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I would like to express my appreciation for the excellent professional service offered by International Data Care in recovering information from my damaged hard disk ...

1. How Can I prevent data loss?

Backup, backup, backup. The reality of hard drives is that they are going to crash sometime – it is not a question of if, but when. Nothing can prevent data loss better than performing routine backups of all your data. Users can save hours, days and weeks of downtime by minimizing their data loss through routine backups. A good anti-virus software package, updated regularly, will also offer some protection against data loss.

2. My documents contain confidential information. How can I be sure they will remain confidential?

ICrashcare offers clients a secure environment so that you can rest easy knowing that your information is kept private. Every member of our technical team is under non-disclosure. The evaluation & recovery process is conducted in secure labs with controlled access to ensure the confidentiality of your data.

We have unwritten non-disclosure agreements with all of our customers, but if your legal department requires a written agreement it should be faxed to the nearest office for processing.

3. What is data recovery?

Data recovery is the process of retrieving deleted or inaccessible data from failed electronic storage media such as computer hard disk drives, removable media, optical devices and tape cartridges.

Your data can become inaccessible due to a software problem, computer virus, mechanical or electrical malfunction or a deliberate human act.

Regardless of the cause of your data loss, our experienced technicians are able to successfully recover lost data 80% - 85% of the time.

4. How long does the Evaluation and Data Recovery take?

We strive to have the evaluations completed with-in 24-48 hrs of our receipt of the drive. The time required for the evaluation is dependent upon the problems encountered.

Though we maintain an extensive inventory of drives & parts, obtaining parts for uncommon drives may add to the length of time required for the evaluation.

If other technicians/competitors have attempted to recover the data using disk utilities and have damaged logical structures, the process may be lengthened.

Imaging alone may take up to 24 hours of computer time with extensive re-tries for badly damaged devices.

If the evaluation is to take longer than the standard 48 hours, a representative will call to explain the nature and extent of the problem you & keep you apprised of the progress of the evaluation.

Standard Data Recovery

Most recoveries will be completed in 2-5 days. Upon receiving your drive at ICrashcare, our technicians will diagnose the problem and determine if data can be recovered. d

Expedited Data Recovery

If you should need this service, a dedicated technician will be assigned to your drive within 4 hours of the time that we receive your hard disk. Working on your drive (during normal business hours) until the recovery is complete. This process will normally cut your turnaround time in half.

Emergency Data Recovery

We realize your need to have special services occasionally (weekdays, holidays, and after hours). If your situation is critical, we will try to make arrangements for a technician to be available who will be assigned to work on your recovery until complete.

Our goal is to return your data to you within two to five working days. However, because of the complexity of data recovery there will be times when it will take longer. After performing our initial evaluation, we will provide you with an estimated time to restore your lost data.

5. Does ICrashcare offer laptop and notebook data recovery?

Yes!!! The development of high-capacity laptop hard disks has enabled us to establish advanced techniques in data recovery technology. As these drives are very small in comparison to desktop drives, the internal mechanics are miniature versions of their desktop counterparts, and so special tooling, equipment and handling procedures are required to facilitate the recovery of the data from these drives.

Typical problems that we have seen with laptop computers are due to mechanical or electronic failure, where either the drive does not spin at all, or if it does, then quiet but persistent 'ticking' or 'crunching' noises can be heard during powering up - this particular problem is mainly due to an internal head amplifier failure or, more seriously, a head crash or misalignment problem - the majority of which are recoverable.

Data recovery from laptop computers are priced the same as for desktop machines and despite the miniature mechanics, we have an exceptionally high recovery rate from these type of hard disks, and have performed data recovery from all manufacturers of notebooks and laptop hard disks, including IBM, Toshiba, HP, Sony, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Maxtor and others. If your notebook hard disk has crashed, please contact us for our specialized laptop data recovery service.

6. What can I do to protect my data and minimize my chances of losing data?

The adage in the industry is not "if my drive fails", but rather, "when my drive fails". While your hard drive has many electronic components, it also has moving parts. Over time, these mechanical components can fail as the result of use.

Avoid heat & vibration.

All drive components, both electronic and mechanical, are sensitive to heat and vibration .Keep your computer in a dry, controlled environment that is clean and dust-free. Set up your computer in an area with very little traffic to ensure that it does not get bumped. Heat and/or vibration are two of the leading causes of hard drive failure.

Beware of static.

Back up your data.

The surest way to avoid data loss, even if your hard drive fails is the back up your data. If you don't have a tape backup device or network drive at your fingertips back up your most important files to a floppy at least once a week (See Floppy Disks below).

To avoid premature drive failure:

Run Scandisk.

Scandisk examines your hard disk for logical inconsistencies and damaged surfaces. Run it every two or three weeks just to be safe. It is very important to save any changes to a floppy until you are sure that the changes that you are about to make will not adversely affect your hard drive.

Run Defrag frequently.

Files most likely, will not be stored in adjacent clusters. Defrag rearranges the data on your hard disk so that each file is stored in a set of contiguous clusters. This is very important for data recovery, since success is more likely when the damaged file's clusters are adjacent to each other.

Anti-virus Software

Files most likely, will not be stored in adjacent clusters. Defrag rearranges the data on your hard disk so that each file is stored in a set of contiguous clusters. This is very important for data recovery, since success is more likely when the damaged file's Use anti-virus software and update it at least four times per year.

Use an uninterrupted power supply (UPS).

In the event of a surge of electricity, black out, brown out or lightning strike, a UPS can protect your system from electrical damage. A UPS is also a back up power source that keeps your computer running for a short period of time, giving you the opportunity to properly save your work and shut down, avoiding a potential data loss.

Be cautious when using recovery utilities

Use diagnostic and repair utilities with caution. Verify that your utility software is compatible with your operating software. Never use file recovery software if you suspect an electrical or mechanical drive failure. Always, always make an undo disk when you allow a utility make changes to your hard drive.

Floppy Disks

Never buy bargain-basement disks. Recommended are 3.5" pre-formatted high-density disks. Store your disks in a cool, dry, dust-free environment... not, for example, in a shirt-pocket, book bag, or briefcase, unless they are inside a diskette container of some kind.

Backup your disks on a regular basis. This means copying files from one floppy disk to another... don't just rename a file on the same disk!

Save information as you type, say every 10 minutes (if you are working on your own machine, set the "automatic save" feature of your word processor). Do not type for 3 hours straight and expect to be able to save information to your disk. It is possible you have typed too much information for the floppy disk to store.

Diligent maintenance such as anti-virus scanning, sensible backup procedures, off-site storage of mission critical data, together with knowledge of your limitations, should prevent you from becoming one of the many casualties of data loss.

If you suffer a data loss, please, contact a data recovery expert immediately. The most important thing is to not attempt any repairs yourself. Trust your data to ICrashcare engineers who have the experience, expertise and tools to recover you data without damaging your system.