Data Recovery from PC’s / Laptop’s Running Windows

Laptop Data Recovery & PC Data Recovery Services

Data Clinic are laptop data recovery and PC data recovery specialists. Since 2002, we have recovered data from all types of broken and failed laptop and desktop computer hard drives. It doesn’t matter whether the hard disk is from a desktop machine, laptop, server or an external USB hard drive, we will have a solution for repairing the hard disk and retrieving the data from it. Our recovery work is based on years of experience and we can nearly always find a means of data retrieval from any type of broken hard disk or data loss situation. Link: What is Hard Disk Failure?

Drive Faults on Windows Systems

If you’re experiencing problems with your hard drive it will usually be due to one of the following reasons –

Computer runs slowly, disk access is slow, files / folders sometimes won’t open – A common fault usually caused by the drive developing unreadable areas on it’s surface. It’s a problem that gets worse so it’s a good idea to switch the drive off. Data retrieval is often possible – at Data Clinic we have specific hardware that is able to successfully read data from these drives. Using a DIY software approach is frequently a waste of time and will make the drive more unstable as the areas that are faulty are being stressed further.

Disk makes a ticking / beeping noise and is not recognised by the computer – Usually a disk that behaves like this has been dropped or knocked. The ticking noise you hear is often indicative of a mechanical fault with the drive. This means that the drive has a component that has physically failed. Recovery is often possible but requires a clean room.

Disk appears dead and is no longer recognised – Often due to a power surge, perhaps caused by putting the wrong cable into the power socket, this is a common fault – particularly on external usb drives. Another reason for a symptom like this is the drive may have suffered a firmware error – basically these are errors in the drive’s programming, it’s necessary to reprogram the drive in order to get access to the data.

What Not To Do

Data recovery is an exact process – if your data is valuable we suggest you avoid the following –

Disk Checking Software – Best avoided as programs like Scandisk and Chkdsk will make an absolute mess of drives with unreadable areas (see above) as they will try their best to fix problems they have no hope of fixing – this is because these problems can not be fixed by software. A hardware approach is necessary.

PC Shops – There are good PC shops and bad PC shops. Good PC shops will tell you straightaway that you should contact a company like us and refuse to look at your drive. Bad PC shops won’t – bad PC shops will have a go first – despite not knowing what they are doing. Just because they advertise data recovery doesn’t actually mean they can do it. Worse than that, they will often make a previously recoverable disk unrecoverable.

A Friend Who Works in IT – The IT sector is huge, with a massively varied skill set. Asking a friend can often mean they feel obliged to have a go at recovering your data, despite having no idea what to do other than plug the drive in and see what happens. Often they think it’s necessary to take the top off the hard drive without knowing as soon as they do they are contaminating a clean air environment and making the recovery job even harder.

Choose Data Clinic To Recover Your Data

Data Clinic have been recovering data from all types of computer media for over 10 years. We are established and we have a good reputation. We are also the only UK company that has an Advanced Data Recovery service that we use to recover data from tricky situations or where other data recovery companies have failed. If the data on your drive is recoverable, we’ll get it back.

With regional data recovery centres nationwide we also offer a free collection service that will pick the drive up from your door – whether that is a business or a home address.

Give us a call now – and we’ll discuss the problem you’ve got.