We have talked a lot about data recovery in the past which involved a software to recover the data from storage device. But one of the major problems that people face is data recovery from a physically damaged hard drive. This happens because a hard drive has moving parts which get damaged due to physical impact may be due to falling or other reason. We got a chance to visit Stellar Data Recovery Lab and we saw how they recover data from physically damaged hard drive. So here is Stellar Data Recovery Lab Process review where we will walk through the whole process they follow in recovering complete data from any damaged storage media.
Stellar Data Recovery Lab Process Review:
Most of the data recovery cases are related to the Hard Drive as I mentioned before hard drive is a very fragile device that has a lot of moving parts. Data recovery professionals/experts at Stellar are able to recover the data as they have specialized tools, spare parts, and a special room called Class 100 clean room which is prerequisite in recovering data from hard drive. The important thing is one needs to identify the problem to solve it properly in a minimum span of time. Apart from hard drive recovery, Stellar also offers its professional data recovery services for SD card recovery, SSD recovery, Raid Recovery, Smartphone data recovery, Server data recovery etc.
Here is the complete data recovery process:
1. Submitting storage media device
The very first step is you will have to submit the storage media device which can be a hard drive, SSD, micro SD card, smartphone etc. to them so that they can perform analysis test on it. Now you might have faced a logical problem that means the data was erased/formatted accidentally or affected by virus or ransomware. This is a case of logical recovery which is also done by Stellar Data Recovery. One of the other common cases is physical damage to the device or storage media because of which one is unable to read the data. The third case can be of Logical cum Physical recovery which is again covered by them. You can walk into one of their 15 centers spread across India to submit the device or avail for their pickup service too. The pickup service also has an option to go for safety box (in-case of the hard drive) which is provided by Stellar, and it prevents any further damage to the storage media while shipping.
2. Analysis
The second step is performing analysis to see the condition of storage media and check how much data can be recovered. This is all part of an assessment report which covers the state of media, how much data can be recovered, the time required to recover data, and lastly, the charges involved. So this analysis gives the customer a complete summary of data recovery process, charges and chances of data recovery.
3. Data Recovery
After getting the approval from the customer, they perform data recovery. The customer needs to specify any important data that is required which may be a folder, file related to work. Stellar Data Recovery has a policy of No Recovery No Charge and if they will not able to recover desired data, there are no recovery charges… So this gives the customer a confidence in trusting the company for their services. After this, the data recovery experts start the data recovery process. If it is a case of logical recovery then they will use various software to recover the data. In case of physical recovery, they repair the hard drive or other storage devices temporarily then make a clone image out of it. This image is then used to recover the complete data of the customer. The data recovery takes place in ISO certified class 100 clean room which provides a highly controlled environment with a preset temperature, humidity, and dust particle level. It has only 100 dust particles per cubic foot of air which is the standard they have to maintain in class 100 clean room. These rooms are required if a hard disk is to be disassembled and maximum data is expected from the storage device. They have a lot of spare parts too to temporarily repair the hard drive or any other storage device. The company maintains a high level of security in each lab with fingerprint sensors and only authorized personnel gets access to the data recovery lab. This is required to maintain data privacy across different people in the company.
4. Data verification
As the data is recovered, the customer is informed and is asked to review & verify the recovered data. This can be done by walking in the centers or one can also verify the data using TeamViewer.
5. Data delivery and privacy
Lastly, the data is delivered to the customer in the external storage media device provided by the customer. Additionally, the company also provides external storage media with data care pack at a discounted price. It is up to the customer how they want their data back. After the whole process Stellar wipes the complete data backup from their servers after 7 working days ensuring complete data privacy and protection.
So this is how the process of data recovery happens at Stellar Data Recovery Labs. The clean 100 room is USP of the company as it is mandatory for the physically damaged hard drive and other media storage. Also, data privacy is one of the major factors in Stellar Data Recovery. Only people with authorized access has entry to specific labs and the engineers working inside only know the Job ID and no such information about the customers. This protocol is followed so that customer’s data privacy is maintained at each and every step. Data authentication is also a step which is kept completely transparent with the customer so that the customer can make sure that all the data recovered is correct. After handing over the data, they use a software to automatically wipe out every single bit of data from their servers for customer data privacy. During my visit, I saw the company has a number of spare parts (because they receive old hard drives, many manufacturers may have discontinued old models and so for recovering data they require spare parts) and a variety of tools that are required to recover the data. Here is something that I experienced after my visit to Stellar Data Recovery labs that this whole process is not a simple task and needs a lot of efforts along with tools, class 100 clean room, and trained experts. All this is present at Stellar Data Recovery Labs which is why I am pretty sure that they can recover complete data out of any damaged storage media such as hard drive, raid, server, mobile phones etc. If you really are thinking of getting the data back, then local vendors are something you should avoid. Because they might damage the storage media and you won’t get the complete data out of it. So it is always better to seek professional help and go with a market leader like Stellar Data recovery. Let me know if you have any doubts regarding the process in the comment section below.