Keep PC Safe

When your business is hit by fire or flood, insurance should be able to handle the monetary

costs of resuming operations. However, damage to your computers can result in the loss of

critical information that money alone cannot replace. Rebuilding customer files and financial

records can be extremely time-consuming, if not down right impossible. If in the unfortunate

case that you have not backed up your data in an offsite storage facility, you may still be able to

recover your data from damaged or destroyed equipment. Recovery of data from a hard drive

can be critical after a fire or flood. Data can be recovered from many drives even if all of the

plastic components have melted.

Many drives that have been completely blackened by fire still have intact insides. A data

recovery service may be able to rebuild any damaged electronics to read the data stored on the

drive. However, if the fire was too intense, and the platters within the head assembly have

begun to melt, then there in no chance that a successful data recovery can occur. This will not

be known until a data recovery company has the chance to open the drive within a clean room

and inspect the damage.

If the hard drive has been submerged for a relatively short period of time, it is possible that the

water has not made its way inside the drive. However, if water has penetrated the drive, it is

important to act as quickly as possible. The drive should be kept wet, as the process of drying it

out, when not done carefully, can cause more damage. This is because the water will probably

not be pure, and will leave behind dirt and other minerals that can prohibit data recovery.

What ever you do, do not attempt to run computer equipment that has been damaged by fire or

water without a computer technician checking it out first. Running power to a damaged drive

can completely erase any chance in being able to recover the data from it. What you need to do

is ship it to a data recovery service in its current condition as quickly as possible. Any delay can

decrease the probability that your data can be salvaged.

Make sure you select a data recovery service that has experience dealing with hard drives that

have been damaged by fire or water. While some of the techniques for disaster recovery are

the same as for other data recovery, the chances of successfully recovering your data are

usually less after a disaster. By selecting an inexperienced company to handle your recovery

needs, you run the risk of losing data that a more experienced company may have been able to

save. Data recovery is usually a one time shot. If you make a mistake, you do not get a second

chance.

Insurance will usually cover the cost of data recovery services in the case of fire or a natural

disaster. This is done as data recovery may be the quickest way to get the company up and

running normally. And the faster your company is back to normal, the happier everyone, from

the insurance company, to your clients, to yourself, will be.