Most well-managed companies employ proper backup procedures to ensure that user data is not lost if a laptop should hit the deck. But there can be slips between cup and lip, and indeed mobile users can all too easily trip over a power lead and bring a laptop crashing to earth - typically when they last logged on to the office network a fortnight ago. In most cases any lost data will be a minor inconvenience, but in others it will be a significant hit to the business.

Fortunately in such situations there are a host of specialist firms who will endeavour to recover data from a dead laptop or damaged hard-drive. Most are capable of taking the disk unit to pieces in a cleanroom and reading the platter surface directly, if necessary. This kind of expertise doesn’t come cheap - prices range from a few hundred pounds up to about £4,000 for a single drive, depending on how much work is needed and how quickly you want results. But when vital data is in bits you’ve become a beggar with not too many options.

Last month we gave a damaged laptop hard-disk to two such specialists, to see what data they could retrieve. The disk had suffered a head-crash and bearing failure, the result of a genuine accident rather than a piece of injudicious drop-testing in our Labs.

The disk is still with the second firm, so a full review of the results would be premature - a detailed account will appear later this month. However, we have already learned some useful facts.

First, it’s worth bearing in mind that any encounter with a data recovery firm is going to cost you. Few specialists put their prices on their web sites, but many make a “no data, no fee” promise. However, in reality it is extremely unlikely that every single file out of the tens of thousands on a typical disk (including system files) will be ruined, so it’s worth clarifying what “no data” means to you if you’re dealing with such a firm.

The second factor worth considering is that the best chance of a full recovery comes from keeping a damaged disk as pristine as possible. Last-gasp attempts to grab files from a faltering disk, or the use of software repair utilities, can make matters worse if the physical damage to the drive is severe.

The snag is, it will often be unclear exactly how severe the physical damage is until you attempt to repair the drive...

All in all, prevention is probably better than the cure, however sophisticated the recovery process. Investing in a batch of memory sticks for mobile users might be the best long-term bet. 

03 Jan 2007