hard drive, please call 727-251-2058 (24/7) for help.

Shipping

• Please use Fed-Ex or UPS air only
• DHL for international is preffered.

What to Send

If at all possible, remove the media from the computer. Get expert help if necessary. Send us just the hard drive(s), tape(s), floppy, jaz, zip, optical, flashcard, microdrive etc..

How to Send Your Media

1. Wrap media in an anti-static bag or tinfoil to prevent Stacic Electricity.
2. Use a box that is at least twice the size of the media so that the media can be suspended in the middle of the box. We recommend a minimum of two inches of insulation all around for a 2 lb drive.
3. Pack securely with foam, bubble wrap, or newspaper so the media will not move from the middle of the box. Avoid using peanuts as contents will settle to the bottom of the box.
4. If sending a computer, laptop or notebook, use great care to ensure proper cushioning and protection. We recommend at least 6 inches for insulation. The heavier the unit, the more insulation required.
5. Handle a hard disk drive as you would handle an egg. Handle failed hard disk drives with the same care as new drives. Use the original shipping materials, if you still have them. If not, they are relatively easy to replicate.

Call 727-251-2058 ( our toll-free number is at the top of every page) to speak with a representative and receive your quote over the phone. We answer our phones 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

We offer upfront flat rate pricing as well as a no data no charge policy.

Fujitsu MPG-MPF-AH data recovery

Fujitsu Data Recovery for MPG-MPF-AH hard disk drives. Fujitsu hard disks are notorious for physical failure. We specialize in Fujitsu hard drive data recovery. Furthermore, we can even recover your drive remotely. We have developed and extensively tested all phases of Fujitsu failures.

There is no need to send your drive into a recovery lab for high priced data recovery or out of the country for cheap data recovery service.

Fujistu Hard Drive Failure

Here are the most common symptoms:

• Sudden failure of the hard disk drive.
• Not recognized by the computer BIOS.
• Recognized by the computer BIOS, however information given is incorrect or looks like garbage.
• Inaccessible, but still physically functioning (powers up with no strange sounds).
• Bios recognizes drive, however drive fail error appears.

Flat rates, no hidden charges, no kidding! Get your data back right now, this minute. No shipping, no packing, no freight charges.

Call us at 727-251-2058 ( our toll-free number is at the top of every page) to speak with a representative and receive your quote over the phone. We answer our phones 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

Please follow any instructions on how to package and ship a hard drive.

All RAID/SAN/NAS or multi drive arrays are quoted with a range. After the free no-risk evaluation, a price is given up front, prior to work commencing. Certain situations require a minimum deposit to cover our time and expenses for cloning and setting up RAID recoveries.

All laptop, desktop, scsi, or any other single drive systems are quoted up front. We guarantee your data 100% before you pay us any money.

Call us at 727-251-2058 ( our toll-free number is at the top of every page) to speak with a representative and receive your quote over the phone. We answer our phones 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

When shipping us your drive, please follow all instructions on how to package and ship a hard drive.

File Systems

A file system is a structure that organizes large numbers of files on some sort of recording medium (most commonly a disk drive). The idea is to store the files on the disk so that they can be accessed randomly and with minimal time delay. The PC and Mac differ in the way they store files. These differences can make it difficult when copying files between platforms. Not all Mac files will be useful on a PC and vice versa. Executable program files compiled for one platform can not be used on the other, but there are many that have a separate version for each platform.

Mac Files

On a Mac each file can have two parts called forks – a data fork and a resource fork. These are actually two files linked to one name in the Mac file system. The resource fork holds resources (icons, fonts, menus, sounds, etc.). Since each resource fork can hold many resources, it has a specific structure that allows programs to find and access a particular resource quickly. The data fork can hold any type of data (text, images, etc.) and does not have a required a structure like the resource fork. Mac resource forks are generally of no use on the PC, but it is possible for a PC program to convert specific resources to a PC format. Our program CrossFont can do this with Mac fonts which exist in the resource fork. The contents of the Mac data fork is usually all that can be used on a PC. Once a Mac file is copied to the PC, the resource fork, type and creator information are lost unless the file is encoded with MacBinary or a similar format (HQX, SIT, etc.) that saves the Mac specific data with the file. This way the file can exist on a single fork machine (PC, UNIX) or be telecommunicated and decoded at the other end with all Mac information intact.

It is useful to have a way to identify the type of a file as well as which application created it. The Mac file system has this information stored with the file name and other information. They are two four character fields called the type and creator.

Mac programs can use many different types of files. The type field tells the program what type of data is in each file so it can parse it properly. It also allows a program to filter files in an open file dialog box so the user can only open files of a certain type. The creator field is unique for each Mac application. When an application creates a file, it puts a creator signature in this field which identifies that this application should be launched when a user double clicks on the icon of the file.

Call (727)-251-2058 ( our toll-free number is at the top of every page) to speak with a representative and receive your quote over the phone. We answer our phones 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

When you ship us your drive, please follow any instructions on how to package and ship a hard drive.

If you have one of the following:

• Mac Desktop Click Here,

• laptop hard drive click here.

• RAID data recovery click here.

Types of Data Recovery

Here is a brief explanation of the two types of data recovery. An explanation of how hard drives work or hard drive error codes are also available.

• Physical Recovery – If your hard drive is clicking, clunking, thumping, whining, or making any other strange noises. If your hard drive suffered from a power surge, power failure, flooding, fire, or other disaster. Any of these things means your hard drive needs a physical data recovery. Stop what you are doing and us @ 727-251-2058. We can help recover your data!

• Logical Recovery – If you accidentally formatted your drive, deleted a file, suffered from virus attack, then you have a logical problem. Give us a call, fill out this quote form, or if you want to try to recover the data yourself visit our data recovery software page for downloadable programs.

Special Skills

Some systems like RAID’s, SAN’s, NAS’s require special skills to recover or restore data. Data Recovery USA has the skills, experience, and equipment to recovery lost data from advanced server and backup systems.

Handling of Media

If at all possible, remove the media from the computer. Get expert help if necessary. Send us just the hard drive(s), tape(s), floppy, jaz, zip, optical, flashcard, microdrive etc… Handle a hard disk drive as you would handle an egg. Handle failed hard disk drives with the same care as new drives.
Use the original shipping materials, if you still have them. If not, they are relatively easy to replicate:

Preparing Media For Shipping

1. Wrap media in an anti-static bag or tinfoil to prevent Stacic Electricity.
2. Use a box that is at least twice the size of the media so that the media can be suspended in the middle of the box. We recommend a minimum of two inches of insulation all around for a 2 lb drive.
3. Pack securely with foam, bubble wrap, or newspaper so the media will not move from the middle of the box. Avoid using peanuts as contents will settle to the bottom of the box.
4. If sending a computer, laptop or notebook, use great care to ensure proper cushioning and protection. We recommend at least 6 inches for insulation. The heavier the unit, the more insulation required.

Call 727-251-2058 ( our toll-free number is at the top of every page) to speak with a representative and receive your quote over the phone.

We answer our phones 24 hours a day 7 days a week!

DRZ can recover data from virtually any hard drive that hasn’t suffered major platter damage.
A hard drive has several mechanisms that make the technology of reading and the transfer of data from the platters possible.
Platters

The hard drive can have one to several disks made of glass or aluminum coated with magnetic iron oxide particles. The disk(s) spins continuously very fast in the hda and the head can travel in and out along a radius so that any location can be reached very quickly by the head. A typical hard drive contains several of these 3.5-inch platters, which can contain tens of billions of individual bits. The higher the Ariel density of the hard disk’s platters, the more bits that can be packed into each square inch of platter real estate. A platter is segregated into tens of thousands of concentric tracks. Because allot of information can be stored in one track, the tracks are broken down into smaller units called sectors. Each sector can hold about 512 bytes of data, or 4096 bits. Disk platters are mounted in a stacked formation on a spindle A spindle motor turns the platters at very high speed, typically between 5,400 and 7,200 rotations per minute, but as fast as 15,000 rotations per minute(RPM’S). The platters spin so that the appropriate sector or sectors containing the data can be positioned underneath one of the drive’s reading heads. There’s one head per platter, and all the heads move in unison.

Heads

Each head in the hard drive is mounted onto a slider, which is mounted onto an arm. A mechanical device called an actuator controls each hard drive arm. The actuator moves the arm to the correct position on the spinning platter, which puts the head in the correct position. The reading head ( reading and writing heads are separate) floats about 2/1,000,000 of an inch above the disk surface. As it passes over the appropriate disk sectors, it interprets the magnetic pulses and converts them to electrical pulses that can be interpreted as 1s and 0s.

Although the head may look large, actually the sensitive part of the head is defined by micro lithographic methods so that the actual exposed portion of the head,which can either read or write the information on the disk,is very small-comparable to the dimensions of features on a microchip! As the manufacturing technology has improved over the years they have been able to shrink this area down to smaller and smaller sizes, and that is how the hard disk memories have risen to such large figures now. In addition they have increased the density of magnetic particles on the disk which makes the storage capacity larger. For example in 1991 the density of storage memory was about 0.l3 Gbits/square inch. In 1998 it was up to around 4 Gbits (30X the density!). At the same time the lithography limit of the sensitive head area was about 4.5 uMeters in 1991, and in 1998 was down to 0.5 uMeters, reduced by a factor of 9. So that is how the storage density of the disks is now up to 200 GB or higher. The information is stored in circular patterns on the disk and the location of the rings is measured by the computer and the spatial resolution is very high, so the location of the head to find data on the disk is exceedingly precise!

We hope this brief explanation of how a hard drive works has enabled you to understand the technology better.

To speak with a qualified RAID technician, please call 727-251-2058.

Data Recovery Zone (DRZ) sector clones all drives prior to doing any work on RAID systems. This is vital to prevent further data loss. DRZ has the capabilities to recover RAID systems virtually. Don’t be fooled by companies that only want the drives. With the constant upgrades and revisions to the firmware that is a reckless approach to RAID data recovery. Many times the extra few dollars it takes to ship the unit can save hours even days in the recovery process. DRZ is committed to not only recover your data, but ascertain WHAT happened to prevent further data loss in the future.

Speak with one of our engineers before sending your drives anywhere. 727-251-2058 (24/7) 

Data Recovery Zone is unmatched when it comes to RAID Data Recovery and Repair. Our technicians are capable of recovering and repairing inaccessible data from nearly all forms of RAID system servers including:

• file servers
• application servers
• web servers
• network attached storage
• RAID systems of any size

All RAID recovery work is done on-site in our own class 100 clean room. Regardless of the problem, manufacturer, or operating system, we can handle the situation:

• Unbootable Systems
• Corrupted RAID•Missing Partitions
• Controller Failure
• Computer virus and worm damage
• Natural Disaster
• Human Error
• Missing Partitions

Manufacturers

•Adaptec
•AMI
•Bus Logic
•Compaq
•HP
•Mylex
•PERC
•Pinnacle
•Promise
•Raidtec
•Software RAIDS
•Storage Dimensions
•Sun
•3ware

Operating Systems

•Windows NT
•Windows XP
•Windows 2000
•Windows 2003
•Microsoft Exchange
•Sun Solaris
•IBM AIX HP UX
•LINUX
•UNIX

What is RAID?

RAID is an acronym for Redundant Array of Inexpensive (or Independent) Disks. A RAID array is a collection of drives which collectively act as a single storage system, which can tolerate the failure of a drive without losing data, and which can operate independently of each other.

Different RAID Levels

A research group at UC-Berkeley coined the term “RAID”, defining six RAID levels. Each level is a different way to spread data across multiple drives–a compromise between cost and speed. Understanding these levels is important, because each level is optimized for a different use.

• RAID Level 0 is not redundant, hence does not truly fit the “RAID” acronym. In Level 0, data is split across drives, resulting in higher data throughput. Since no redundant information is stored, performance is very good, but the failure of any disk in the array results in all data loss. This level is commonly referred to as striping.
• RAID Level 1 is commonly referred to as mirroring with 2 hard drives. It provides redundancy by duplicating all data from one drive on another drive. The performance of a Level 1 array is slightly better than a single drive, but if either drive fails, no data is lost. This is a good entry-level redundant system, since only two drives are required. However, since one drive is used to store a duplicate of the data, the cost per megabyte is high.
• RAID Level 2, which uses Hamming error correction codes, is intended for use with drives which do not have built-in error detection. All SCSI drives support built-in error detection, so this level is of little use when using SCSI drives.
• RAID Level 3 stripes data at a byte level across several drives, with parity stored on one drive. It is otherwise similar to level 4. Byte-level striping requires hardware support for efficient use.
• RAID Level 4 stripes data at a block level across several drives, with parity stored on one drive. The parity information allows recovery from the failure of any single drive. The performance of a level 4 array is very good for reads (the same as level 0). Writes, however, require that parity data be updated each time. This slows small random writes, in particular, though large writes or sequential writes are fairly fast. Because only one drive in the array stores redundant data, the cost per megabyte of a level 4 array can be fairly low.
• RAID Level 5 is commonly referred to as striping with distributed parity. RAID Level 5 is similar to level 4, but distributes parity among the drives. No single disk is devoted to parity. This can speed small writes in multiprocessing systems. Because parity data must be distributed on each drive during reads, the performance for reads tends to be considerably lower than a level 4 array. The cost per megabyte is the same as for level 4.
• RAID 0/1 or10 is a dual level array that utilizes multiple RAID1 (mirrored) sets into a single array. Data is striped across all mirrored sets. As a comparison to RAID 5 where lower cost and fault tolerance is important, RAID 0/1 utilizes several drives, in order to provide better performance. Each drive in the array is duplicated (mirrored). This eliminates the overhead and delay of parity. This level array offers high data transfer advantages of striped arrays and increased data accessibility (reads). System performance during a drive rebuild is also better than that of parity based arrays, since data does not need to be regenerated from parity information, but copied from the other mirrored drive.
• RAID 0/5 or 50 is a dual level array that utilizes multiple RAID5 sets into a single array. In RAID 0/5 array, a single hard drive failure can occur in each of the RAID5 without any loss of data on the entire array. Keep in mind, as the number of hard drives increase in an array, so too, does the increased possibility of a single hard drive failure. Although there is an increased write performance in RAID 0/5, once a hard drive fails and reconstruction takes place, there is a noticeable decrease in performance, data/program access will be slower, and transfer speeds on the array will be effected.

Which RAID to Use

The right choice depends on the application. The RAID Levels below provide a brief summary and general uses. Keep in mind, Adaptec RAID controllers do not support all RAID Levels. Please check Technical Specifications for your RAID product for RAID Levels that are supported.

RAID Level Uses

• Level 0 (striping)
  Any application which requires very high speed storage, but does not need redundancy. Photoshop temporary files are a good example.
• Level 1 (mirroring)
  Applications which require redundancy with fast random writes; entry-level systems where only two drives are available. Small file servers are an example.
• Level 0/1 or 10 (mirroring and striping)
  Dual level raid, combines multiple mirrored drives (RAID 1) with data striping (RAID 0) into a single array. Provides highest performance with data protection.
• Level 5 (distributed parity)
  Similar to level 4, but may provide higher performance if most I/O is random and in small chunks. Database servers are an example.
• Level 0/5 or 50
  Dual level raid, combines multiple RAID 5 sets with data striping (RAID 0). Increased reliability and performance over standard RAID5 that can stand a multiple drive failure; one hard drive per RAID5 set.

Call 727-251-2058 ( our toll-free number is at the top of every page) to speak with a representative and receive your quote over the phone. We answer our phones 24 hours a day 7 days a week.