Emergency service

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Pokorny GesmbH Electrical installations, network installations and special purpose devices.

6 - Data recovery

If you came to this page because you're currently experiencing a problem with a defective harddisk or other storage media, please adhere to the following advice:

Don't panic. Satisfactory recovery of data can be accomplished in the majority of all cases.

Don't use the defective device any longer. Shut down all applications and the operating system (if possible) immediately and turn off the device.

Please refrain from attempts to use any data recovery software yourself - the most likely results are that any professional recovery services necessary thereafter are either made impossible or complicated and therefore more expensive.

Don't use any software that checks the harddisk or other device for problems, regardless whether the software comes with your operating system or from harddisk manufacturers.

Call us to discuss further proceedings - we provide a free cost estimate after having diagnosed the device.

Devices that we offer recovery services for include hard disks, floppy disks, CDs, DVDs, a number of MO disk formats and sizes, various memory cards (CF, MMC, SD, miniSD, Sony memory stick, etc.), DAT, DLT, IOMEGA JAZZ/ZIP, Travan, USB Sticks, SyQuest etc. If your device or media is not included in this list, please call us - if we don't have the expertise and equipment necessary, we can almost certainly direct you to one of our partner companies that does.

Main causes for data loss on hard disks are

Virus related damages

Software or application error

User error - e.g. deletion of data by mistake

Elektronics defects

Motor defects

Defective bearings

Other hardware problems - broken parts, head crash etc.

Cost estimate for data recovery

Cost estimates for data recovery services are invoiced at 90 EUR per disk drive. This amount is payable in advance. We provide you with a prognosis of the data and/or percentage of the medium's data that can be recovered.

So, how much is this going to be?

The costs for the most often occurring data recovery scenarios for hard disks are - based on our experience - in the following price bands:

Virus damage - 180-400 EUR

Inadvertent deletions - 180-400 EUR

Defective electronics - 450-850 EUR

Defective mechanical parts - 800-2500 EUR

These values come from experience, in individual cases, they may be lower or higher, depending on the complexity and availability of parts.

Procedure

We perform diagnostics on the device/media

We provide you with a free cost estimate

Pursuant to you tasking us with data recovery service, we recover the data and provide it to you on a device/medium of your choice.

In case that the hard disk needs to be opened, the repair procedure is conducted in clean rooms (these are repair rooms with special air filtering so that no dust can harm the open device) at special facilities of one of our partner companies.

Handover or transport of the defective device/medium and your recovered data on the medium of your choice.

Average duration of recovery

Data recovery takes on average between three and five working days if necessary parts are on stock.

Spare or replacement parts that are not on stock can usually be obtained in a time frame of two to ten days.
We have many hard disk electronics of the most often installed hard disks and therefore frequently don't need extra spare parts in case of defective electronics.

24 hours recovery

Repairs can be conducted at the request of the customer within a time frame of 24 hours. A surcharge of 50% of the total quoted price in the cost estimate will be invoiced. Should the repair take longer, we will not invoice the surcharge.

The fine print ...

We don't sell or rent out hard disk electronics. It is impossible to provide you with a realistic cost estimate without having diagnosed the device/medium.

Tips

Data recovery is a task for specialists. Failed attempts performed by amateurs cause substantially increased cost and reduce the chances of recovery SUBSTANTIALLY.

Defective devices and/or media must reach a specialist as soon as possible. Don't turn it on or try to use it - even a single additional start of the device may cause irreversible loss of part or all data contained on it.

Never use or install hard drives in any other way than approved by the manufacturer.

Conduct backups regularly.

Always treat your hard disks carefully - shocks during operation, extreme temperature changes or strong shocks when not in operation must be avoided.

Always ensure that hard disks are used within their allowable temperature range.