- Home
- About Us
- Recovery Services Individual RecoveryEnterprise RecoveryAdditional Recovery
- Software
- Testimonials
- Locations
Data Recovery Expert
Viktor S., Ph.D. (Electrical/Computer Engineering), was hired by DataRecoup, the international data recovery corporation, in 2012. Promoted to Engineering Senior Manager in 2010 and then to his current position, as C.I.O. of DataRecoup, in 2014. Responsible for the management of critical, high-priority RAID data recovery cases and the application of his expert, comprehensive knowledge in database data retrieval. He is also responsible for planning and implementing SEO/SEM and other internet-based marketing strategies. Currently, Viktor S., Ph.D., is focusing on the further development and expansion of DataRecoup’s major internet marketing campaign for their already successful proprietary software application “Data Recovery for Windows” (an application which he developed).
Forensic data recovery in employment claim
When our client's server was physically damaged by an employee they approached us to forensically investigate!
Identifying electronic evidence from a damaged RAID server...
After our client’s mail server stored on a RAID-5 was maliciously damaged by one of their employees, we were instructed by their solicitor to conduct a full forensic examination of the evidence. It was suspected that the server’s hard drives were concealing inappropriate correspondence. The hard drives had been removed and the circuit boards, physically destroyed. To exasperate the situation, backups had been securely erased and could not be retrieved.
Our technicians removed the RAID server from site to ensure preservation of the evidence. Before acquisition and analysis could begin, it was necessary to render the hard drives serviceable in order to take an exact sector level duplicate. We are one of the few computer forensic experts that also specialise in data recovery. The hard drives were dismantled in our clean room and rebuilt using donor parts.
Malware and viruses
What are they, where do they come from and how does a firewall help a user stay protected?
Lost data from malware and viruses...
One of the biggest headaches for computer users, from the individual with a mobile phone to the largest corporate and government computer, is an attack from malware, viruses and hackers. At one end of the scale it may be a minor inconvenience from a mischievous juvenile, through to criminal gangs who wish to extort money from the unwary. It may even be very competent geeks who wish to enhance their credibility by hacking into the most difficult systems, not for financial gain but to enhance their credibility among their peers.
Government organisations may often wish to disrupt the critical functions of utilities, defence systems, research and development and manufacturing of sensitive materials such as plutonium for nuclear weapons from another country from whom they feel threatened . This is often referred to as cyber warfare.
Forensic data recovery
How is forensic data recovery different to other data recovery processes and what service does the user actually require?
What is forensic data recovery…
Forensic data recovery differs quite significantly from other data recovery process, but to the user these differences may not be obvious. Whilst the end result might be the same, the way this is achieved is very different. It is important that the objectives are clear from the outset, because if the hard drives to be examined are not dealt with properly any subsequent claim may well be compromised! Quite simply the ‘forensic’ element of data recovery refers to the information being admissible for legal purposes.
Forensic data recovery is normally associated with data that will be used in legal or court proceedings, whether criminal or civil in nature. More often than not, we are engaged by solicitors where digital evidence is crucial to the outcome of the claim. Data Recovery Specialists are not legal advisers and cannot offer advice on technical areas of law. However, we are able to isolate, acquire and report on digital media and electronic evidence.
Does partitioning help in the partition recovery process?
Partitioning helps organise your data and has many advantages. It can help with speed, security and backup.
Partition recovery...
FDISK is a Windows utility for partitioning a hard disk drive in preparation to hold data. Partitioning is useful for naming different areas for different uses. For example separating the operating system and data. Typically most computer hard drives have a single partition, the logical C drive. FDISK can also be used for setting up a dual boot system such as Windows in one partition and Linux in another. Disk partitioning is also common on LAN servers where different sets of users share files and applications. But does partitioning safeguard your information against data loss?
Whilst we advocate keeping your data backed up to a second physical hard disk drive, sometimes this is not practical. There is a common myth that partitioning will help against malware. A virus can easily interrogate all the partitions, whilst it cannot propagate across two physical drives. Nevertheless, partitioning can help you organise your data. Partitioning is a simple process, but before you attempt this, make sure you have a full backup of your data. FDISK will format the hard drive and this will delete any existing data.
Recovering a 'bootable' hard drive
Legacy applications are often hardware dependent, so when we recover the data we must provide a 'bootable' duplicate cloned hard drive
Recovering a bootable hard drive
Data loss is a common problem for many CT applications and with medical imaging systems now storing upwards of a million images, this can prove disastrous to any nuclear medicine department. This is exactly what happened when Philips Medical Solutions approached Data Recovery Specialists with a critical predicament, whereby St Vincents University Hospital in Dublin had suffered a failure with their CT scanner.
Working in partnership with Data Recovery Specialists, Philips engineers responded immediately narrowing the problem down to the hard disk drive. The drive was part of a Pegasus Workstation supporting the scanner, which stored the operating system, application and images. Brendan Cummins of Philips Medical Solutions stated “problems arose because of the age of the system complicated by local patches that were not supported by Philips. The customer wanted all these implemented so the only solution was a full data recovery”
Will CHKDSK recover my data?
CHKDSK is a great tools for checking the status of your disk but beware if your are using it to attempt a DIY data recovery!
CHKDSK data recovery...
CHKDSK short for ‘check disk’ is a Windows utility which verifies the file system integrity of a volume on your hard drive, fixing logical errors and repairing bad sectors. CHKDSK will search for errors but will only fix them if ordered to do so by the user. In Windows 7 there has been reported problems whereby the CHKDSK /R command can cause a system crash, but we are not able to replicate this at Data Recovery Specialists. But is CHKDSK good enough to test a failed hard drive and should I use it?
If the file system has become corrupted, there is a chance that CHKDSK may recover your lost data. There are options available to ‘automatically fix file system errors’ and’ scan for and attempt the recovery of bad sectors’. However CHKDSK can only run if it is the only application using that hard disk drive and you may have to ‘force a dismount’. It is best to make sure you are not running anything else inadvertently. If your windows operating system is running, CHKDSK will not run. Hence you should run CHKDSK before Windows is loaded and this can be forced by scheduling the disk check and closing down the system. Before it reboots CHKDSK will start verifying files. To see the results of a scheduled CHKDSK, it is necessary to run the event viewer by clicking ‘start’ followed by ‘run’ and then entering ‘eventvwr’ and clicking ‘OK’. Look for ‘Wininit’ under source in the Windows Application Logs.
Data recovery is a precise and exact prodedure
Even opening the chassis of a hard drive can cause misalignment of the heads. Make sure you engage the most skilled data recovery technicians!
One attempt at data recovery…
Depending on the type of problem with your hard drive, the user may well only have one attempt at data recovery so make sure you choose the right company! If your hard drive has failed mechanically, a skilled professional is going to rebuild that disk using donor parts. Data recovery after a logical failure can often be attempted many times without effecting the media at all. This is because the technician is not having to open the chassis for a mechanical or electronic repair.
Hard drives are precision instruments and are not designed to be disassembled. Similarly donor parts are often not compatible. To provide a quote for a data recovery and file listing of recoverable files, our experts have already rebuilt the hard drive and recovered the data. Where quotes are declined we will always return the media to its original condition and return to the client. Yet just the fact that the drive has been disassembled means a subsequent attempt at recovery will be more complicated.
Hardware rebuild for SSD
After a VRM and NAND flash memory chip replacement we recovered all our clients data despite a 50/50 diagnosis!
Hardware rebuild of solid-state-disk...
After receiving an unresponsive solid-state-disk, our engineers advised the client that it would need a full hardware rebuild. The chances of recovery were only 50% and without the necessary parts this would prove uneconomical. As it stands, we would class this as a no recovery; however where data is extremely important we do offer an alternative where by we ask for the cost of parts upfront. Whilst our library does stock over fourteen thousand hard drives, in less than 5% of instances we need to order specialist components to complete a data recovery.
To attempt the recovery the engineers had to firstly de-solder the VRM and NAND Flash Memory chips from the SSD. Once completed a layer of the surface was removed by a laser and the chips re-soldered and harvested in to an identical donor SSD. The identical SSD was purchased direct from the manufacturer which did delay the process by 10 working days.
V-NAND causes data recovery complications
With the introduction of stacked NAND cells to increase performance and capacities, how does this effect data recovery success rates?
V-NAND data recovery complications...
Recently ‘Planar’ NAND technology has expanded with changes to density (Gbs per square millimetre), bits per cell and power consumption, notwithstanding the decreasing costs to produce it. However squeezing more bits into each NAND flash cell is becoming challenging and we are approaching the limit. Welcome to 3D NAND or V-NAND technology! Well we are now seeing several layers stacked vertically which improves the performance significantly.
Solid state drives (SSDs) based on this 3D or Vertical NAND technology have 24 or even 48 layers (256GB), with talk of 64 layers soon! Stacking cells has lots of benefits, including higher capacities and improved electrical performance because of the shortening of the interconnecting lengths between cells. But this new technology has massive implications for data recovery. When cells fail, removing chips becomes increasingly more difficult.
My computer is really noisy!
It could be something very easy to fix or something much more serious requiring data recovery!
Computer making a grinding noise...
There are two possibilities that come to mind. Firstly it might be a fan issue. Many computers will run all the fans at full speed for a few seconds. They do this at start up to make sure that the fans work and to dislodge any dust or dirt that may have accumulated that a low speed wouldn’t just blow out of the way. Secondly it could be something much more serious!
If there is something partially obstructing the fan, the blades could be hitting it and that could easily sound like a grinding noise. Fans do not necessarily spin at even rates and indeed some will run the fans for only a few seconds at full speed. The reason is to dislodge any dust or particles that have collected whilst the computer is not powered. Thereafter the fans will slow to keep on top of any dust floating around. Sometimes the blades will be hitting anything that is partially obstructing the fan. This can be mistaken for a grinding noise. This is easy to spot if you open up the computer and inspect the fan blades.
