First-Time Visitors - Data Recovery FAQ
First-Time Visitors
How do I get my drive to you?
Why do hard drives crash?
Is there still hope?
Should I let my mate have a go?
Should I let my I.T. department have a go?
Will you repair my hard drive?
What will this cost me?
I don't see an answer to my question!
- Call us on 0845 094 0027 and we will arrange a courier to collect your hard drive for FREE.
- Place your hard drive in a cardboard box (ensure it is well padded). It's helpful if you place a business card or a slip of paper with your details inside so we can make sure we have our spelling correct.
- The courier will provide a label for your package with Tierra's address on it .
Alternatively you can ship the drive to us using any of Royal Mail's tracking-based shipping methods, such as Royal Mail Special Delivery or your own favourite courier. Give us a call before you ship anything to us so we know it's coming and we can assign you a job number.
The address for shipping is: Tierra Data Rescue, Unit 43 Mayfield Industrial Estate, Dalkeith, EH22 4AD.
We'll be in touch as soon as it's arrived and the analysis is underway.
Why do hard drives crash?
Hard drives are cheap. Manufacturers surf the curve between state-of-the-art design, reliability and production cost. They expect a certain percentage to fail within warranty, and offset this in the price. They cannot test every drive to destruction! Each drive is factory-tuned individually, and two drives manufactured in the same factory on the same day may turn out to have widely different life-spans. Bear in mind though - all hard drives are machines and all will fail.
Is there still hope?
Yes, we can rescue data from surprisingly extreme situations. There are some scenarios which are unrecoverable (e.g. platter damage - data has turned to powder), but we have an excellent track record in rescuing data where rescue is possible. To date, to our knowledge, all hard drives where it has not been possible for Tierra Data Rescue to recover data, have not been recovered by any other data recovery company.
Should I let my mate have a go?
Only if they are a trained data recovery engineer! Of course, it's your data and you are free "to have a go". Note that once your hard drive starts showing problems that every additional action you take makes the data harder to rescue. Do not run anything that will write to the hard drive - do not run chkdsk, do not install any additional software to the hard drive, do not copy folders from one place to another. Make sure you are satisfied that you've tried all the obvious things (e.g. plug the hard drive into a friend's PC) and then call us on 0845 094 0027. With our equipment, tools and knowledge we can rescue data from drives which may appear dead - but if you explore too far, the drive may become unrecoverable.
Should I let my I.T. Department have a go?
Absolutely, but bear in mind that even FTSE-100 companies tend not to have data recovery experts in their I.T. Support teams. Their task is to establish that the data cannot be retrieved by trivial means and to perform this without endangering the data. They should endeavour not to do anything that will cause write operations to the hard drive. If you are in any doubts, ask them to call us on 0845 094 0027 and we can discuss things engineer-to-engineer.
Will you repair my hard drive?
By failing, your hard drive is now somewhere on the spiral to oblivion. Any repairs we might make are temporary for the purpose of forensically cloning the raw content. Most times, once the data has been rescued, the original hard drive will be unusable or quickly return to being unusable. Sometimes, the temporary repairs last longer, but why would you continue to use something that let you down so badly? Hard drives are cheap, buy a new one with all the benefits of improved speed, size and warranty. Many customers take the opportunity to completely replace the PC or server.
What will this cost me?
Cost will vary based on the type and complexity of the job. In our analysis report we provide a firm price quote for the work. The primary aim of analysis is to establish what is necessary to get your data back and identify this firm price. No payments are taken without your approval. If we cannot rescue your data, we do not charge you for the recovery efforts. If you opt to have your rescued data provided on an external hard drive, we can sell you one. Return shipping costs are not included in the recovery price and are based on your choice on delivery type, weight and speed.
I don't see an answer to my question!
Call us on 0845 094 0027 and we'll help you out, or email us at info@tierra.co.uk and we'll respond quickly.
