Data Recovery Hawaii: Some basics from the professionals at MobileREMEDIES®

When we save a file on our computer, iPad, smartphone or other device, most of us don’t really know or think very much about the complex process involved in allowing us to retrieve it whenever we need it.  We often take our data for granted until the day we lose access to it.  Fortunately, our modern devices perform admirably and are quite reliable but they are not infallible.  If you haven’t lost any data yet, you can count yourself as one of the lucky minority. When we understand some of the incredible precision required to store and retrieve data, we become thankful that we don’t lose it more often than we do!  To see what things can go wrong we need to look at some basic concepts in data storage, organization and manipulation (if this begins to look like “more than you really want to know” about this topic, see: Data Recovery Hawaii – MobileREMEDIES® for a shorter and more simplified discussion):

The Basics:

Data Storage:  Our data is stored on a device we call a “drive” which comes mainly in two different formats; the “Hard Disc Drive” (HDD)and the “Solid State Drive” (SSD).

HDD: First introduced by IBM in 1956, the hard disc drive has been the workhorse and the only practical choice until recently. It consists of stacked rigid discs spinning at 4,200-15,000 revolutions per minute. They are called “platters” (taken from the term for record player turntable in the old days!) and each is coated with a mirror-like surface containing microscopic magnetic particles whose polarity can be changed by a tiny magnetic read/write head attached to an “actuator” arm.  The “drive” mechanism (powered by an electric motor and accounting for the device’s name) positions the actuator arms over the spinning discs and is capable of moving the heads back and forth at a speed of 33 feet/second, locating and tracking along any one of up to 250,000 concentric circles of particles on a 3.5 cm platter (one circle of particles is less than 1/10^th the width of a human hair)!  The polarity of each magnetic particle can be either up or down indicating a 1 or a 0 in binary code. The magnetic head can either change the order (write) or simply sense and report it (read).  Once the particles are polarized they maintain that state even when the power is turned off and can keep your data safe, provided that the entire mechanism is sealed in a very special protective case (imagine what a single dust particle or a good solid “bump” could do!).  This is still the standard storage device in most computers but things are changing quickly!

SSD:  Though solid state or “flash” memory also had its origins back in the 1950’s, it had to wait for miniaturization and microcircuit technology to develop before it had any chance of becoming practical or affordable.  Unlike the HDD, the SSD has no moving parts and thus makes no noise and is much more resistant to impact damage. It stores data in silicon semiconductor chips on microcircuit boards instead of in magnetic particles on a disc. The chips also maintain their status when the power is turned off.  Getting a large enough number of semiconductors together in a small enough space at a reasonable price has always been the main challenge. This was a gradual process and even as recently as the early 1990’s a 20MB SSD cost $1,000 ($1,750 in today’s currency)!  Now, in 2015, you can buy a 500GB internal SSD for your laptop for about $180 and an 8GB USB flash drive (400 times greater storage capacity than the original 1990’s SSD) for less than $7! By removing the mechanical component, read/write operations are much faster and the drives are physically much lighter.  They still “wear out” however when repeatedly re-written (after somewhere between 100,000 and 1,000,000 writes) and much work is being done on “wear leveling” to compensate for this. For the time being, you can still get more storage space for your money with the HDD but the gap is closing rapidly and undoubtedly, as SSD technology continues to be refined, the HDD will become, like the record player, only a page in history.

Data Organization: So far we have only spoken about how the data is stored not how we can access it.  It’s all very nice to have polarized all those little 1’s and 0’s in precisely the order we need to reproduce our data but we also must have a system of organization that allows us to locate files after we have written them.  So each drive must have a “disc controller” that creates a “file allocation table”.  With theHDD, in order to keep our data separate and retrievable, the discs are divided into tracks and “sectors”. On the SSD, these are called “blocks”. Since data can be stored anywhere on the discs and since it can be written over when it is no longer needed, the file allocation table must be constantly updated.  The SSD has a similar controller that generates allocation information. It was engineered to send this in the same format as that of a HDD.  SSD’s also have similar data ports and connectors, which means that you can plug either drive into your computer, internally or externally, and with a little formatting they will work interchangeably.  Your computer’s operating system takes the information from you and the controller and creates a “directory” which is very much like a filing cabinet with a hierarchy of folders and sub-folders.  The directory is itself a file that is also stored on the drive. You can assign file names and place related files “together” in folders.  Remember though, that those files are not physically stored together on the drive, so without the directory working with the disc controller and the file allocation table they are “lost” and just a bunch of 1’s and 0’s!

Data Manipulation:  Once the data is stored, you as the operator may manipulate it and change it using various applications.  You may edit an image or change its format. You often save it by replacing the existing file.  Every time data is saved it goes to a new sector or block on your drive and the directory is updated deleting the location information for the old file but not deleting the file itself.  That only happens when the sector or block is rewritten with new data at some later date. So, “deleted” files from the standpoint of the computer are simply those whose directory data has been removed. Placing a file in the “trash” only transfers it to that folder but maintains it in the directory. “Emptying” the trash then deletes the file from the directory. Certain applications (such as Dropbox or Google Drive) may be authorized to store or change data on your device without your direct participation.  Viruses may manipulate your data in any number of ways without your knowledge or authorization.

Losing Data:

If you have gotten this far you will undoubtedly have understood that there are an impressive number of things that can go wrong when we save, retrieve, organize or manipulate data in any way.  Some of the major causes of data loss can be classified as follows (there are many others!):

Operator Error:  Probably the most common cause of data loss is operator error.  It can take many forms from something as straightforward as misplacing a file in the wrong folder to using a file as a template, making numerous modifications, then hitting the “save” command instead of the “save as”, overwriting the original.  These types of operator error are usually benign because they involve a small number of files that are usually not worth the cost of recovery. Other types of operator error can be much more serious such as not plugging-in your device during a system upgrade and allowing the battery go dead during the re-write process! Any operation that may endanger the integrity of your file directory could leave your computer unable to access any of your data.  We will only mention in passing other operator errors such as spilling coffee on your device or dropping it down a flight of stairs since they are discussed under device failure!

Malware:  Malware is software designed to manipulate your computer and thus your data either without your knowledge or against your will.  Unfortunately, this seems to be a rapidly growing “business” in the 21^st century with no end in sight.  Major examples are stealing industrial trade secrets and identity theft.  Lessor but more common examples are creating instruction loops that slow down the performance of your device and then selling you a program to restore it!  Some malware simply crashes your computer with no other apparent motive than to cause you trouble.  These “viruses” can be introduced into your device in various ways but the most common is through Internet downloads or through an E-mail.  There is no limit to the harm they can do and again, any program that either writes over your files or damages your directory can cause serious data loss.

Device Failure with an intact drive:  This is also a very common source of data loss because many things can go wrong with our computers without causing significant damage to the drive.  In our laptops we can have broken LCD’s and charge ports, buttons and keys that stop working and flex cables that “flexed” a few too many times. In our desktop computers, fans can stop working causing overheating and power supplies can give up the ghost, just to name a few. We can also have software conflicts, low memory allocations and virus attacks that cause crashes but mostly leave the drive alone. Whether due to software or hardware problems, impact or liquid damage, when the device containing the drive goes bad there is no direct access to the data since communication with the drive is through the broken device.  The distinction here however is that the drive still contains our data AND the directory files necessary to access it!

Drive Failure:  After reading the section on data storage you can get a feeling for how many things might disrupt the function of a drive! Some problems are minor while others may be devastating. It is common for a drive to develop a few “bad sectors” over time as some magnetic particles may lose their ability to polarize. This is foreseen and all computers have utilities that “repair” the disc, which means directing the disc controller to bypass the bad sectors in the read/write process, which it can usually do without significant performance loss. If before the bad sector is bypassed however it happens to contain a vital element of the operating system, everything may grind to a halt. SSD’s can also have “bad blocks” and they are treated in much the same way by bypassing them and reallocating other blocks.

Serious problems begin when the directory is lost or the drive itself stops functioning. Without the directory there is no record of the file names or where they are located, the equivalent of “erasing” your drive. The files however are still physically present on the drive in proper binary code. If the drive itself stops functioning and there is no apparent physical damage, it might be that the electric motor isn’t turning properly or there is a fault in the microcircuit to the disc controller or to the read/write heads, etc. If, however, the platters are scratched or physically damaged in any way, without divine intervention, it’s the end of the line for your data!

Data Recovery; the Last Resort

Data recovery is an “art” that uses a progression of techniques in a step-by-step fashion to access your files. Certain types of data loss are much more challenging and more time consuming than others, especially if access to your computer’s file directory is compromised.  The cost of the recovery is directly related to how much time and how many steps are required to reach the goal.  Prices can vary from a few dollars to a few thousand dollars! It is critically important therefore to establish early on how much your data is worth and to set a realistic goal that is affordable and does not exceed its value.

In some cases you may be able to accomplish the first steps yourself at no cost or only that of obtaining the right software. If you feel comfortable re-installing your system software, using disk utilities to re-map and exclude bad sectors and rebuilding the directory on the original drive you may not need the help of Data Recovery Hawaii. Sometimes however, more sophisticated software from one or more other computers must be used to recognize the drive and copy the data that can later be transferred back to the original drive after it has been remapped or to a replacement drive.  As long as the file directory remains usable these issues are often minor and your data is “still there” waiting for you.  Sometimes there will be changes in formatting and there may be some corrupted files that are not salvageable. These scenarios are often the case for operator errors, malware and the minor problems due to bad sectors or blocks on the discs.

When the drive is intact, simply repairing a broken device may be the most cost effective technique of data recovery, but it is seldom considered! (See also: Forgot to backup your data? All may not be lost!) When our desktop, laptop or iPad stops working, the retailers would have us believe that it is time to buy a new one. They tell us that it is too costly to retrieve our data and transfer it to the new device. Unless we have a recent back up, we often feel obliged to bite the bullet and abandon our data. While this advice may have been valid 5 years ago, it is no longer our best option in many cases. Depending on what caused the failure, repairing the broken device may be cheaper than removing the drive, copying and transferring the data. In any case, that can still be done if the device is not worth repairing or if you decide you would like to upgrade to the newer technology anyway. Either way, abandoning your data is usually no longer necessary.

If the directory is destroyed but the drive is functioning normally, it may still be possible to recover some data by using sophisticated software that can recognize certain file types by the patterns in the binary code that they contain.  Just to determine where one file ends and another begins however is a challenge. Of course, once isolated, files no longer have any names or any way of recognizing them except by opening them in the appropriate application, re-naming them according to what you see and storing them on another drive; a BIG job to say the least!  If the drive mechanism breaks, the only way to recover the data is to open the disc in a dust-free “clean room”, remove the platters and re-install them in an identical drive, re-aligning the read/write heads (remember the circles of magnetic particles being 1/10^th the size of a human hair?).  If the platters can be read correctly and the directory is intact, it may be possible to recover much of the data. If the directory is destroyed and the rebuilt drive can function long enough to go through the extensive recognition process of binary code segments, some data may still be recovered but your investment may now be in the thousands of dollars. If the platters are damaged you’ve reached the end of the line. 

At MobileREMEDIES® we begin every recovery project with an initial evaluation of the device and the type of data loss, discussing which files are critical to you. Some preliminary testing of your device may be required but this is done at no charge to you. We then give you an estimate of the cost and the projected time needed based on the level of recovery required for your individual needs.  We agree on a goal for recovery and if we are unable to reach that goal or if the project goes beyond our capabilities, we charge you nothing for the attempt and absorb the labor cost ourselves.  We never charge you more than the estimated cost unless during the project you authorize us to proceed to the next level of recovery and approve the additional charges in advance. 

Preventing Data Loss

This article on the basics of data recovery would be incomplete without some discussion about how to prevent data loss from occurring.  These are a just few simple things you can do to help protect your data (there are at least a hundred more if you want to do a little research!):

• Surge & Impact Protection:  When you first purchase a new or used device spend some extra money up-front on protecting it.  For your desktop computer and game systems, invest in a good surge protector and possibly a battery backup if you live in an area where power failures are frequent. If your device is portable like your laptop, iPad or cell phone, it is under constant risk of impact damage. Get a quality protective case on day one.  Don’t put it off until it is too late! If your device is at risk of being exposed to liquids, choose one that is water resistant or waterproof (not that that always works!). 

• Automatic Back up:  Set up an AUTOMATIC schedule to back up your data to the cloud or to an external disc; something that doesn’t require your attention.  Having a back up off-site can be a lifesaver if there is fire or flooding. If you rely on having to remember to do a manual back up, you WILL procrastinate or forget until it is too late. It’s not your fault. It’s human nature! 

• Antivirus Protection: Microsoft operating systems are now packaged with excellent antivirus software; Microsoft Defender or Microsoft Security Essentials. Use them and keep them up to date. Remember, generating malware now is a big business and attracts a lot of creative people!  Keep your index of suspicion high. Screen your E-mails and downloads very carefully and don’t click on ANY links within E-mails unless you are willing to trust that source with your data!  Don’t forget that anything that is “too” good to be true probably isn’t! 

• Software Updates:  Keep your system and other software up to date. Today, bugs and glitches are reported and repaired with lightning speed and you should take advantage of these updates as they become available (as long as you are sure of the source!). ALWAYS plug in your laptop during major data transfers or system upgrades even if it looks like there is plenty of battery power left. 

• Good Work Habits:  Save OFTEN as you work. Don’t let your drive get close to full capacity. Trash files you don’t need, archive them elsewhere or get a bigger drive! If you use a file as a template, do a “save as” command before modifying it and work from the new file, never from the original. Empty your trash only after you take a final look at what is in there. 

We would like to believe that only other people lose their data and that it will never happen to us. Alas, it is not so.  Anyone who stores data will also lose some at some point. Hopefully, our losses will be minor but if they are not, we have the option of going to Data Recovery Hawaii – MobileREMEDIES® and speaking to a professional. If they can’t recover the data we so desperately need, there is no charge for the attempt!

Whether you search for Data Recovery Hawaii, Custom Computer Hawaii, Computer Repair Hawaii, Cell Phone Repair Hawaii or iPad Repair Hawaii you will find MobileREMEDIES® Cellphone/Electronic Repair at the center of it all in the state of Hawaii. With stores on Maui and Oahu and with mail-in service extending all over the world, they can help you understand and deal with any problem you may have with your portable electronics. They know your devices inside and out, hardware and software. Their technicians are young, enthusiastic professionals (nerds!) who LOVE to problem-solve. Their stores are not Kiosks but sophisticated service centers with highly trained technicians and very specialized equipment.

MobileREMEDIES® always gives you a 1-year warranty on parts and labor. Their electronic repair services include cellphones, laptop and desktop computers, iPads and all other tablet PC’s as well as iPods and game systems (Xbox, PlayStations, Wii, etc.). They also build custom computers for gamers and other high demand users, provide web services for individuals and small businesses, buy broken devices for cash or in-store credit and sell refurbished devices with a 1-year warranty, similar to a manufacturer’s warranty on a new device. If they can’t fix your device, you pay nothing for the attempt. Go to www.mobileremedies.com or call 1-800-867-5048.

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