Some of us have been unfortunate enough to hear the clicking sounds of a hard drive on its last leg. We don’t want to admit it at first, we turn off every electronic device within our reach, hoping the sound stops. When it doesn’t, our first thoughts are, “Oh no, there goes all of my documents, my pictures, my reason for getting up in the morning!” Okay, maybe the last bit is a little dramatic, but in this age of everything technology, our computers, (in essence, our hard drives or any storage device), are a part of daily life.

What many people do not realize, though, even when a hard drive fails, this does not mean all information is lost. In fact, it is quite possible to recover most, if not all data. The recovery percentage relies on how the situation is handled. To understand this, remember: When a file is “deleted” from your Recycle Bin, it is only marked for deletion by the drive. The problems arise when the drive needs a place to store additional data. For instance, you have deleted a resume by accident, but you aren’t aware of doing so until after you have installed several programs and saved a few documents. The hard drive needed space to store the additional information you saved, therefore writing over the deleted resume file. The point to remember-data is always being written over on a hard drive. All is not lost. The first piece of advice if you are sure your hard drive is failing- do not panic. The most important bit- do not save any additional information if your hard drive is able to boot. Remember that hard drive data recovery is possible. Unless you’re a super computer guru, however, leave the technical aspects to an expert.

There are many companies offering hard drive data recovery and hard drive repair, but choosing the right company for your needs can be difficult. DTI Data is a company who offers free upfront quotes based on the information you provide. Several other companies I looked at charged as much as $199 just to quote the price it would cost to recover the data- imagine the price of the recovery itself. If DTI does not recover all of your data, (on single hard drive recoveries only, the exception is if the drive has been opened by another party), you are not charged, which is a part of their data guarantee. The process to receive a quote is simple. You can visit their website, (DTIData.com), and fill out the form, detailing your issue, or you can contact them by phone. Although this may not mean a lot to some, they also have a Class 100 Clean Room-which essentially means very little particles, such as dust, get through- think NASA clean, so the care of your hard drive data is taken seriously.

It always helps to inform yourself when it comes to the technology you use every day. DTI Data provides a data recovery resources blog as well. The blog isn’t just for geeks either. Learn why you should defrag a hard drive and how it works, plus many other useful tools. So remember, just because your hard drive has failed, doesn’t mean your life is over- you can recover your precious data.