Vantage Data Recovery

In Anatomy of a Hard Drive, we looked at how a hard drive works, and the mechanics of writing bits of data by magnetically encoding it onto rapidly spinning disks.  Consider this: Eight bits make a byte.  One million bytes makes a megabyte.  One thousand megabytes, or one billion bits, makes a gigabyte.  That 300 GB drive in your system?  Three hundred billion bytes, or 2.4 billion bits!  So how does the drive keep track of them all?  Through a system which provides for an operating system format, layered over a low-level or physical format. Continue reading ‘Cylinders, Heads and Sectors, Oh My!’ »

I was introduced to someone the other day, and after the usual small talk, she asked what I did.  Following a very brief explanation of what I meant by data recovery, there was a pause.  I cringed waiting for the inevitable question - “How do you do that?” Continue reading ‘Data Recovery? How Do You Do That?’ »

You have made the decision.  Your data is important and you need it back.  You are going to use a professional data recovery company.  So what can you do to help assure a successful recovery?

Choose wisely…

Don’t pick a company just because it’s the closest, the cheapest or has the coolest name.  While cost is often a driving factor, capabilities and experience should be your first concern. Continue reading ‘Getting the Most From Your Data Recovery Company’ »

Data gets lost.  It’s a fact of modern life.

We all store lots of data.  Photos, financials, our latest novel, customer accounts, emails, new product development ideas, genealogy records, engineering specs, tax returns, term papers, spreadsheets, programming code, business plans, music.  You name it, we save it, both for personal and for business use. Continue reading ‘What’s Your Data Worth?’ »

Hard drive: noun - a mechanical device used in computers for storing and retrieving data, generally consisting of a spindle, motor, one or more disks, a corresponding number of read-write heads attached to an actuator, inside a case, with a circuit board attached.

Hard drive technology has evolved rapidly since the introduction of the Winchester drive in the 1960’s.  With ever-increasing size and speed has come new interfaces, magnetic coatings, data recording methods, etc., but the general mechanics have remained the same. Continue reading ‘Anatomy of a Hard Drive’ »

Data recovery is not meant to be a foolproof alternative to backing up.  Any professional data recovery company that has been in business for a while has experienced situations where data could not be recovered, or not recovered in its entirety.  If your hard drive suffers a head crash and scrapes all of the magnetic coating off your disks, no one can put it back.  If your data is erased, then physically overwritten, it’s gone.  Continue reading ‘The 99% Data Recovery Rate Myth’ »

We get a lot of calls from people with damaged flash drives a.k.a. “thumb” drives.  Many people use them to backup important data from their laptop or desktop system, which is fine in the short run, but their very nature makes them somewhat unreliable in the long run.  The things that make them so attractive to us - they are small, lightweight and portable - make them vulnerable from a data loss standpoint. Continue reading ‘Data Loss - Gone in a Flash!’ »

You suddenly can’t access critical data, and in a panic search the web for help.  And find it.  Too much of it actually.  A search on Google for “data recovery” will give you over 20 million hits!  Sorting through your options, you start to wonder - Why won’t some of these people tell you how much your data recovery project will cost, while others offer to recover your data for $99.00?  Why are data recovery prices so varied, and why are some companies advertising flat rates?  Continue reading ‘Data Recovery Pricing’ »

DIY or “do it yourself” projects are as popular as ever.  The satisfaction and sense of accomplishment, not to mention financial savings are great motivators for those of us who would rather take on projects ourselves than hire someone to do them.  But we must know our limits.  I might, for example, change a faucet on the bathroom sink.  If I want to move the sink to another location I know that I need to find a good plumber.  I just don’t have the tools, knowledge or experience to do that kind of job and be sure it will be done right.

The internet abounds with information on how to do almost anything, and data recovery is no exception.  Your drive doesn’t work?  Hit it.  Drop it.  Tap it.  Slap it.  Kick it.  Freeze it. Continue reading ‘DIY Data Recovery’ »

Almost every data recovery company has a page on their website explaining how to choose a data recovery company.  These pages generally tell you why they are the best/only/most logical choice.  “Choose me.  Pick me.  Love me.”

I would like to go on record as saying that while I would certainly like you to “choose me”; I know that Vantage is not the only professional data recovery company out there.  So how do you choose? Continue reading ‘Choosing a Data Recovery Company’ »