Most physical data recovery work undertaken by our technicians is done in a class 100 clean room – but what is a clean room, and why is it necessary?
Hard drives are delicate magnetic devices, and are not designed to be opened up and taken apart. When they are assembled by their manufacturer, strict conditions are adhered to. If they are assembled in an environment that contains a significant number of contaminants such as particles of dust or moisture, it can cause problems down the line. Although the inside of a hard drive isn’t a complete vacuum, it is manufactured in a clean room environment that ensures a minimal chance of anything getting inside. When a hard drive is in operation, the magnetic platters spin at speeds of thousands of RPM. The actuator arms move the read/write heads into position, hovering a few nanometres above the platters. With the heads this close to the spinning platters, you can see why strict precautions preventing contaminants from entering the drive are necessary.
A class 100 clean room environment is filtered to ensure that the air never contains more than 100 particles of dust per cubic foot. All physical data recovery that involves taking apart a hard disk drive should be undertaken in a clean room environment, to prevent contamination of the hard drive’s platters, which may lead to a head crash down the line. Most of our physical data recovery work is undertaken in our class 100 clean room, ensuring your hard drive will always be handled in the most suitable environment.
If you’re thinking about attempting data recovery at home by taking apart your hard drive – think again. If you try and fix a physical hard drive fault at home, the chances are, you’re only going to make the problem worse, and ruin the chances of a successful data recovery by a professional.
