Data Recovery FAQs
24 Hour Data and Data Recovery
Q. What is 24 Hour Data?
24 Hour Data is a full service data recovery lab in Plano, Texas equipped to handle any and all data loss due to accidents, virus, excessive heat, exposure to water, mechanical failure, file corruption, partition loss, and many other problems. We are available 24 hours a day to help with your data recovery needs.
Q. What is Data Recovery?
Data recovery is the process used to recover data from storage media. 24 Hour Data has been able to recover data from all types of devices: hard drives, RAID configurations, flash drives, USB devices, iPods, phones, PDA’s, and external storage devices.
About your Hard Drive/ Media Failure
Q. How can I prevent data loss?
Consistently backing up your data is the only way to prevent data loss. Accidents, mechanical malfunctions, and viruses cannot be completely prevented.
Q. How often should I backup my data?
24 Hour Data suggests businesses to backup their data every 24 hours and personal home computers every week. Studies have shown that more than 50% of businesses who lose their data for more than 10 days file bankruptcy within one year.
Q. What causes data loss?
Data loss is caused by a variety of different occurrences including accidents, virus, excessive heat, exposure to water, mechanical failure, file corruption, deletion, partition loss, and many others.
Q. What is that clicking noise, and what should I do?
If your hard drive begins to make an unusual noise you should turn it off immediately. The clicking noise is caused by the failure of the head to read data from the disk. This could actually be caused by several different failures on the drive, and continuing to use the drive or attempting to recover the data by using software recovery tools like “chkdsk” could do more damage and cause a permanent loss of data.
Q. I see a blue screen on my computer monitor, what does that mean?
On computers running a Microsoft Windows operating system seeing a blue screen (as known as the “blue screen of death”) indicates a critical system error which has caused the system to shut down to prevent damage. It can be caused by a memory failure, bad power supply, overheating, and hardware failure. The computer system should be shut off immediately and a computer repair specialist should be contacted.
Q. My computer hard drive has failed, what should I do?
A failed hard drive should be shut off immediately and a computer specialist should be contacted. Attempting to recover data through the use of a disk utility program after a hard drive has failed could cause a complete loss of data. Disk utility programs are meant to be used on functioning hard drives as a preventative measure against failure.
Q. Are there times when data cannot be recovered?
Yes. There are circumstances when physical damage to the hard drive is so severe that no data can be salvaged. The data is stored on metal coated ceramic or aluminum disks within the hard drive. If this metal coating comes off then the data is lost forever. Cycling a failed drive on and off after a failure has occurred can cause the disks to be scratched and the data to be lost forever.
Recovery Process
Q. What type of storage media does 24 Hour Data recover?
24 Hour Data’s qualified technicians have salvaged data from all media types including: Hard disk drives, CD’s, DVD’s, USB devices, RAID configurations, Flash drives, PDA’s, tapes, phones, and digital music devices.
Q. Which types of disk drives can you recover from?
Our specially trained technicians can recover data from all makes and models of hard drives. Please see our list for more information.
Q. What operating systems can you recover data from?
24 Hour Data believes in continuously training our technicians in order to stay ahead of the constantly changing environment of computer technology. We attend seminars and training sessions throughout the year to stay up-to-date with our knowledge and recovery tools.
Starting a Data Recovery
Q. How do I start a data recovery?
1. Click the “Start a Data Recovery” link on our home page, at the top of this page or just click HERE. Then fill out the “Start a Data Recovery” form.
2. Ship or bring your hard drive or storage device to the 24 Hour Data address located on the Data Recovery Form.
3. 24 Hour Data will contact you within 24 hours of the arrival of the hard drive or other storage media to give you a FREE ESTIMATE.
Q. What is the 24 Hour Data’s recovery process?
24 Hour Data’s recovery process has 2 steps. When we receive the storage media we begin the first step, the diagnostic process. After diagnosis, we will contact the client and give our free estimate of the cost and time of recovery. Only after the client agrees do we begin the second step the recovery process.
Q. What is the diagnostic process and how long does it take?
24 Hour Data’s qualified technicians use a variety of diagnostic tools to identify the problem with your hard drive or other storage device. This is done within 24 hours of the arrival of the device at our office.
24 Hour Data’s Recovery Pricing
Q. How much will it cost to recover my data?
24 Hour data has a price structure depending on the type of recovery process required and the speed requested by the client.
Logical recovery: $85.00 per hour
Physical recovery: $149.00 per hour
Emergency recovery:
Logical recovery: $150.00 per hour
Physical recovery: $250.00 per hour
Your Data Recovery
Q. How long will it take to recovery my data?
The answer to this question is specific to each case. A typical logical recovery could require from 1-5 hours, but it could be up to 10 hours in very difficult cases. Physical recoveries require both a physical and a logical recovery and typically require 4 to 12 hours and possibly more.
Q. How will my data be returned to me?
Data recoveries of less than 8 GB will be returned on DVDs. For any recovery of more than 8 GB it is suggested that the client purchase and provide to 24 Hour Data, a destination hard drive for their recovered data.
Q. How secure is my data at the 24 Hour Data Lab?
24 Hour Data is located within a data center in Plano, Texas. The Data Center has a level X security system including fingerprint identification in order to enter. 24 Hour Data has the highest level of security for its clients’ data in the industry.
Q. Is my case and data confidential?
24 Hour Data respects the complete confidentiality of every data recovery that we perform. Confidentiality is guaranteed from the moment the storage media arrives at our office.
