Dave’s Computers in New Jersey is a data recovery specialist trusted by hundreds of companies and individuals around the area to repair computers and recover data. With an increased appetite for keeping data, our services are now more popular than at any time before.
Dave’s Computers in New Jersey can recover data from hard drives from Windows, Linux and Mac OS. We can work with:
- FAT, exFAT and NTFS utilized by most Windows computers.
- ReFS file system used by new Microsoft operating systems.
- EXT2, EXT3, EXT4, and XFS filesystems utilized by Linux and most NAS (Network Attached Storage) devices.
- HFS, HFS+ (Mac OS Extended) and UFS filesystems used by Apple devices.
Hard drives are mechanical devices with moving parts, therefore they can fail at any time, for any reason. We suggest all our clients perform regular backups of important data to a different drive, but sometimes that just isn’t possible. If something goes wrong and you don’t have a backup your only choice is a data recovery service.
There are two main reasons a hard drive may fail, mechanical failure or a software issue. Our data recovery services can save your data from both in many instances.
Data loss through mechanical failure
A mechanical failure is exactly what it sounds like. A failure of one or more mechanical components within the hard drive. This will usually result in the drive making loud noises or stopping working altogether. Most data recovery companies cannot help you if your hard drive fails due to something mechanical, Dave’s Computers can.
You need specific skills to be able to open a hard drive and get it working again. While we cannot guarantee results as every situation is different, we have a very high success rate!
Data loss through a software issue
More commonly, a hard drive loses data through software means. This could be accidental deletion, accidental formatting, a virus, ransomware, a program that overwrites data without telling you or a crash or issue with your operating system that corrupts files or damages the drive.
We bundle everything that is not mechanical as a software issue as it is fixable with software and (mostly) caused by it too. Human error isn’t technically software but you do use software to delete and the data is recoverable using software.
Causes of data loss from a hard drive
The top causes of data loss are:
- Human error
- Malware or ransomware
- Mechanical failure of the drive or power
- Natural disaster such as fire or flood
Human error
Human error covers a multitude of accidents including spilling coffee on your laptop, accidentally formatting a hard drive, deleting something you shouldn’t or something else. There are as many ways to delete data as there are ways to create it and we are constantly surprised at the creative ways our customers find to lose data.
Dave’s Computers’ data recovery experts can perform a range of tasks to recover this data. We can perform an unformat which can restore accidentally formatted drives, recover delete files, perform photo recovery, recover RAW files from cameras and removable storage and all manner or data recovery tasks.
Malware or ransomware
Viruses are quite rare now and are not usually concerned with deleting data. More common is malware that overwrites important files with gibberish or ransomware that will either overwrite or delete your files if you don’t pay a ransom. These two are particularly nasty and leave you largely powerless.
Dave’s Computers can use a range of techniques to recover data including removing the malware or ransomware, recovering deleted files, recovering your file system and recovering your computer to the point that it was at before the infection. We cannot guarantee this until we see your computer though but our success rate is incredibly high.
Mechanical failure of the drive or power
Mechanical failure of the drive can be caused by the drive simply wearing out, power spikes, not using an uninterruptible power supply or an impact or knock. Mechanical failure is actually incredibly rare unless you drop your laptop or the hard drive itself. The average hard drive has an operating life in excess of five to seven years if kept safe, cool and looked after properly.
Some mechanical failures we simply cannot fix. Others we may be able to recover. We can only tell you which when you bring your computer or drive to our data recovery specialists in New Jersey.
Natural disaster such as fire or flood
A hard drive is a sensitive electronic component. While it is quite robust, it is not waterproof or fire proof. Once the initial event has been taken care of, recovering data from damaged drives should be a priority. That is something Dave’s Computers can help you with.
We use a variety of techniques to recover data depending on what has happened. They include traditional software data recovery to more intrusive means. We assess the situation and devise a strategy accordingly.
Data recovery is not an exact science as so much can go wrong. As a leading data recovery specialist in New Jersey, Dave’s Computers is your best bet for recovering lost data regardless of what happened. Our experts have many years’ experience helping local businesses and home users recover deleted or lost files, come up with preventive measures and more.
If you lose data for any reason, the data recovery specialist in New Jersey, Dave’s Computers are happy to help. Call us or come into the store!
