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Written By Girish Gola
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Approved By Vishal Sharma
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Updated On
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Min Reading 6 Min
Loss of data is a calamity.
You might have accidentally deleted a file or folder. Perhaps an over-eager “expert” deleted a partition resulting in data loss.
Even worse, the hard drive might have failed.
Hard disk failure comes as a surprise to most. You hit the power switch, but nothing happens. The laptop does not boot.
It takes a long time to save changes to a document or open a PDF file.
If the device is not booting or working very slowly, there is a fair chance that the hard drive is at fault.
If you want to recover data from the hard drive, we at Stellar Data Recovery offer the best services, in India and globally.
What is Partial Data Recovery?
Let’s see with an example.
What Could Partial Data Recovery Mean for You?
You have a 500 GB Western Digital external drive which is about 90% full. Almost 450 GB was written.
You accidentally deleted a folder.
You added several GBs of data.
You wanted to add more data. For this, you deleted some folders. And added more data.
Now you realize you’re missing a vital folder.
In this case, you want to recover a specific folder. So, you want partial data recovery.
What does Partial Data Recovery Mean for a Data Recovery Service?
For a data recovery service provider, partial data recovery could mean two things:
First, when a client expects the recovery of a few specific files and folders.
Second, when the hard drive’s data is damaged/lost, only a part of it can be practically recovered.
We covered the first part above. Let’s understand the second part.
There are two possible cases where we a data recovery lab can only offer partial data recovery.
Also Read : How much does data recovery cost in India?
When Data Loss is Caused by Overwriting
You have deleted a project file that was 21 GB in size. But without noticing the deletion, you also downloaded several large files and 4 GB was overwritten.
Data recovery can work as long as the bits that store data have not been overwritten with new information.
Once the data is deleted and the same space (sectors on the hard drive) has new data on top of it, there is no way to recover old data.
When Data Loss is Caused by Physical Damage
Say the hard drive had a damaged head and actuator arm. It scratched the 21 GB file badly and parts of it cannot be read. Data is stored in tiny tracks. If a track is scratched, information on it is unrecoverable. It can be that 4 GB is on unreadable tracks.
Experts at Stellar Data Recovery would not be able to provide a 100% clone of the original in that case.
They would try to make it as close to the original as possible.
Also Read : What causes a scratched hard drive platter?
Can I ask for Partial Data Recovery?
Data recovery can under some circumstances be an intensely labour-intensive process.
That means it is costly to recover a lot of data.
Sometimes we receive a request to extract perhaps 200 MB—perhaps a crucial audio file or a design blueprint.
It is not possible to comply on a per MB basis. The labour behind extracting a GB and an MB is about the same.
We cannot extract a file - Budget_2023.xls - and skip over the rest that you deem useless.
Perhaps in some cases, we can offer to extract a large folder (say a folder containing tax documents) and ignore the rest (folders containing HR appraisals and promotional material).
Let’s understand why.
How Does Hard Drive Recovery Happen?
The loss of data may be logical and physical.
Logical Loss of Data
Logical loss is when the data has been erased due to the deletion of a file, folder, or partition.
Other situations leading to this type of loss include malware attacks and firmware corruption.
In such case, you might be able to recover specific files and folders, using Stellar Data Recovery Software. You can choose one of our data recovery software based on device type, OS, and file type.
How does this Method of Partial Data Recovery Via Software Work?
- Stellar Data Recovery software is a set of robust tools that work on all versions of Windows (from 7 onwards). There is also a macOS version (from 10.11 onwards). If there is logical deletion (a partition removed by mistake) it can help retrieve data.
- The data recovery tool can recover all types of files — documents, spreadsheets, images, videos, PDFs, etc
- It can perfectly repair Outlook PST files.
- Supports recovery from HDD, SSD, USB, flash memory, and every kind of interface: PATA, SATA, SCSI.
- The first one gigabyte of recovery is free. You can test how well it works.
- Simple UI with a three-step process—Scan, Preview, Save.
Physical Loss of Data
Physical loss happens when the hard drive is damaged in some way.
The platter might be scratched, read and write head might not be working, the PCB controllers might have shorted, or the motor is unable to
rotate consistently.
Sheer physical damage to hard drives such as dropping from a height and incursion of moisture are other factors.
In such case, you can check whether partial data recovery is possible, by asking for a free phone consultation from one of our data recovery service consultants.
How does this Method of Partial Data Recovery Service Work?
- Physical damage has to be handled in the laboratory.
- Stellar Data Recovery owns and operates India’s only Class 100 clean room. The minutest dust particle is harmful to the inside of an HDD and it requires a clean room for repair.
- The drive would be physically examined. If the damage is at the component level—e.g. changing a read and write head would be sufficient—repairs are attempted.
- Stellar Data Recovery has over 15,000 hard disks of various makes and models from which parts are sourced.
- If there is further damage, a logical examination happens. The internal file table is scrutinised and if needed rebuilt. experts use complex algorithms to recover the data.
It is not an easy process and takes time.
But Partial Data Recovery Service is on a case-by-case basis and we do not advertise retrieval of individual elements of data.
- Whether a partial data recovery is possible, can only be verified after a diagnosis of the cause of data loss.
- Of course, if by ‘partial data recovery’ you mean all the data that is now left (after irreparable physical damage or multiple overwrites), then we can certainly recover it for you.
Summary
We are a responsible enterprise that offers cutting-edge technology in our domain. Our know-how is second to none globally.
We have 25+ years of experience in data recovery, millions of happy customers, and a team of 400.
But we are as obligated to market forces as other businesses and need to charge a fair price that allows us to operate but is cheaper than the competition.
We do not say this to beat our own drum but to make our clientele aware that excellent service requires vast amounts of R&D which we would not be able to do unless we earned a profit.
What we learn we pass on to you as a service.
