The internet is awash with data recovery tips and tricks that allegedly allow you to get your data back for free at home – but most are simply myths.
The sudden discovery that your hard drive or other data storage device isn’t working can lead to irrational decisions. The first natural step for many people would be to go online and type in their device’s symptoms to try and find a free data recovery solution. But not only are most free data recovery hacks a waste of time, the chances are you will only make things worse, to be the point where even a professional data recovery specialist won’t be able to get your data back. A quick search for things like “free data recovery” or “recover data at home” will bring up dozens of pages, and it can be tempting to follow one of these online tutorials.
A common data recovery myth is that you can create a clean room environment at home in your bathroom by filling the room with steam. All of our data recovery engineers work in our class 100 clean room, which emulates the conditions in which hard drives are assembled in. It ensures that the air contains no more than 100 particles of dust per cubic foot, and allows our data recovery team to open hard drives safely. While filling.a room with steam will reduce the amount of contaminants in the air, you risk getting moisture inside your hard drive. As we all know, water and electronics do not mix together well, and hard drives are no exception. Even the smallest amount of water from condensation can cause damage, for example to the printed circuit board (PCB). The likelihood is that your hard drive will come out even more damaged, making professional data recovery harder.
Similar to the clean room at home myth is the idea that you can fix a physically damaged hard drive by placing it in the freezer. This data recovery myth has some root in the truth, albeit from a long time ago. In the early days of hard drive, platters could become stuck due to lack of lubrication, a problem known as stiction. By freezing the hard drive, it would constrict the metal and free the stuck platters. However, as stiction is not an issue with modern hard drives, freezing your hard drive will actually achieve nothing. Again, it risks the chance of water getting into your drive, which could completely ruin the chances of a successful data recovery.
The running theme here is that by following online tutorials and attempting DIY data recovery at home, the chances are you’ll only make it harder if not impossible for a professional later down the line. If your hard drive or other storage device is broken, take it to a professional data recovery specialist!
